Overview
I've worked in games, animation, film and television for over 20 years. I have several areas that I am particularly skilled and experienced in: Tech art, Creative direction, art direction, cinematics / animation direction, story and IP development, and Design experience. In addition to these creative areas I have extensive management experience and team building skills.
I started my career as an artist, working in a painting studio in Austin, Tx. I became intensely interested in the emerging digital art opportunities in the 1990's and got my Master's degree in Visualization (Technical art really) for animation, digital cinema and vfx.
After graduation I was hired at WIll Vinton Studios (now known as Laika) to start and run their Digital Production department. I built the department to include animation, modeling, texturing, VFX, rendering and compositing before transitioned into directing animation for commercial products such as M&M's, Three Musketeers, Chili's and Clorox.
I was intrigued by the potential for art and storytelling in the first wave of the game console revolution and made a leap to Microsoft Game Studios, working as a combined Narrative Experience Director, Art Director and Animation Director on a number of AAA titles. After working for many years at Microsoft, I and a few of my colleagues decided to form our own game development studio, Airtight Games, which produced several original tittles including Dark Void and Murdered: Soul Suspect. Airtight had a good ten year run but eventually became one of the casualties of the mid-level developer crisis in the game industry at large.
I did the creative direction for a very successful mobile RPG called DragonSoul for a year.
I am currently the Program Director for the Master of Arts in Real-Time VFX at Digipen Institute for Technology and a senior lecturer working with artists on game development teams and mentoring Master's degree thesis projects. My personal focus is on Houdini and Unreal workflows.
I started my career as an artist, working in a painting studio in Austin, Tx. I became intensely interested in the emerging digital art opportunities in the 1990's and got my Master's degree in Visualization (Technical art really) for animation, digital cinema and vfx.
After graduation I was hired at WIll Vinton Studios (now known as Laika) to start and run their Digital Production department. I built the department to include animation, modeling, texturing, VFX, rendering and compositing before transitioned into directing animation for commercial products such as M&M's, Three Musketeers, Chili's and Clorox.
I was intrigued by the potential for art and storytelling in the first wave of the game console revolution and made a leap to Microsoft Game Studios, working as a combined Narrative Experience Director, Art Director and Animation Director on a number of AAA titles. After working for many years at Microsoft, I and a few of my colleagues decided to form our own game development studio, Airtight Games, which produced several original tittles including Dark Void and Murdered: Soul Suspect. Airtight had a good ten year run but eventually became one of the casualties of the mid-level developer crisis in the game industry at large.
I did the creative direction for a very successful mobile RPG called DragonSoul for a year.
I am currently the Program Director for the Master of Arts in Real-Time VFX at Digipen Institute for Technology and a senior lecturer working with artists on game development teams and mentoring Master's degree thesis projects. My personal focus is on Houdini and Unreal workflows.