SUMMARY
Architecturally trained game environment artist with 5 years of experience in planning the scope of an environment, creating game ready assets, and developing artistic pipelines to achieve technical requirements. Great team player but also self-starter and organized with great attention to detail and follow-through.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Abyss Studios Owner Burbank, CA August 2011- Present
Started an indie game studio and manage a team of four employees composed of two artists, a writer, and a business manager; formed Abyss Studios by establishing a business plan and raising funds to support the development and release of the first game, Tiki Galore; Tiki Galore is a multiplayer arena game, created in Unreal Engine 4; was chosen by Epic Games in 2014 to be display at EGX London; the game was Greenlit in 7 days in May 2015; managed the team on enhancing the quality of art, extended the game to four levels of play, and developed nine Tiki special abilities; personally worked on the environment art, game play systems, visual effects, user interface development and character work; created using Maya, Photoshop, Unreal Engine 4, Perforce Versioning Software, ZBrush, xNormal, and World Machine; after perseverance and diligence, Abyss Studios made Tiki Galore available for sale on Steam in October 2015.
Kathy Taslitz Studios Digital Artist Los Angeles, CA May 2014 - February 2015
Worked closely with Kathy Taslitz to help develop and finalize her creation of Emotional Evolution using ZBrush, Maya, Photoshop, and MeshLab; used an in house MakerBot printer or outsourced to the company Solid Concepts to finalize pieces; managed a team of two artists to assist Kathy in the project for the new Manhattan Beach Library's interior sculptures.
Disney Interactive Environment Artist North Hollywood, CA May 2012 - October 2012
Created environments on an unannounced MMO title; the title's scope required all departments to work closely for immersive game play while keeping a cohesive artistic style; integrated new industry techniques of game art asset creation that allowed for more artistic focus; simplified iteration of assets for the environment art team; worked with developers to understand the game play and in turn created a functional pipeline for other artists to import the art; ability to quickly learn how to work in an evolving game development atmosphere with many iterations with the goal of a high quality finished product; created the environments with Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, xNormals, and various proprietary tools.
High Impact Games Environment Artist Burbank, CA February 2011 - August 2011
Created environments for DreamWorks Super Star Kartz that consisted of DreamWorks movies Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, and Monsters vs Aliens; worked on the race tracks for Shrek's Swamp, Dragon's Keep, Isle of Berk, Dragon's Lair, and Far, Far Away; developed concept for final level look and mapped out a plan of action to complete each race track in a timely manner; established a pipeline for creating all assets to meet artistic standard and requirements for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and 3DS; created the environments and assets with Maya and Photoshop and implemented using proprietary tools/engines.
Robomodo Environment Artist Chicago, IL May 2010 - October 2010
Initially worked on the animation team to help create variation for sideline NPC and imposters for Tony Hawk Shred; brought onto the environment art team to assist in asset creation; promoted within Robomodo to take on more responsibility by enhancing resolution of Texel quality, increasing detail and fidelity of existing assets, and creating additional assets to improve the levels; used Softimage XSI, Photoshop, and implemented using proprietary tools/engine.
HughieDM Design Productions Owner Chicago, IL June 2008 - May 2010
Created pre-visualization work for various architectural projects in Chicago and Washington, D.C.; created pre-visualization images of box seat redesign for the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Initiative for Afghan Women Freelance Architect Bristol, RI April 2007 - July 2007
Designed and developed an orphanage for children in Afghanistan with a team of colleagues.
OPX Summer Intern Architect Washington, D.C. 2006
Worked on several government architect projects in Washington, D.C. as well as developed conceptual design for architectural competitions.
SethAnne Studios Summer Intern Architect Alexandria, VA 2002-2005
Worked on the construction, design/development, and 3D modeling/rendering of houses in Alexandria, VA.
EDUCATION
The Illinois Institute of Art Chicago, IL
Bachelor of Fine Art in Game Art & Design, June 2010
Graduate Portfolio Show: Best in Show Award – Game Art & Design
Graduated with honors
Roger Williams University Bristol, RI
Bachelor of Architecture, August 2007
Minor: Visual Arts
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Games + Animation Los Angeles, CA
Environment Creation for Games, April-July 2012
Digital Painting, April-June 2011
GDC Lectures San Francisco, CA
Discussions on game development, March 2012,2013
Massive Black Workshop San Francisco, CA
Workshops for artists from entertainment, games, film, and comics, November 2011