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
I taught on the Computer Games (Art) BA course, and on the Animation BA course. I maintain strong links with the course leaders at the university.
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
Totton College approached me to start as a teacher on their BTEC two-year course at very short notice in September of last year. The course introduces 16-18 year old students to all aspects of the video game industry. I am currently course leader.
Software Experience
| Autodesk 3D Studio Max (from version 1 through to current version 2016) | 17 years |
| Autodesk Maya | 1 year |
| Unity3D | 4 years |
| Unreal Engine 4 | 1 year |
| Substance Designer | 3 years |
| Z Brush | 2 years |
| Mudbox | 4 years |
| Adobe Photoshop | 21 years |
| Adobe Creative Suite (including After Effects and Premiere) | 12 years |
| Microsoft Office Suite | 15 years |
Skills
Art
- 2D drafting skills: able to create concepts and visualisations
- Comprehensive 3D skills including hard surface modelling and 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 writing MaxScript tools for artists
- 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.
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
Interests
Games and film continue to dominate my free time. I run a twice-weekly CounterStrike: GO game server, playing with my friends and ex-colleagues from the games industry. I am also continuously exploring ideas for more short films with a view to assaulting the film festival circuit once more.
