Qualifications

Able to creatively develop a variety of characters using different mediums, specializing in 3D modeling and digital sculpting.  Having a strong background in traditional art helped build a sturdy foundation for my work in 3D.  Ability to take direction from others as well as leading and encouraging groups through good communication skills and by example.  Consistently produced AAA characters for different teams with tight deadlines.  Driven to push my skills and expectations with every project I work on.

Experience

Monolith Productions  (part of WB Games)
Character Artist    (March 2010-present)

-Created cinematic and in game characters for 3 different projects (one concept project and two AAA projects).  Helped encouraged tool development for current project  that enhanced characters and character workflow (shaders and exporting tools).  Collaborated with current team members to create the design of the characters.  Gained the respect from my colleagues and studio to work on more significant characters (major characters and villians).

Contract work for ACES (Microsoft) through Filter, Inc.
Character Artist    (Aug. 2008- Jan.2009)

-Worked on background characters for TrainSim 2.  Took existing assets and cleaned them up to fit our character variation system.  Added a new set of heads (male and female) for a wider range of characters, while sticking to the technical boundaries of the game, but pushing the asethetic and appeal of the characters.  Worked on side projects to help promote the studio; these projects were seen by some of the top people in Microsoft.  Started working on a set of animals and high res characters.

Digipen experience (Sept. 2004-present)

-Tutored students in areas such as modeling, unwrapping uvw, texturing, rigging, skinning, and animation.  Acted as a liaison between students and teachers to help build a better program.  Given lectures on character creation.  Was part of a few team projects, while in school, where I had a lead role.  I created schedules, gave weekly tasks, and designed our workflow, on top of my art related tasks.

Skills
3dsmax(4.5 years)
-Modeling, Animation, Rigging, UV Unwrapping, Texturing, Lighting
Maya (2.5  years)
-Modeling, Animation, simple rigging, UV Unwrapping, Texturing, Lighting
Zbrush (3.5 years)
-Exporting Normal, Displacement, and Bump maps
-Digital sculpting and painting

PhotoShop (8 years)
-Creating  textures ranging from cartoony to realistic, digital paintings, photo manipulations
Flash (5 years)
-Creating animations, some action scripting
Drawing (15 years)
Sculpting (5 years)
After Effects (3 years)

Education
Bachelors in Arts in Production Animation   (2004-200
DigiPen Institute of Technology   3.58 GPA     Redmond, WA
*Graduated with honors
Bachelors in Studio Art    (2001-2003)
Eastern Washington University   3.6 GPA      Cheney, WA

I’m a character artist working in the Redmond/Seattle area.  I focus on the Modeling/ Texturing aspect of character creation, but have ventured into most areas of the character pipeline, (Animation, Rigging, Rendering.)  I keep a healthy balance of cartoony and realism in my work.  I’m currently working at WB Games in Kirkland, WA as a character artist.  If you would like to talk about anything games or 3D related, give me an email:  artistwill@gmail.com  Enjoy.

Here’s the final short: