OBJECTIVE

To use my skills in Lighting, 3D modeling, and Concept Design, to help create world-class artwork with talented, creative teams.

OVERVIEW

• Over 22 years of experience in 2D and 3D art creation in games and other entertainment related fields.
• 26 game titles shipped.
• Passionate about art, strong work ethic, good team player.

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

 

March 2017 to Present: Bend Studio (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Bend, Oregon

Lighting for Days Gone using Unreal Engine and proprietary tools.

Duties Include:

• Lighting cinematics assigned by supervisor.
• Lighting open world events, camps, and interiors.
• Working with Unreal Engine and proprietary tools to create lighting, and mood.
• Setting focal points and depth of field for cinematic shots.
• Post effects for cinematics, including atmospheric fog, crepuscular rays, bloom, and color grade.
• Working with programmers and blueprint developers to help improve lighting tools and workflow.

May 2014 to August 2015: 343 Industries (Microsoft Studios) Kirkland, Washington

Lighting for Halo 5: Guardians using Maya and proprietary tools.

Duties Included:

• Lighting multiple levels assigned by supervisor.
• Lighting for cinematics for assigned scenes.
• Working with Maya and proprietary tools to create lighting, air probes, and cubemaps.
• Creation and application of post effects, including atmospheric fog, patchy fog, crepuscular rays, bloom, and color grade.
• Working with programmers to help improve lighting tools.

August 2012 to August 2013: Crytek (Frankfurt, Germany)

Lighting for the title Ryse: Son of Rome using CryENGINE 3.

Duties Included:

• Level lighting for assigned levels.
• Lighting of cinematics for assigned levels.
• Working with CryENGINE to place lights, environment probes, Time of Day animation, and lighting animation through Trackview and Flowgraph.
• Working with programmers to help develop lighting tool pipeline.

December 2011 to August 2012: Psyonix (San Diego, CA)

My work at Psyonix involved both lighting and FX work for titles using the Unreal 3 Engine.

Duties included:

• Working with the Art Director and Environment Artists to light levels per specification.
• Using Unreal's Lightmass global illumination system for baked and dynamic lights.
• Re-creating lightmap uv's (second uv set) where needed on lightmapped objects.
• Creation, placement, and adjustment of lightmapped and real-time lights.
• Creation and placement of Special Effects using Unreal's Cascade particle system.
• I needed to rapidly get up to speed with the Unreal Engine, which I had never worked with before.

April 2004 to July 2011 (7 years, 3 months): Insomniac Games (Burbank, CA)

I was initially hired at Insomniac as a Visual FX artist, and worked with programmers to develop the tools needed to create FX for our proprietary game engine.

The need later arose to do the same thing with the lighting, and I again worked with the programmers to develop a lighting pipeline for the new engine.

Duties included:

• Helping to develop lighting workflow and interface.
• Test and implementation of lightmap UV layout tools.
• Creation and placement of lightmapped and real-time lights.
• Preparing all game entities for either lightmapped or vertex lit setup.
• Balance the use of as many real-time lights as possible, while maintaining frame rate.
• Rendering and application of .hdr images for reflective surfaces in scene (specular cube maps).
• Creation and placement of lighting volumes along player path, for characters and animated props.
• Lighting the levels assigned to me, using highest visual standards while following concept art and art direction.

My most recent Insomniac Games title is Resistance 3, which shipped Fall of 2011.

November 1992 to March 2003 (10 years, 4 months): Westwood Studios (Las Vegas, Nevada)

For over ten years I worked at Westwood as a 3D artist. I spent much of my time in the cinematic department, but also worked on a project as lead artist for "World Art" which included modeling and texturing terrain, buildings, and world objects, as well as lighting and effects.

For the cinematic work, my duties included creation of high-polygon models, texturing, lighting, animation, special effects and compositing. I also spent many hours babysitting the rendering farm, making sure assets were rendered on schedule.

For the ingame world art, duties included modeling low-poly models, texturing, lighting, and working with the game editor (WorldBuilder) for placement and organization of all assets.

I was a lead CG artist on many of the projects I worked on, and helped define the look of both our games and in-game movies. My previous experience in real-world lighting and photography helped as we began to do our live-action video shoots as well. I designed and oversaw the construction of our sound stage/green screen studio, and installed the lighting grid and Kino-flo green screen lighting.

I also started the Westwood image (texture) library, and regularly added to, updated and organized over 30 gigabytes of textures for the art department. Many of my own photographs were added to the library as well, including machinery, military vehicles, and aerial helicopter photography.

SHIPPED TITLES

Halo 5: Guardians (2015, XBOX ONE)

Ryse: Son of Rome (2014, XBOX ONE, PC)

ARC Squadron (2012, IOS)

Resistance 3 (2011, PS3)

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (2009, PS3)

Resistance 2 (2008, PS3)

Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (2008, PS3)

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (2007, PS3)

Resistance: Fall of Man (2006, PS3)

Ratchet: Deadlocked (2005, PS2)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (2004, PS2)

Command & Conquer: Renegade (2002, PC)

Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat (2002, PS2, XBOX)

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge (2001, PC)

Emperor: Battle for Dune (2001, PC)

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000, PC)

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun - Firestorm (2000, PC)

Nox (2000, PC)

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (1999, PC)

Dune 2000 (1998, PS1, PC)

Blade Runner (1997, PC)

Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny (1997, PC)

Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996, PS1, PC)

Command & Conquer (1995, PC)

The Legend of Kyrandia: Malcolm's Revenge (1994, PC, Amiga)

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (1993, PC)

 

TOOLS/SKILLS

• Extensive experience: Unreal Engine, Maya, Mental Ray, IRush, Cinema 4D, Lightwave, Photoshop, Digital Fusion, Perforce, Alienbrain, DevTrack, Jira.
• Very experienced at working with proprietary engines and software.
• I enjoy working with programmers to develop and improve tools.
• Real World: Photography, Airbrush Illustration.
• Currently learning: ZBrush, Substance Designer, Mudbox, Modo.

 

Other Sites:

Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustration: Cybergooch.com

Architectural Design and Rendering: Archiluma.com

 

PRE-COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORK HISTORY

1986 to 1992: SetSource

SetSource was my own set design and construction company.

I worked in the car photography studios in Detroit, as well as working on film, video, and still photography sets in Hollywood. I painted background murals, built props, and designed and built full room sets, both in studio and on location. Clients included Cadillac, Tokyo Disney Resort, Chevrolet, AT&T, Gallo Wine Company, KFC, Ford, Showtime Networks, FTD, Whirlpool, GM, Merillat, Dodge, MCI and Pirelli.

I also built the sets for the Tim Allen Showtime Specials.

1982 to 1986: Freelance Photographer's Assistant

I worked primarily in the car photography studios of Detroit, where I did lighting, changed out film backs, took care of photo equipment, and worked on location a great deal. It was during this time that I learned a lot about lighting, and also started doing some scenic art, which eventually led to my own business doing set design work.

Ongoing: Freelance Airbrush Illustration

Airbrush Illustration started as a hobby, but I enjoyed it quite a bit and started doing it professionally. I've done several book and magazine covers, some of which can be seen in my online galleries. These days I prefer to work digitally, mainly because of the control, the ability to work in layers, and being able to save out many versions as work progresses.

EDUCATION

1976: Linworth Alternative Program

I was fortunate enough to attend the Linworth Alternative Program in Worthington, Ohio during my High School years. This program started more or less as an experiment in alternative education, but is still going strong today, almost 30 years later. The program allows students to more closely pursue specific interests. It was during this period that I first started becoming interested in photography, and also did my first mural paintings and theatrical set construction.

1976 to 1978 Antonelli Institute of Graphic Design and Photography

I received my degree in Specialized Technology (Photography) at the Antonelli Institute. It was here I learned lighting, composition, cameras and lenses, darkroom work, film processing and all the basics. Having that experience helped quite a bit when I first started working in the studios in Detroit and L. A.

OTHER SEMI-PERTINENT INFO

• I'm hardware-literate, and build my own computers.
• For four years at Insomniac, I worked remotely. This required self-discipline, self-motivation, and excellent communication.

References available by request.

You can download a printable version of my résumé here.