Experience
1987-1992: Freelance Stage Manager, Actor, Set Designer and Illustrator
I toured the UK with several productions. I was acting, stage managing and also designing and making sets, scenery and props. I then painted posters for theatre productions. A high point was producing the poster for a West End production of a Duke Ellington revue called Sophisticated Ladies. My artwork could be seen for a short while adorning the sides of London buses.
1992-1996: Multimedia Designer for Plum Design Ltd, Southampton
Animator, UI designer and programmer on several interactive CD-ROM projects. I subsequently managed a team when I was joined by two other multimedia designers.
Several titles were published, notably A History of Motoring for the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, UK.
1997-1999: Lead Artist at Fube Industries Ltd, Chiswick, London
I was originally hired as an animator but I was later promoted to Lead Artist, managing one of the art teams. Published game: Attack of the Saucerman, on Playstation and PC.
2000-2003: Lead Artist at Blue 52 Ltd, Camden, London
I was a Lead and Technical Artist, responsible for managing one of Blue 52’s art teams, enjoying success with published titles, including the Disney game Peter Pan: Legends of Neverland and Blue 52’s own Stolen.
2002-2007: Self-instigated film-making projects
I am an award-winning film maker.
I had always wanted to make films and by 2002 I felt I had the resources to begin. My first film was entitled Soulflakes and took two years to complete. This was, effectively, my film school.
I subsequently developed several short film projects. Two of them, Topsoil and Corpus Interruptus, went on to enjoy success on the film festival circuit, chiefly in America – winning an award along the way.
2004-2008 and 2011-2015 : Associate Lecturer, Solent University, Southampton
Lecturer on the Computer Games (Art) BA course, and on the Animation BA course.
2008-2010: Lead Artist at Curve Studios Ltd, Islington, London
I was responsible for managing art teams on several game titles including a series of Buzz! games for Sony Entertainment Europe on the PSP, and Curve’s own Explodemon! on Playstation3, released through Sony’s Playstation Network.
2010-2015: Freelance 3D Generalist
I was working as a freelance 3D visualisation specialist: producing commissioned work and self-generated projects. During this period I also returned as associate lecturer for the Computer Games (Art) BA course at the Southampton Solent University.
2015-2016: Teacher, BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Video Games Development
I was approached to start as a teacher on their BTEC two-year course with just three days notice. The course introduces 16-18 year old students to all aspects of the video game industry.
2017-Present: Lead Artist at Travian Games GmbH, Munich, Germany
Responsible for developing and defining the art for Travian Games’ new MMO ‘build and raid’ game titled Arkheim: Realms at War, due for release Q1 2020. I oversee the development of all aspects of art production on the project, from concept to in-game assets.
Software Experience
| Autodesk 3D Studio Max (from version 1 through to current version 2020) | 22 years |
| Autodesk Maya | 1 year |
| Unity3D | 7 years |
| Unreal Engine 4 | 1 year |
| Substance Designer | 6 years |
| Substance Painter | 1 years |
| ZBrush | 5 years |
| Adobe Photoshop | 24 years |
| Adobe Creative Suite (including After Effects and Premiere) | 15 years |
| Microsoft Office Suite | 18 years |
| Microsoft Visual Studio | 3 years |
Skills
Art
- 2D drafting skills: able to create concepts and visualisations
- Comprehensive 3D skills including hard surface modelling and organic digital sculpting
- Creating 3D assets for both real time and pre-rendered/VFX application
- Animation: characters; environment; particle systems
- Video editing and visual effects compositing
Code
- Technical art duties including scripting tools for artists and art pipelines
- Able to author custom shaders in Unity : vertex, fragment and surface shaders
- Able to write code in C# in Unity including editor tools
Managerial
I have experience leading several art teams during my career and I strive to cultivate an efficient, happy team that can deliver the vision of the art director on schedule. I am also an experienced teacher and mentor, taking many artists under my wing over the years.
Communication is my forte, enabling me to produce concise, useful documentation for teams under my purview including mood boards style guides. I have strong organisation skills and I am experienced in agile development.
Films
I am an award-winning film maker. To retain full artistic control I shoot all my films using my own funds (usually a micro-budget) and I write, direct, operate camera and edit to keep production costs low and shooting fast.
Soulflakes (2003 – 83 mins); Topsoil (2005 – 8 mins); Corpus Interruptus (2006 – 10 mins)
Topsoil was awarded ‘The Audience Award for Best Foreign Short’ at the 2005 Santa Cruz Film Festival in California, USA.
Education
Six certificates at ‘O’ Level whilst attending Priestlands School, Hampshire
Three certificates at ‘A’ Level whilst attending Brockenhurst College, Hampshire
My first choice of career was acting. I skipped university and joined a theatre company, travelling the UK.
Interests
Games continue to dominate my free time. With two young children I spend my time playing card games, board games and video games with them. Plus I run a twice-weekly CounterStrike: GO game server, playing with my friends and ex-colleagues from the games industry. Sometimes I go outside.
