RESUME
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3326 Cattaraugus Ave. Culver City, CA 90232 310.849.6920 robstahldesign@gmail.com
QUALIFICATIONS
Hands-on Art Director with over 20 years of video game development in both large and small company cultures. Experience on wide range of products: PC and Console AAA quality products, Online Virtual IP’s, and Mobile Apps. A Founder in various Start-Up Companies, entrusted to build and lead art teams by utilizing agile development, quick prototyping and whatever it takes to deliver. Above all else: a constant seeker of fresh design and stunning visual inspiration.
SOFTWARE
◦ Unreal 3, Unity 4, Maya, 3dsmax, Photoshop, Autodesk Sketchbook Designer, Ndo
EXPERIENCE
Studio Art Director
Marquee Productions, CA April 2012 – August 2013
Led a top-tier team of artists in creating the visual tone and features of MarqueeWorld. Oversaw all creaitve including UI, environmental, characters, and animation.
◦ MarqueeWorld (Unreal 3 – PC/Mac Online, Mobile) – A new entertainment platform, where well-known and emerging artists/bands can perform in this richly detailed world.
◦ Directed a 6 man art team to create highly themed and authentic environments, while pushing the limits of event based animations and user interactivity.
◦ Project “X”(Unity/Online) – A mature IP set in an urban sci-fi landscape 30 yrs. in the future.
◦ Drove the art team to create a visual bar showcasing the architectural design language and optimal world building techniques in Unity.
Art Director
Trilogy Studios, CA July 2005 – March 2012
One of the 6 founding members and Art Director, was responsible for the management of the studio art team and the conceptual design for all of Trilogy’s 3D projects and intellectual properties.
◦ Kung Fu Panda World (Flash/Online) – Worked closely with DreamWorks Animation to create the look and feel of this children’s MMO.
◦ Designed the locations/props, layout and game-play interactions/scenarios for each of the worlds backgrounds – illustrated several backgrounds/additional themes where needed.
◦ Provided creative and technical direction to manage Trilogy’s outsourcing partners to ensure the consistency of the background art.
◦ Despicable Me Storybook App (iOS) – Created the scene/animation storyboards and lead the illustration team to deliver this whimsically, fun movie franchise to the mobile platform.
◦ Virtual World Projects for MTV ( There.com engine/Online ) – Developed new techniques to bring next gen quality to a DX8 platform. Vertex Lighting, Shadow Maps, Particle Fx, and Character Shaders.
◦ Next-Gen Title FPS “Daybreakers” (Unreal 3)- Created the conceptual design, world layout and art direction for this future/fantasy shooter.
◦ Lead a small team of background, character and FX artists to create game-play demos and a visual vertical slice of the game to pitch to publishers.
Art Director
Electronic Arts Los Angeles, CA Jan 2003 – April 2005
◦ Medal of Honor Pacific Assault (PC) – Led the MOH Art Team to bring visceral yet nostalgic visual story telling to the War in the Pacific.
◦ Managed an Art Team of 30+ artists working with Art Leads and Development Directors.
◦ Worked with engineers to develop art pipelines that automated foliage and terrain creation.
◦ Early in the project I created background game assets and terrain to provide “proof of concept” demos to help define project scope and art creation techniques.
◦ Medal of Honor Airborne (PC, Next-Gen) – Established the art direction style (Kristallnacht – Crystal Night) and lighting theory before moving on to Trilogy Studios.
◦ Worked with the concept team to create illustrations and direction that depicted the tone and emotion of the new Medal of Honor franchise.
Art Director
Savage Entertainment, CA July 1998 – Dec 2002
As the fourth founding employee and Art Director, was responsible for the management of the studio art team and the conceptual design for all of Savage’s projects and intellectual properties
◦ 007 : Nightfire (PS2, Xbox) – Responsible for the art direction of two driving levels (Snowmobile and Swiss Alps) under the leadership of the EA Vancouver Dev. team.
◦ Learned and utilized EA’s Eagle game engine to lead an art team of 8 to design the layout of game-play paths/roads, create all art assets and bake in final lighting.
◦ Jurassic Park 3 (PS2, Xbox – not released) – With no visual reference from the 3rd movie from which this game was based, developed the look of the environments and prop/vehicle/weapon industrial design from the previous two movies.
◦ Worked with the engineering team to develop Savage’s game engine and art pipelines.
◦ Co-created game play scenarios with the Lead Game designer to fully visualize and exploit the game engines feature set.
◦ Heavy Gear 3 (PC– not released) – Based on the board game and the foundation of the previous 2 titles, was responsible for taking the franchise into next-generation graphics by utilizing advanced shaders and lighting.
Art Director
Activision, CA March 1996 – June 1998
◦ Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle (PS1) – Brought on to refocus the art direction of the project before it was potentially shut down. Within 2 months, there was renewed faith in the project based on demos illustrating a new visual direction, features and art pipelines.
◦ Worked with design and engineering teams to push the engine graphically, while working within the PS1’s technical constraints.
◦ Led a team of 8-10 artists to develop game levels, animations and effects.
◦ Considered a vital hire in Activision feeling secure with investing in Savage Entertainment as one of their new satellite studios.
Art Director
Xatrix, CA April 1993 – Feb 1996
◦ Cyberia 2 (PC) – Based on the visual style and art techniques of Cyberia 1, drove the art team to develop more complex environments, detailed vehicles and game play scenarios.
◦ Cyberia 1 (PC) – conceptual designer at the start of the project, responsible for all the vehicles, weapons and environments. all the material/lighting you see in the interiors in Cyberia 1 were all painted in the texture maps.
EDUCATION
◦ Art Center College of Design
◦ Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design (Transportation) – with Honors
◦ University of California Santa Cruz
◦ Undergrad