Resume & CV
Software Knowledge:
Traditional CG Tools
Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Blender, Modo, Zbrush, Mari, Substance, & Clarisse
Rendering Software
VRay, Arnold, Renderman, PDI Renderer, & Mental Ray
Game Engines
Unreal, Frostbite, Unity, & Q3 Radiant
Scripting
TCShell & Python
Work Experience:
VFX Supervisor, Goodbye Kansas AB; Stockholm, Sweden – 2022–Present
I work closely with the Producer and Director to guide the most appropriate creative and technical solutions to ensure that game cinematics and long-format animation can deliver on their brief. I plan and supervise the motion capture shoot on set to ensure that VFX needs are considered when shooting the actors and stunt performers. I work in collaboration with the CG Supervisor, Production Designer and/or Art Director to interpret the script, helping to define Director’s vision. I am responsible for quality control of all VFX work, aesthetic consistency, and technical standards across all departments and I enforce standards through mentoring, team meetings and dailies. I diplomatically guide the Director towards VFX solutions that will efficiently gain final approval while delivering on the artistic brief. I also collaborate with Pipeline/R&D teams to ensure we have the tools necessary to deliver on the most complex aspect of the brief. I also lead meetings with VFX Departments and will relate all Directorial, Editorial notes and address artistic/technical issues. I am responsible for identifying key members of the crew including potential Supervisors and am actively involved in the recruitment process in collaboration with HR/Recruiting.
Credits Secret Level - Single Episode (Coming Soon), Total War: Pharaoh - Teaser Trailer - https://goodbyekansasstudios.com/work/total-war-pharaoh/
CG Supervisor, Lucasfilm Animation; San Francisco, CA – 2016–2022
I supervised multiple Emmy winning series’ within the Star Wars franchise. I regularly consulted and strategized with the VFX Supervisor on visual goals, technical feasibility, and design of production-friendly solutions that would maintain the vision of our various shows. I supervised internal/external shot production in the areas of Asset Creation, Mattes, Lighting, FX, and Compositing on a regular basis and approved shots for submission to the Director and/or VFX Supervisor. I was an integral part of the Lucasfilm leadership team and actively participated in the recruiting and staffing of the generalist teams. I assessed the work of prospective candidates for the hiring process while constantly evaluating the technical requirements for the project and the production pipeline. I was responsible for finding/proposing solutions that were in concordance with the R&D Director, Production Coordinators and other department Supervisors.
Credits Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (S7), Star Wars: Rebels (S3 & S4), & Lego Star Wars: Terrifying Tales (Consulting Director of Photography)
Senior Lighting Artist, Zynga; San Francisco, CA – 2015–2016
I was part of an executive management team led by the Chief Visual Officer. I was responsible for reviewing/critiquing lighting quality, dev, and pipeline across all game teams. Additionally, I supported multiple game teams doing material & look-dev work as well as lighting proof of concepts. I was also integral in the mentoring & training of our various game teams on lighting technique, cinematography, and lighting theory.
Senior Compositor, Atomic Fiction; Oakland, CA – 2015
Was responsible for all compositing and shot management for all of my assigned shots. The work ranged from complex green screen extractions/integrations, face replacement, paint FX, and digimatte extensions. In one shot (The Walk) I even recreated about 250 frames to convert a complex crowd shot from sunlit to overcast using sequential (by hand) paint in Nuke.
Credits Game of Thrones (S6), The Walk, San Andreas, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, & A Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
Senior Lighting Artist, EA Visceral Games; Redwood City, CA – 2013–2015
I was responsible for lighting design, look-dev, and lighting execution for single-player levels. This would consist of placing lights, fixtures, FX for lens flares, light volumes, etc. and other props using the Frostbite Engine. I created an inordinate amount of scriptable events including scripted time of day cycles, film exposure, and custom lighting environments for multi-camera in-game cut scenes.
Credits Battlefield: Hardline
Senior Lighting Artist, Sledgehammer Games; Foster City, CA – 2013
I was responsible for lighting design, look-dev, and lighting execution for single-player levels. This would consist of placing lights, fixtures, FX for lens flares, light volumes, etc. and other props using the custom modified Radiant Engine. Additionally, I partnered with the rendering engineer to establish realistic exposure values (EV) for night based lighting environments and performed real-world testing to establish actual data - capturing all sorts of sources ranging from skies to vehicle headlights.
Credits Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Senior Compositor, Industrial Light & Magic; San Francisco, CA – 2012–2013
Was responsible for all compositing and shot management for all of my assigned shots. The work ranged from complex green screen extractions/integrations, face replacement, digimatte extensions, to complete CG composites.
Credits Star Trek Into Darkness
Compositing Lead, Digital Domain Media Group; Port St. Lucie, FL – 2011–2012
Along with our VFX Supervisor, I was primarily responsible with leading a team of about 15 compositors and another 35 artists within the VFX division. As there was no named Comp Supe, I was responsible for many studio-wide initiatives as well as hiring, mentoring, and pipeline architecture. At times, I would review all dailies (from all departments) in the absence of our VFX Supe and would run daily rounds to ensure that the Supe’s notes were being hit. Additionally, I composited several of our high profile shots (some with upwards of 200 elements) and was primarily responsible for the look-dev for these shots and how they would be propagated to the rest of the show. I was personally nominated for a VES for the NY Mets promo spot: Ball Unleashed.
Credits Rock of Ages, Heads Up Display - New York Mets (client), Ball Unleashed - New York Mets (client) (VES NOMINEE), Amazin’ 2 - New York Mets (client)
Lead Lighter/Compositor, Dreamworks Animation; Glendale/Redwood City, CA – 2005–2011
I worked for 2 years as a Production Lighter before being promoted to Lead Lighter in 2007. As a Lead Lighter, I was responsible for lighting key shots to match Lighting Concepts. These key shots would then be converted into lighting setups which I would distribute to each of the 5 Production Lighters on my team. I would then supervise & mentor these lighters to help them finalize their assigned shots. On Megamind, I acted as our show-based Compositing Lead and partnered with FX, Matte, and Lighting Depts. to establish a new Nuke pipeline and to create sequence comp setups for several complex sequences. Additionally, I composited several key FX shots - often coordinating with 5-6 different FX artists on a single shot. I was published for my contributions in a Siggraph paper titled, Lighting Metro City at Night.
Credits Puss ‘N Boots, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury (TV special), Night of the Living Carrots (TV special), Megamind: Button of Doom (DVD short), How to Train Your Dragon, Merry Madagascar (TV special), Monsters Vs Aliens, Madagascar 2, Megamind, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Over the Hedge, Over the Hedge (Wallmart commercial campaign).
Compositor, Warner Brothers Animation; Sherman Oaks, CA – 2005
The compositing here required the winterizing of several brightly lit summer shots. This entailed a great deal of sky replacement as well as integration of CG snow on the ground and in the air. Plates were also rebuilt/cleaned in Shake to remove unwanted contrails and other distinguishing details.
Credits Four Brothers
Compositor, Digital Domain; Venice, CA – 2004–2005
I was one of the first hires for Stealth and was primarily responsible for Compositing, extensive look-dev, and setups. The compositing for Stealth consisted of extensive green screen extractions, many full CG shots, helmet visors, FX (clouds, smoke, explosions) and complicated 3D re-projections in which pilots were reprojected into CG cockpits.
Credits Stealth
Compositor/Lighter, WOT Inc; Van Nuys, CA – 2003–2004
I composited approximately 100 shots for the film on an extremely tight schedule. I was a mentor for less experienced artists and tackled the totality of the “Jennings Lab Elephant” sequence by myself.
Credits Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Lead Lighter, Electronic Arts; Los Angeles, CA – 2002–2003
Lead Lighting, Lighting tools/pipeline prototyping & testing. Modeling/Texturing of game assets. Skybox Design/Creation as well as UI/HUD Design.
Credits Medal of Honor - Pacific Assault, Medal of Honor - Rising Sun,
Lead Designer/Art Director, Termite Games; Malmö, Sweden – 2001–2002
This was a startup consisting of between 6-9 people. I wore a variety of hats doing everything from Level Design to Sound Design to Art Direction, Multiplayer Game/Level Design, Production Design of all levels, text, graphics, UI/HUD Design, Sound Design, as well as Editing & Motion Graphics for tech demos, trailers, etc. I was also responsible for Lighting/staging of character models for publicity and in-game graphics.
Credits New World Order
Compositor, PDI/Dreamworks, Palo Alto, CA – 2000–2001
Roto, Paint, & Compositing.
Credits A.I. Artificial Intelligence, People I Know, Hong Kong Phooey (Test), The Mexican, The Deep End, Witches Broom (Test)
Resource Coordinator, PDI/Dreamworks; Palo Alto, CA – 2000
Scheduling for Editorial and Flame Departments. Worked closely with Production Engineering to monitor farm usage. I also managed artist resources and worked closely with Production Management in maintaining the master production schedule.
Credits The Legend of Bagger Vance, Mission Impossible 2 (uncredited)
Customer Service Rep/CQC Tester, Electronic Arts; Redwood City, CA – 1999–2000
I mostly answered troubleshooting calls from gamers who couldn’t get their games to run. This included DOS and Windows based games. I also worked with game teams in Beta Testing games for internal QC Review.
Education:
Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA 1995-1997 - Illustration/Computer Arts major
Traditional Illustration
Figure Drawing
Design & Color Theory
Photography/Cinematography
Editing
Additional focus on Computer Graphics and Character Animation.