Skills
World Building, 3D Modeling (high and low poly), texture creation, modular asset creation, PBR and stylized texture creation, lighting, traditional drawing, and photography.
Programs
Maya, 3ds Max, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Photoshop,
Unreal Engine 4, Unity, Various custom engine editors, Microsoft Excel
Shipped Games (Environment Art)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog, Sony PS4)
Voltron VR Chronicles (Dreamworks)
Torment: Tides of Numenera (PC)
Ghostbusters (Fireforge - Xbox One, PS4, PC)
Wasteland 2 – Director’s Cut (inXile- Xbox One, PS4, PC)
Wildstar (Carbine Studios- PC)
Darksiders 2 (Vigil Games- Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic II (Obsidian Entertainment/Lucas Arts- PC)
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (Black Isle Studios/Interplay Entertainment- PC)
Experience
Senior Environment Artist (11/17 - Present)
Sony Visual Arts Service Group (San Diego, CA)
- Worked on site at Naughty Dog in Santa Monica as both Environment Modeler and Environment Texture Artist on The Last of Us 2. I was responsible for creating levels from designer blockmesh all the way through fully arted, optimized and finalized shippable levels. At Naughty Dog, Modelers and Texture artists usually work together in teams on levels, but due to my skills and experience I am responsible for both modeling and texturing on my levels.
-As the Environment Modeler for my scenes, using Maya and Zbrush I was responsible for modeling all structural and architectural elements in my levels, as well as set dressing using props created by Naughty Dog’s Prop artists. I focus on environmental storytelling through thoughtful use of shape language, silhouette, and composition to influence or enhance the player experience.
-As Environment Texture Artist on my scenes, using Maya, Substance Designer/Painter and Naughty Dog’s Surfer Shader tool I was responsible for creating custom real world PBR materials and blend shaders, UVing assets, setting gameflags for lighting, lightmap UV generation. Material creation includes generation of Color, Normal, Roughness, Height, and AO maps for use in blend shaders. I focus on color and value as well as micro and macro detail to enhance playspace readability, composition, and overall look and feel of the level.
-Worked closely with the level designers to bring their ideas to life by creating real world playspaces based off designer blockmesh.
-Identified art assets in my level for outsourcing, then cleaning up and integrating outsourced assets into the final game levels.
-Worked with the Foreground team to identify assets that can be scene or player interactable. Once assets are completed, I was responsible for integrating them into the final game levels.
-Worked closely with the designer and programmers to help prototype levels for an upcoming Naughty Dog release. Created custom blockmesh assets that more closely resemble final art assets at the prototype stage to minimize future rework while still allowing rapid design iteration.
-Reviewed assets from outsource vendors for Kojima Productions game Death Stranding. Responsible for communicating via web based interface with multiple vendors to achieve the high artistic and technical standards required by Kojima Productions.
Freelance Senior Environment/Prop Artist (06/17 - Present)
(Costa Mesa, CA)
- Worked closely with Lead Artist and Art Director to match the unique
style and vision requirements for low to medium poly assets for use in
game and in the Item Viewer in Bard's Tale IV.
- Worked with the lead World Builder to rework preexisting world
building assets to generate damaged buildings and unique variants for
greater visual appeal.
- Upgraded/reworked outsourced art assets to work in Unreal Engine 4
Senior Environment Artist (Contract) (02/17 - 06/17)
Turtle Rock Studios (Lake Forest, CA)
- Modeled and textured all quest hub/settlement areas for upcoming
unannounced stylized dark fantasy rpg Gear VR game The Well.
- Employed extreme low poly modeling and old school texturing
techniques to create assets that performed well within the limitations of
Gear VR hardware
- Created hand painted textures true to the game’s unique “dark fantasy
meets art nouveau” art style
- Worked closely with the Lead Designer to tailor art assets to design
requirements and functionality
Senior Artist (Contract) (7/16 - 12/16)
Digital Domain Interactive (Santa Ana, CA)
- Modeled, textured, world built full environments for upcoming unannounced stylized sci-fi VR experience using 3Dsmax, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and Photoshop.
- Modeled and textured props for above environments referencing concepts from the Art Director
and relevant source material.
- Created set dressings for above environments, showcasing world building abilities.
- Tailored modeling and texturing methods to achieve the stylized look of the project and work well within a VR environment.
- Worked closely with the art director and designers to help bring their vision to reality, make changes when necessary for a better experience, and prototype new ideas quickly and easily.
Principal World Builder (10/15 - 7/16)
Fireforge Games (Mission Viejo, CA)
- Used Unreal Engine 4 to build out levels for upcoming Activision Ghostbusters title for PS4/Xbox One/PC, taking the levels from greybox designer outlines to full polish. Duties include lighting, terrain sculpting and painting, modular asset placement, prop placement, and VFX placement.
-Established world building pipeline, created environment art asset lists and tracked the implementation of assets into the Unreal Engine, working closely with the Environment Art Lead to anticipate possible challenges and adhere to our game metrics requirements.
- Worked closely with the Art Director to conceptualize and then finalize the look of game environments and lighting.
- Worked closely with designers and the Game Director to integrate design requests and changes into the game while maintaining the high artistic standards set by the Art Director.
Senior Environment Artist (12/14-10/15)
inXile Entertainment (Newport Beach, CA)
- Modeled and textured various props for Torment Tides of Numenera using a PBR workflow consisting of 3DStudio Max, Zbrush, and DDO.
- Upgraded existing and created new model and texture assets from the original Wasteland 2 for the Unity 5 engine for the new Director’s Cut version using a PBR workflow.
- World Built and lit new scenes for Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut.
Environment Artist (Mid Level) (6/13-11/14)
Carbine Studios (Aliso Viejo, CA)
- Created custom modeled and textured assets as well as kitbashed assets and props for Carbine Studios’ MMORPG Wildstar.
- Modeled structures and dungeons/raids including Genetic Archives Act 2, Datascape, and Redmoon Terror using Softimage XSi. I was responsible for bringing them from designer created paper maps to final shipped assets.
- Worked closely with concept artists and designers to implement design requirements, as well as create interesting play spaces for the design team to generate ideas from.
- Using Carbine Studios proprietary Genesis World Editor, propped out the entirety of Genetic Archives Act 2.
- Using Carbine Studios proprietary Genesis World Editor, created final lighting pass for the entirety of Genetic Archives Act 2.
- Modeled or Kitbashed various props used in Datascape and Genetic Archives Act 2, with some props having geometry and/or texture animations.
Environment Artist (Mid Level) (6/10-01/13)
Vigil Games (Austin, TX)
- World built interior and exterior levels, rooms, dungeons, and vistas for Darksiders 2, bringing them to an art final state starting from from designer built blue room guides.
- Modeled and textured modular assets, using already created textures (kitbashing) as well as custom created textures.
- Created custom assets and textures using Zbrush, 3D Studio Max, and Photoshop (modeled a high poly version of asset, sculpted in Zbrush, and baked down to a low poly version of asset).
- Used Oblivion Editor’s terrain system to create outdoor Overworld areas.
- Worked closely with designers to implement design changes and prove out new ideas.
- Worked within a team to help develop best practice modular set guidelines and standards.
- Created best practice art creation standards and naming conventions for a new breakable system within Vigil Games’ proprietary Oblivion Editor.
Freelance 3D Modeling (2004-Present)
- Modeled and textured various droid characters and created level blocking for Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II for Obsidian Entertainment.
- Gained a solid understanding of next-gen asset creation and optimizations using diffuse maps, normal maps and spec maps.
- Created environment and prop art assets specifically tailored to the Unreal 3 engine, using high poly model data applied to low poly models via diffuse maps, normal maps, and spec maps.
- Improved and expanded upon excellent environmental/organic/mechanical modeling skills, specifically in both high and low poly modeling disciplines.
Sunset Entertainment (Dana Point, CA)
- Designed levels and storyline flow for post-apocalyptic action vehicle game for the Xbox and PS2 platforms, using custom tools to create levels via placing environmental art assets and textures.
- Interfaced directly with project heads at both Sunset Entertainment and the publisher Konami Inc in order to maintain creative direction of project.
- Designed new product presentations for company CEO to pitch to publishers including design documents, mockup artwork, and game technology demos.
Technical Artist (12/01-03/02)
Papaya Studio (Fountain Valley, CA)
- Worked closely with Lead Artist, Lead Designer, and Producer in order to integrate game elements and functionality into the game Whirl Tour.
- Added grind paths to all levels using 3DStudio Max.
- Used custom scripts to adjust and balance main enemy and pedestrian artificial intelligence.
- Updated game design documents over the company intranet on a regular basis.
Jr 3D Artist (06/00-08/01)
Black Isle Studios (Irvine, CA)
- Modeled and applied textures to high and low poly interior and exterior levels for games including Icewind Dale: Heart Of Winter, and Black Isle Studios’ Torn using 3D Studio Max as well as a modified version of the Lithtech 3.1 Engine.
- Obtained a solid understanding and knowledge in the use of programs such as 3D Studio Max, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter.
- Assigned vertex weights for character rigging.
- Acquired valuable and important knowledge of working within a team and consistently producing high quality work within a limited timeframe.
QA Project Supervisor, Senior Tester, Tester (8/97-6/00)
Interplay Entertainment (Irvine, CA)
- As a Project Supervisor: Organized and executed the testing of games for both the PC and console platforms including Messiah, MDK2, and Icewind Dale. Also travelled to Canada to work coordinate directly with Bioware and their testers and managed a team of 6 testers, created and maintained buglists, and updated upper management as well as development on the status of the project regularly.
- As a Senior Tester, traveled to England to coordinate with out of house developers in order to assure the timely completion of the project.
-As a Tester, tested games including Baldur’s Gate, BIS: Planescape Torment, Carmageddon 1&2, Kingpin, Descent 3 etc.