Experience

• Assistant Professor Game Art at Laguna College of Art + Design

  Laguna Beach, CA, United States of America

  August 2021 - Present

  * Teach classes in the Game Art BFA program,
  
  **Digital Painting, Digital Sculpting, Professional Studies, and others.
  
  * Mentor senior students in portfolio development
  
  * Bridge between the Game Design MFA and Game Art BFA to connect students for shared projects
  
  * Outreach to industry and other educational institutions for partnerships and events to benefit our students and advance what they can do
  
  * Various administrative committees and upkeep

• Adjunct Faculty, Game Art at Laguna College of Art + Design

  Laguna Beach, CA, United States of America

  November 2018 - August 2021

  • I teach various classes in the Game Art program, including fundamental 3D concepts for game development, portfolio development, and professional studies.
  
  • As a lifelong learner, and one who has benefitted from excellent teachers and mentors throughout my career, teaching is a rewarding way to contribute to an industry and community that has been so good to me.

• Product Director at Broken Circle Studios

  Norco, CA, United States of America

  September 2016 - February 2021

  • Business development, from idea and pitch origination to forging new relationships with publishers, IP holders, developers, and financiers. Brought millions of dollars of assets to the studio.
  
  • Partner liaison and business development, representing the external partners’ needs to the team and advising on scheduling and project planning.
  

• Independent developer at Rockhopper Entertainment

  Irvine, CA, United States of America

  January 2017 - Present

  • Writer, designer, producer, and art director on indie project begun during MFA studies.
  
  • Mentored and led undergraduate and graduate students at multiple universities, and freelancers.

• Lead Artist & Senior 2D Artist at Backflip Studios

  Boulder, CO, United States of America

  January 2011 - July 2016

  • Developed DragonVale art style, designed and created launch characters, and contributed to all aspects of game development; credited with building interdepartmental consensus among divergent, conflicted teams.
  
  • Led internal and offsite artists and animators to add new post-launch content weekly; writing and feature design; game sustained #1 standing in sales and gross revenue for two consecutive years.
  
  • Art direction and technical art specs; outsource vendor selection and management on DV World.

• Character Artist at Insomniac Games

  Burbank, CA, United States of America

  December 2005 - December 2010

  • Created in-game and cinematic characters, an arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and props.
  
  • Collaborated with core teams to design custom shaders and refine internal tools and processes.
  
  • Shipped 5 console titles including 4 that achieved Sony’s “Greatest Hits” ranking.

• Character Artist at Heavy Iron Studios

  Santa Monica, CA, United States of America

  August 2002 - October 2005

  • Collaborated as part of a high-performance art team in the designing, modeling, and texturizing of licensed characters, environments, props, and effects for video games.
  
  • Designed original characters for Incredibles games in coordination with and approval from Brad Bird and Mark Andrews at Pixar for concurrent release with The Incredibles movie.
  
  • Taught internal character modeling classes to colleagues to advance internal artists’ skill sets.
  

• Concept Artist/ Art Director Intern at Angel Studios

  Carlsbad, CA, United States of America

  April 2002 - July 2002

  • Concept art development for Oni 2 (cancelled) and Spy Hunter II.
  
  • Sculpted maquette of company mascot

• Instructor at Art Institute, Santa Monica

  Santa Monica, CA, United States of America

  January 2001 - March 2002

  Taught:
  
  • Character Maquette Sculpting
  
  • Advanced Character Maquette Sculpting
  
  • Typography for Animators (a more art-centric typography class I helped design)
  
  • Ran character design workshops.

• Sculpture Tech at Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County

  Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

  August 2000 - December 2000

  • Apprenticed with staff sculptor to create molds and casts of fossils and sculptural elements for exhibits.
  
  • Collaborated on a life sized portrait mural of 16 paleontologists and crew to accompany a traveling exhibit for The Tiniest Giants. Painted all heads and hands, as well as blocking background and rendering much of it. Working under tight deadline and mentoring and teaching while we worked.

• Freelance Artist at Freelance illustration and Graphic Design

  Pasadena, CA, United States of America

  August 2000 - Present

  • web design
  
  • corporate identity
  
  • letterhead and business cards
  
  • custom greeting card design
  
  • character development for film pitch projects and health intervention materials
  
  • clients include USC's Keck School of Medicine, Sekret Agent Productions
  

• Production Manager at Morpheus International

  Beverly Hills, CA, United States of America

  October 1994 - January 1998

  • Graphic design and web design
  
  • Managed production of art books, calendars, posters and products
  
  • Communicated internationally with printers, vendors, distributors, artists, customers, shipping companies, and event coordinators
  
  • Showed art in the gallery, sold art to customers
  
  • Managed direct shipping of our products from the warehouse
  
  • Managed in house staff of designers and shipping personnel.