My Portfolio Pages
I was born in Zanesville, Ohio and grew up just southeast of there in Crooksville. As a child I had an interest in art and was facinated by the realism that artists could produce with just a pencil. I soon became excited about animation. I loved the Warner Bros and Walt Disney cartoons. My favorites were Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck.
I grew up wanting to be an artist and an animator but not knowing how to become one or even how it worked. So, I began drawing characters. I loved to find cartoons in magazines, newspapers, comic books, even the TV Guide and draw every one I found. Eventually, I could draw most of them by heart; but I was really good at drawing what I saw.
After a few years of trying to earn a living doing whatever presented itself, I saw an advertisement for The Art Institute International. I thought their drawing test looked easy, so I went online to check them out. To my surprise, it only took them a week to get back to me after I filled out the entrance application. In their reply was an acceptance letter. Within a few months I was on my way to Pittsburgh and the Art Institue of Pittsburgh where I would study Computer Animation and Multimedia. Please see my graduation demo reel here.
After graduation I applied for several jobs to no avail. Feeling as though my education was just an expensive piece of paper, I went back to doing jobs that I felt comfortable with that didn't pertain to my degree.
My first opportunity to actually use my knowledge came from an ex-professional wrestler that my dad met through a message board. The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase had put together his own mini wrestling federation which he named The Power Wrestling Alliance. Ted wanted to use footage taken from one of his shows and cut it down into a :30 second
After making the commercial for the Power Wrestling Alliance I produced a three minute introduction video for another ex-wrestler, The Russian Nightmare Nikita Koloff. For that video I had to cut clips from old footage and use magazine photos to paste together the video. I also added sound and a 3D animated intro and ending.
It wasn't until several years later that I was again able to use my degree skills. My next skill job was as an art teacher for under priviledged kids. The satisfaction of just helping the students and learning from them was a just reward for my effort. After that, I moved on to freelance work with a local printshop. The work there was minimal so I started working for temporary service agencies to get by.
When I got my job working for the State of Ohio I thought my career as an artist had totally vanished. Then I discovered that working for the State has it's benefits. One of of them is paid tuition through the Union. So I had to take advantage of that. I started taking classes to update my old degree and to learn new skills.
Thanks to that decision, in addition to computer animation, graphic design, video production, and photography skill sets, I've added web design to my repetior. I've built some websites for a couple friends and myself and am now working with a real estate agent helping him expand his marketing campaign with newsletters, fliers, html emails, and by creating other marketing products.
My goal is to get a job that will allow me to use and enhance my current skills and to learn new ones in an effort to advance to the highest level possible within that company.
Hardware Skills
Software Skills
Graphic Design Software
Web Design Software
3D Design and Animation Software
Video Editing Software
Sound Editing Software
Office Software