FAQ
Where are you from?
I am originally from in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. I moved to southern California in 2007 to begin my art student career and just never left!
What about your academic career?
When I was growing up, I didn't take many formal art classes. I think in high school I took 1 semester of art (maybe 2) but beyond that I was self taught. Upon finishing high school, I knew I wanted to attend an art college but I was very far behind for the schools I wanted to attend. I spent the next 3 years at my local community college taking as many art classes as I could while also getting transfer credits and continuing to apply to my desired art schools. I was accepted into the animation department at the Laguna College of Art and Design in 2007 and I graduated from there in the winter of 2010.
How did you get your start as a character designer?
I was really fortunate! I was leaving school during a major economic downturn caused by the housing crisis in the late 2000's, so jobs were hard to come by. While in school, a teacher noticed me and my work and when I graduated, he reached out to offer me a job at a mobile game start up studio he had just founded with 3 of his former Blizzard coworkers. When I began, the studio only had 8 people at most and since it was very small we all had to wear many hats. I was hired to do character animation and VFX but I also did character design, prop design, background design, storyboards, ideation, UI and anything 2D art related that they needed. I feel very lucky to have had a job where I felt like I was able to continue to grow right out of school. While this was my first job as an artist, my first official character design job would come several years later on a little known adult animated show called "High School USA!" for Fox ADHD. It wasn't much, and I think a good chuck on the episodes were so over the top they never aired, but I got my first IMDB credit and learned so much!
What studios have you worked for over the years?
I have been fortunate enough to work and freelance for many of the largest studios in the industry including Cartoon Network, DisneyTV, Hasbro, Mattel, Warner Brothers, Bento Box, Game Loft, Fox, Jakks Pacific, Blizzard and more!
Did you ever do an internship?
I did! During my college years, I was lucky enough to intern at Cartoon Network on Genndy Tartakovsky's "Sym-Bionic Titan".
As a character designer, what does your process look like?
First I need to know who the character is. A brief description or script is very important. As a character designer, we need to design with thoughtful decisions and intent. Part of the job is using visual short hand to tell us who a character is. Once I have that I begin looking for reference and inspiration. I then begin doing early exploration, thumbnailing out ideas and expressions with a real focus on pose, proportions, and shapes. But I don't spend to much time on these. They are just quick, very loose doodles that can easily be thrown away or discarded if they do not serve the overall direction. Once I have some good explorations out of the way, I will move on to some very rough sketches. Character design is a process. If you are working with a client or for a studio, you will receive feedback and there will be a back-and-forth collaboration. Eventually, a final design is decided and from there on out is production art! Creating turnarounds, expression sheets, special poses, redresses, mouth charts, and other assets and materials that will be needed by the team in order to keep characters on model and consistent.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find a lot of inspiration in the games I play, the books I read, the places I travel and so much more! I love ancient mythology, space and the paranormal so you will find a lot of those themes in my art.
Who are some of your favorite artists?
There are so many! And many of them have inspired me in one way or another. A few who immediately come to mind include Claire Wendling, Chris Sanders, Yoshida Hiroshi, Studio Ghibli, Cartoon Saloon, Mucha, Bill Presing, Bruce Timm, Loish, J.A.W. Cooper just to name a very few!
Do you prefer to work digitally or traditionally?
My job requires I work mostly digitally but when I am working on stuff for myself I prefer traditionally. I feel so much more connected to my work when I am working with paper, pencil, marker and pen. I can often times be found cafe sketching with a pencil pouch full of all sorts of different traditional tools.
Do you have advice for future up-and-coming artists?
Yes! Draw every day. You can't get better unless you build up that pencil milage. Don't be afraid to be wrong or do a bad drawing. Everything can be a learning opportunity. And if you can, find community either in person or online! Find or start a sketchgroup, find a discord for critiuque and feedback. Its very hard to develop and grow in a vacuum. Plus its just more fun to grow together.