Education

·               MFA - Computer Art (Animation/VFX)
                Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA -- 1998 - 2000
With honors. Several juried awards and scholarships.
Emphasis in 3D Character Animation, with studies in Motion Graphics, VFX, and 2D Animation

·               BFA - Fine Arts
                Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV -- 1989 - 1993
With honors. Areas of study included Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Printmaking, & Graphic Design.

·               Acting, Screenwriting, Storyboarding, Improv, Drawing, Animation & Film Workshops with the finest instructors in the world while running the animation training program at Disney Feature Animation.

Experience

·               Game Production Chair
                International Academy of Design & Technology, Seattle, WA -- 2010-present
Classroom instruction. Game Program administration. Curriculum development in the game, animation & VFX field. Hiring and retaining a staff of qualified industry professionals. Organizing advisory panels. Authoring/publishing instructional material.

·               Character & Lighting Technical Director
                yU+Co, Hollywood, CA -- 2010
Lighting & Compositing, Rigging, Animation, Shading, Layout & Effects for international projects featuring Marvel Superheroes

·               Lead Animator
                Pitch Black Games, Chandler, AZ -- 2010
Character Lead, Rigging & Animation for Dominus (an upcoming MMO).

·               Animator
                Total Immersion, Los Angeles, CA -- 2009-2010
Character Animation & Rigging for high-profile augmented reality projects for such clients as Ubisoft, Mattel, McDonalds.

·               Lead Animator
                Super 78, Hollywood, CA -- 2009
Character Animation, Layout & Modeling for Cartoon Network’s Ben 10: Alien Swarm.

·               Senior Animation Training Specialist
                Walt Disney Animation Studios, Burbank, CA -- 2004-2009
Pipeline/art/software training across all disciplines for feature film productions; developed enrichment programs in foundational skills; anticipated and met production training needs. Worked with studio leadership to create the Artist Development program at DC7 Studios.  Contributed models, textures, story ideas and animation toward productions.  Led many studio initiatives in animation toolsets, character rig development and experimental production pipelines. Wrote and Directed CG shorts in the Disney Shorts Club program. Feature Credits: Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, BOLT, Princess and the Frog
Shorts: Glago’s Guest, Prep and Landing, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, Shorts Club projects, etc.

·               Lead Artist & Animator
                Emergent Game Technologies, Calabasas, CA -- 2000-2004
MMO title and several demos for PC, XBox and PS3; developed design document; designed, modeled, textured, rigged and animated characters and environment; produced cinematics; tracked and managed projects and developed production pipeline.

·               Independent Animator & Designer -- 2004-present
Contract artist for various entertainment media companies, including THQ, Sojourn Ent., Total Media Source, Heavy Hammer, Online Alchemy, Blue Omega, Valhalla Games, Fusion Creative. Character and environmental design, modeling, rigging, animation, fx, graphics, storyboards, motion graphics, illustration.  Freelance work for independent films. Direction and production of music videos and short films.
                Shipped titles: Burners, Cryptids, Damnation, Glympse. Film Credits: 7 Days in Slow Motion, Tiki Time, etc.

·               VFX Training Instructor
                Studio Arts (Hollywood), DisneyToon Studios, Disney Feature Animation, Disney Television Animation, Disney Circle 7 Animation, Savannah College of Art and Design, CalState LA -- 1999-present
Maya, Photoshop, After Effects, etc. All disciplines of visual effects and animation. I have well-developed courses for CG Lighting, Layout, Modeling, Character Rigging & Animation, Dynamics, Motion Design.

·               President & Cofounder
                Epicenter, Inc. (Nonprofit community art center) -- 1994-1998
Organized art exhibitions & events, managed funds, oversaw site development, main media contact/promoter.

·               Other Experience
Graphic artist & web designer, High School Photography Instructor and Department Chair (Jefferson County, WV), custom museum mounts artisan, theater set designer, journalist, cartoonist, musician/songwriter, and white water raft guide.

Computer Applications

·               3D: Maya, 3ds Max, SoftImage, Houdini, ZBrush, Mudbox, Modo, Vue, Motionbuilder, SketchUp
·               2D: Toon Boom Harmony/Animate, Flash, Moho, Pencil, Digicel Flipbook, PAP, storyboarding apps
·               Surfacing & Rendering: Renderman, Mental Ray, procedural shaders, Deep Paint/Deep UV, Photoshop, Painter, StudioPaint, BodyPaint, ZBrush, Headus UV Layout, 3d-Coat, other UV and painting/sculpting apps
·               Compositing & Post: Nuke, Flint/Flame/Inferno, Avid SoftImage DS, Shake, After Effects, Premiere, Combustion, Fusion, Sony Vegas, Final Cut Pro, Toxic, Mocha
·               Web Design & Multimedia: Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Director, Illustrator, InDesign, TWiki, WordPress
·               Game Engines: Unreal, Quake, Hero, Gamebryo, Torque, Unity
·               Sound Design: Vegas, SoundForge, Acid Pro, ProTools, Cubase, WaveLab, Adobe Audition/Soundbooth
·               Office Tools, Misc: MS Office Pro, Project, Visio, Final Draft, CVS & source control, CD/DVD authoring, DeBabelizer Pro, iView, Bridge, Camtasia and Captivate
·               Computer Languages: HTML, Javascript, CSS, C++, Open Inventor, Python, Renderman RIB & Shading Languages, Maya MELscript, Flash Actionscript
·               Operating Systems: Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac OS

Honors and Awards

·               1991 - 2007: A Variety of Awards and Placements in Juried Art Exhibitions
·               2004 - second place international Nvidia Make Something Unreal contest (Damnation, with Heavy Hammer)
·               1998 - 2000: Morris Scheer Fellowship, International Competition for Student Artists
·               1989 - 2002: Published fiction and non-fiction in various newspapers, magazines, and juried writing competitions
·               1998 - 2000: Dean's List @ SCAD
·               Nov. 8, 1999: Live Performance of real time animation at the Int'l Delphi Conference, Trustees Theater, Savannah, GA
·               1999: Alias Certified Training in Character Animation (1999) and MEL scripting (2000)
·               1997: Artist-in-Residence, Boarman Arts Center, Martinsburg, WV
·               Prolific Fine Arts Career, with over twenty solo shows from 1991 to the present, and paintings & drawings in over one hundred private collections
·               Logos and designs used for film, stage, advertisements, posters, corporate identities and album covers

Professional Organizations

IGDA (International Game Developers Association)
ACM SIGGRAPH, LA-SIGGRAPH
ASIFA-Hollywood, ASIFA-Seattle

Links

IMDb
LinkedIn
Blog
YouTube
Vimeo

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