Experience

• Senior Art Director at Black Tower Studios

  Tokyo

  July 2022 - Present

  Studio Art Director providing conceptual design and art direction on unannounced PSX5 titles.

• Art Director at Niantic

  Culver City, US

  February 2022 - July 2022

  I worked as an Art Director on HAMLET in collaboration with Punch Drunk to create an AR game for their newest theatrical release. My responsibilities included running dailies and art reviews, contributing to and reviewing concept art, assisting artists with technical and design problem-solving, and establishing the look of UI Art.

  I collaborated with the London team on-site and remotely to create a unified style and look for the game while aligning our artistic vision.
  
  By offering new art solutions, I reduced the scheduled 14 months of production time by altering the cinematic design and process, strengthening Niantic's relationship with Punch Drunk.

  I also played a crucial role in realigning art goals and building stronger relationships with Punch Drunk through transparency and collaboration, leading to better approval processes. As a result of our hard work, we completed our primary production goals in time for our internal deadlines before the project was canceled.

• Senior Creative Art Director at Amber

  Guadalajara, MX

  February 2022 - July 2022

  Art Director on TETRIS BEAT: Directed the production of art assets, and created style guides, in-depth write-ups, and visual breakdowns for each song. Designed visuals to synch with audio experience, mentored artists, marketing art (including logo), UI design, and problem-solved art-related tasks. I traveled onsite to train the Mexico team, and Art Directed remotely, securing approvals and helping the team stay on schedule.

• Senior Art Director at Firefly Games/Skydance Media

  Santa Monica, US

  May 2019 - November 2019

  I worked collaboratively with Firefly Games and Skydance Media to develop a mobile game from concept to completion in 6 months) for the Terminator Dark Fate movie, and also Art Directed our team in China.

  Art Duties: From concept to completion, it was my job to interpret how to apply the film's aesthetic, lore, and design conventions to the game by establishing key art, writing style guides (including UI style guide), designing buildings and environment art, illustrations of actors from the film, creating user interface art, providing technical art production problem-solving, as well as translating film material/assets into game-ready production assets, all in 6 months.
  
  Titles: “TERMINATOR DARK FATE” (Mobile)

• Lecturer at CSUF

  Fullerton

  August 2019 - January 2020

  Taught class on Character Design for Entertainment Art. I help prepare senior students for graduation and entry into the professional field. Class lessons cover learning advanced design principles and techniques for creating characters for gaming, comics, toys, and film (with popular brands in mind).

• Production Manager/Designer at Alpha Group/Nickelodeon

  El Segundo, United States of America

  October 2018 - June 2019

  Production Management: Manage all stages of development between domestic licensor Nickelodeon and oversees manufacturing Alpha Group/Auldey Toys in China for SpongeBob SquarePants (animated show and movie) merchandise. From conceptual design to the final product. Duties include documenting design discussion exchanges between Alpha Group and Nickelodeon, tracking of all prototypes for China, NY, and various Toy Fairs, problem-solving design issues, photographing and cataloging of production samples.
  
  Design: Inked linework, illustration, cleanup, and color palettes for conceptual design and manufacturing.
  
  Writing: written work contributed to animated show pitches/new franchise development.

• Conceptual Designer/Writer at Sideshowtoy

  Thousand Oaks

  January 2014 - October 2018

  CONCEPTUAL DESIGNER/WRITER– Sideshowtoy 2014 – current (Toys/Statues/Collectibles/Comics/Games/Film)
  
  Collaboratively developed Court of the Dead franchise, working closely with the creative director, providing concept art of locations, characters, creative write ups for production teams and other writers, as well as style guides, world design, and back story. (Work was produced with Film, Comics, Cartoons, Toys, RPG Table Top Games, and Video Games in mind.) www.sideshowtoy.com/ , www.courtofthedead.com
  

• Art Director at Black Tower Studios

  Tokyo, Japan

  January 2013 - Present

  Management Duties: hiring, training, scheduling, and mentoring of young Artists, as well as managing domestic/foreign outsourcing teams producing models, textures, and marketing materials for various projects on PC/PS3/Mobile Games. Employee reviews, creating short term and long-term goals for artists to work towards, and scheduling those goals into small, actionable tasks that can be addressed daily.
  
  Art Duties: UI design, and creating key art/ concept art to maintain consistency for production.
  

• Art Director at Jet Set Games

  Las Vegas

  January 2012 - January 2013

  Management Duties: Hired to add stability, raise moral, train and mentor artists, and to streamline positive communication between departments. I assessed the strengths of team members, created action plans for improvements where needed, and put them in the best possible situations to succeed at their immediate tasks. I worked with all departments to come up with a unified approach on how to tackle the task of migrating a title from one platform to a new one while staying on schedule. Helped team members learn new skills that assisted them in the advancement of their respective careers.
  
  Art Duties: Concept Art, UI art, Level creation, Character design/modeling/animation, and Illustration/conceptual work for mobile games, iPad, and re-skins of Casino Games (digital slot machines).
  

• Art Director at 4Kids Entertainment

  San Diego, United States of America

  January 2008 - January 2011

  Management Duties: Managed a scalable team giving daily feedback to production studios in Korea, China, France, Denmark, San Diego, and New York for the Chaotic animated show and Trading Card game.
  
  Designed and maintained production forum to manage all artwork, creating/implementing plans for upcoming productions, and mentoring/training younger artists across multiple art disciplines.
  
  Art Duties: Creative/Art Direction for Chaotic Franchise including season 2 and 3 of Chaotic animated show, Trading Card Game, online game, graphic material (including packaging), and all merchandise (toys and clothing). Responsible for picking character color palettes, collaboratively directing all EFX, Designs, and Storyboards, and giving final approval on all art assets for the show, every 24hrs for both seasons 7 days a week.
  
  Animated Shows: Episodes 141-179
  

• Art Director at Gamebryo / Emergent Game Technologies

  Calabasas CA, Chapel Hill NC, United States of America

  January 2007 - January 2008

  Technical and Creative Art Direction for demo group (Calabasas CA, and Chapel Hill NC) to showcase Gamebryo game engine for tradeshows and downloadable demos.
  
  External Art Direction: worked with Acquire Japan and Technicolor to develop a title for PC/Xbox 360/ and PS3 provided writing, illustrating style guides, established production protocols, creation of key art, managing of internal and external studios and contractors, and daily team meetings with Acquire Japan.
  

• Art Lead at EA

  Playa Del Ray, United States of America

  January 2006 - January 2007

  UI Art Lead on Tiberium: a cross-platform title that was developed on the Unreal 3 Engine for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 taking place in the Command and Conquer universe. Daily duties included working with design, engineering, and art, assisting with deadline and demo deliverables, designing, creating, and implementing all UI elements.
  
  Titles: TIBERIUM: X_BOX 360/PlayStation 3/PC (cancelled)

• Art Director at SONY

  San Diego, United States of America

  January 2002 - January 2006

  Brand Art Director- for EverQuest. Included training the internal team on Next-Gen techniques/practices, internal and external art direction of contractors and studios, as well as directing and/or creating all key art (box art, iconic character re-conceptualization, magazine art, etc.)
  
  R&D Technical Art Director, PlayStation3/PC: Prototyped Next-Gen tech, created PlayStation3/PC demos for Sony Pictures and Sony Online Ent. Reported to the VP of SOE, handling presentations for all new IP’s. I was the liaison between new technology and production for teams throughout the company.
  
  • Federal Patent holder for Terrain Simulation Software created for the PlayStation3.
  
  • Worked on the E3 2005 demo: Sony Press Conference unveiling of the PlayStation3. Our team was reporting directly to Ken Kutaragi. (Then-President of Sony Computer Entertainment). We were one of the very first teams in North America to work on the PlayStation3.
  
  • Completed Terrain Simulation Demo for Mr. Kutaragi securing 43 PlayStation3 dev kits for the Seattle, Austin, and San Diego studios at a time when few dev teams in North America had them.
  
  PSP/PC: Worked with marketing, web, and production depts. providing illustrations, renders of new characters, concept art, and managed teams. Provided art direction to in-game cut scenes of Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade.
  
  Titles (In part or in whole): FREE REALMS (PC), UNTOLD LEGENDS: The Warriors Code-PSP, UNTOLD LEGENDS: Brotherhood of the Blade-PSP, EVERQUEST II: Kingdom of Sky-PC, EVERQUEST II: Desert of Flames-PC, EVERQUEST II: PC, EVERQUEST: Lost Dungeons of Norrath-PC, EVERQUEST: Omens of War-PC, EVERQUEST: Platinum PC, EVERQUEST: Gates of Discord-PC, PLANETSIDE: Aftershock-PC

• Senior Artist at Interplaay

  Irvine, United States of America

  January 1999 - January 2002

  Established benchmarks for characters, environments, and textures, and assisted in the optimization of the art production pathway. Responsibilities encompassed all aspects of art production except animation.
  
  Titles: FALLOUT: Brotherhood of Steel-PlayStation 2, RUN LIKE HELL: PlayStation 2, ICEWIND DALE: PC

• Art Lead at EA PAcific/Westwood Studios

  Irvine, United States of America

  January 1999 - January 1999

  NOX: interviewed, hired, trained, and scheduled design and art dept., provided art and design direction, collaboratively worked on the conversion of art from 8bit to 32bit. Expanded from multiplayer-only game to single-player campaigns. Improved (with programming help) collision system and implemented pre-rendered backgrounds.
  
  Red Alert 2: Worked with the producer to interview and train core team, planning the early stages of production pathway of Red Alert 2, and provided art support to the early production of the game.
  
  Titles: NOX: PC, RED ALERT 2: PC