Biography
Born and raised in Los Angeles, I spent 25 years as a multimedia designer for several companies, both corprate and non-profit. I've helped to teach teens and adults alike. I earned two different art degrees with the original intent to get into character design for video games, before I reconnected with my creative desire to create worlds in table top role-playing games. I honed my existing skills and I continue to add new skills to help me in my journey as an artist and worldbuilder.
My love for the sci-fi and fantasy stories started at an early age, being introduced to Dune, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Star Trek, and they drove me to read/watch/ingest more of it. I learned about the Hero's Journey and narrative arcs. I knew that the challenges these characters faced didn't define them as much as how they overcame them. It was a lesson I took to heart. And, for the first time two years ago, I became a published author of a compendium for D&D, and I'm in the process of completing my second book.
My favorite part of the creative process is collaboration, working with others and bouncing ideas off one another. 'A rising tide rasies all ships,' as they say. I learned the value of constructive criticisms and always walk away from them. I've seen a Jackson Pollock painting in person at The Met, read comics books as a child, listened to Mozart and Metallica. I draw my inspirations from the world around me, the people in them, and the stories they have to tell. I want. to tell my stories, and if I can inspire one person to do the same, then I'll know I've helped to spread that creative joy.
Skills
Roles
- Mastery
Software
- Mastery
- Mastery
- Mastery
- Mastery
- Mastery
- Advanced
- Intermediate
Other Skills
- Mastery
- Mastery
Work Experience
2017 – Present day
Imaging Tech - Digital Asset Management
NBC Universal (Universal City, CA)
Process marketing material, set and event photography, and scanning of images and documents for annotation and archive.
2015 – 2015
Graphic Designer - Freelance
Goodwill International (Los Angeles)
- Ad hoc graphic design for booklets, brochures, posters, wall and floor vinyl decals, banners, and movie theater standees
- Digital design for social media formats and digital assets for use on Web sites and Web banner ads
- Video editing, animation, and audio production for front- and back-end animated slates
2011 – 2014
Digital Content Specialist
Source Interlink Media (Irvine, CA)
- Process publications from InDesign into XML format for use by digital distribution, both in-house (Web sites, apps, mobile media) and licensing (3rd party content subscribers)
- Manage Quality Assurance production schedule for XML processing
- Contribute to creation and maintenance of in-house QA error reporting database
- Lead company-wide initiative to update InDesign templates to Adobe CC for Art Directors and MS Word Templates for editorial staff, including formal training sessions on new templates and metadata changes
0010 – 2011
Production Designer
ColorAd (Rancho Dominguez, CA)
- Design mailing circulars for various retail clients with distribution nationwide, as well as Canada and Mexico
- Develop template ads for quarterly/semi-annual design catalogs for various themes, holidays, and miscellaneous sales, large-format projects such as banners, posters, window clings, Spider X-stands, and easels
2003 – 2008
Senior Multimedia Designer
Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner) (Arlington, VA)
- Work with internal stakeholders to produce high-end multimedia projects and internal projects for clients and members using a variety of media, including Web (HTML, CSS, and Flash), video, audio and print
- Act as design lead on projects, including managing and delegating work to team members and working in collaboration with other designers and managers
- Contribute to general production guidelines of Flash projects to ensure better communication between designers and consistency of projects across the team
- Develop Flash templates for two corporate-wide and client-facing initiatives: an introduction and walk-through to the new member Web portals, and a marketing/sales presentation
Education
2010 – 2013
Bachelor of Science
FullSail University
Game Art
Focused studies on the development of character art for video games. Leanred technicques in 2D and 3D, including applications such as ZBrush and Maya.
1992 – 1999
Bacherlor of Art
California State University, Long Beach
Illustration
Focused studies on fine art techniques with an emphasis on book illustration