EDUCATION

Master of Fine Arts - Aug. 2011 – Dec. 2014, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA

  • Achieved a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in Animation and Visual Effects.

  • Trained under several instructors active in the Animation and Visual Effects industry, such as Pixar, DreamWorks, Blizzard, and Industrial Light and Magic.

  • Accepted into AAU’s Pixar Master Courses taught by Pixar Animators Terry Song, Stephen Wong, K.C. Roeyer, Simon Christen, Brett Schulz, and Tom Zach.

  • Took several 3D modeling courses covering hard surfaces, organic, and 3D printing.

Bachelors of Science - Aug. 2007 – May 2011, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

  • Achieved a Bachelors of Science degree with a concentration in Digital Media.

  • Trained under several instructors with diverse industry backgrounds including animation, broadcast, game design, and graphic design.

  • The Digital Media program covered a broad range of modern day media needs. This includes, but is not limited to:

    • 3D Modeling, Rigging, Animation, Lighting, and Rendering

    • Raster and Vector based imaging techniques

    • Graphic Design and Visual Effects

    • Game and Interactive Design

    • Web Design

EMPLOYMENT

Assistant Professor - August ‘21 to Present, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
Full-Time Lecturer - August ‘21 to May ‘22

  • Currently Teaching Character Modeling, Rigging, & Animation and Performance

    • In Character Modeling, Rigging, & Animation students learn how to design, model, rig, and animate their own 3D character.

    • In Performance, students design another character and take them through the process of 3D modeling & rigging so they can then bring them to life with compelling performances.

    • I’ve also previously taught Intro to 3D and Motion Graphics 1.

  • Undergraduate Research Experience and Creative Activity Mentor

    • I’ve assisted 15 MTSU students receive various levels of grant funding to work on an animated short film of my own creation.

    • These students utilize the skills they learn throughout our program on a mini-production that is treated just like any real-world production would be.

    • We have so far received $9,500 in grant funding through MTSU’s URECA grant funding.

  • Writer & Director on Creative Activity: Half-Dead animated shortfilm.

    • Half-Dead is a retro sci-fi retelling of how King Arthur’s sword was thrust into a rock. The story focuses on the Half-Dead King, Uther Pendragon, as he persists through constant ambush and betrayal.

  • Member of the Media Art’s Scholar’s Week committee which is a week long tradition during which MTSU's academic colleges celebrate scholarship, research, and creative activity through a variety of events and activities. 

  • Member of the Universities’ Non-Violence Committee where we are committed to the principles of nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution.

Remote Character Animator - September ‘23, 3BOHEMIANS, Prague, Czech Republic

  • Animated characters for 3BOHEMIAN’s unannounced projects

    • Animated on a EPIC Grant funded short-film for feature-length pitches

    • Worked diligently with Animation Leads to implement my own reference and ideas while achieving the direction of characters according to scripts, notes, and storyboards provided by the production team.

Remote Character Animator - May ‘22 to September ‘22, Toothy Cow Productions LLC, Nashville, TN

  • Animated characters for Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga

    • This included performance scenes and occasionally cycles to be used by the animation team.

    • Worked diligently with Animation Leads to implement my own reference and ideas while achieving the direction of characters according to scripts, notes, and storyboards provided by the production team.

Remote Character Animator - June ‘21 to August ‘21, Mighty Animation, Guadalajara, Mexico

  • Animated characters for Mighty Animation & Flying Bark’s kid cartoon FriendZSpace

    • This included performance scenes and occasionally cycles to be used by the animation team.

    • Worked diligently with Animation Leads to implement my own reference and ideas while achieving the direction of characters according to scripts, notes, and storyboards provided by the production team.

Graphic Artist - January ‘19 to June ‘21, Nexstar - WJHL - Johnson City, TN

  • Maintained and advanced the graphic brand of the station while creating, managing, and organizing all graphic needs and related files for multiple projects for both News Channel 11 and ABC Tri-Cities.

  • Interacted daily with news management, producers, talent, and directors to successfully create visually compelling pieces to enhance the storytelling process for their daily newscasts. This included, but was not limited to, building full screen monitor graphics, over the shoulder graphics, documentation callouts, maps, mugshots, and information graphics.

  • Troubleshoot and adjust various graphical systems within the station. This covers software and hardware developed by ChyronHego and Adobe.

  • Created assets and designed the brand for specials that were aired. This includes, but is not limited to, logo design, animated show opens, lower thirds, and full screens.

  • Responsible for coordinating and designing the following:

    • Web ads for the sales department’s clients.

    • Graphics for promotional content for the marketing department.

    • Graphics for social media and web with our digital journalists.

  • Implemented a complete graphical overhaul to our on-air graphics. Graphics given by corporate were customized to make our station stand out from sister stations as well as competitors. I worked with various departments to ensure that all graphics fit their each specific need.

Adjunct Faculty - August ‘19 to May ‘21, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

  • Taught Principles of Digital Animation for ETSU’s Digital Media Program. This course covers the basics of animation and gives the students an introduction to the robust 3D program Maya.

    • In this course I instructed students to model, animate, simulate, and render using a modern 3D workflow.

Adjunct Faculty - Jan. ‘18 to May ‘18, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

  • Taught Multimedia Production for ETSU’s Media and Communication program.

    • We covered a various selection of media tools and techniques ranging from Blogs, Podcasts, Photography, Film, Photoshop, Premiere, Spark, and Dreamweaver.

Educational Media Specialist - Sept. ‘15 to Jan. ‘18 – King University, Bristol, TN

  • Supervised the One Button Studio; assisted faculty, staff, and students to create professional lectures and presentations.

  • Guided faculty and staff to incorporate modern media standards for higher learning. This was achieved through workshops, training videos, and one on one training sessions.

  • Provided the Learning Commons team with any digital content creation they needed. This includes, but is not limited to: brochures, e-mail newsletters, on-campus advertisements, and documentation templates.

  • Created and ran a workshop to train faculty and staff on modern media standards. This workshop is titled “Creating and Editing Engaging Videos for Online Courses” and covers multiple ways for faculty to create instructional videos for their online courses. Over my two years at King this workshop has evolved as newer resources become available in the ever-changing field of digital media.

Adjunct Faculty - Spring ‘16 & Fall ‘17 – King University, Bristol, TN

  • Designed and taught Introduction to Web Presence and Social Media Strategy for King’s Digital Media Art and Design program.

  • Lectures covered HTML and CSS along with WordPress as platforms to create portfolio websites.

  • Introduced students to web design resources and multiple alternative services for creating websites.

  • Provided students self-marketing skills specifically for modern social media platforms.

Presentation Specialist - Nov. ‘13 – Sept. ‘15 - Williams Lea / Bain & Co., San Francisco, CA

  • Worked directly with Bain & Co. Marketing Specialists to create engaging and informative presentations for their vast number of clients.

  • Responsible for PowerPoint deck edits and creations. Complex graphing/charting in Excel.

  • In charge of all video editing jobs that came through. Also trained the team on how to use modern video editing software.

  • Supervised myself in a closing shift where my time was mostly spent alone; time-management skills were crucial.