Overview of Past Career, Skills and Origin Story
When I was 16 I bought myself a Nintendo Game Cube for my birthday. From that moment on I was obsessed, and spent many hours on a variety of games like the Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Tales of Symphonia and Ty the Tazmanian Tiger to name just a small sample. As I became more engrossed in the world of gaming I started reading Nintendo Official Magazine in the hopes of getting more news about the eagerly anticipated Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. In one edition there was an article about careers in gaming, one section of which was on becoming a game artist. There were some samples of concept art from CTR and information about University courses specifically for games art. This was my spark of motivation and I made it my mission then to pursue a career in video game art.
Several years later I was accepted on the Computer and Video Games course at Solent University where I took my traditional drawing skills and learned how to apply them to digital media. I was first exposed to Adobe applications like Photoshop and Illustrator and delved into the world of 3D art in 3DS MAX. It was an intense 3 years of education and development that would set me up for a future in video games art.
My career in gaming has spanned for 14 years at the time of writing. In that time I've had some truly great opportunities to make visually stunning contributions to the world of mobile gaming and some projects that I will look back very fondly on. For the first portion of my career I was working at Finblade Ltd in 2010 in the early days of iOS games. During my time there I had a very generalist art role and created 2D, UI and 3D art and animations for a wide variety of mobile games. One of the most notable was Hasbro's Battleship which was a great opportunity to work with a high profile brand. We also did smaller puzzle games like Ninja Ranch and Sci-Fi Movie Quiz which allowed me a lot of creative agency and will always be remembered fondly.
After 5 years I found myself back in my hometown of Southampton doing a contract role for the Moment Content Company, creating training materials for cruise boats. While this was an unexpected turn I met some wonderful people and had a lot of fun working with them.
Much though I was attached to the team though I was keen to break into games again joined a small and close knit team at BetDigital, integrating online slot games onto land based platforms and even getting to take ownership of creating brand new art for Caribbean Quest. This was a brilliant project which I was able to create all the new artwork and animations for, an opportunity like no other I'd had before which I truly relished and enjoyed. My time there was a highlight in my career thus far.
After a couple of years working on slot games I decided to push for roles in mobile gaming, with the aim to get to grips with Unity and work more in engine, something I wasn't going to be able to do in my previous role. I finally got my chance to do that at Fuzzy Frog, a Nottingham based studio. There I embarked on my first UI artist role and very rapidly learned about UI implementation in Unity with a lot of independent learning. I would be applying those skills to Doodle Jump Space Chase, the next Doodle Jump game which would take the franchise into 3D. There were ample opportunities to work directly in the game and build the concept artists' vision into in-game assets and animations. It was a fast paced couple of years which taught me so many helpful skills.
With newfound expertise under my belt I was approached by NaturalMotion Games, my current employer, for a role on CSR2. I was a bit daunted by the prospect of working for such as huge game but recognised the chance for growth and development so I went for it. It was worth the effort as I've been with the company now for 6 years and have made a big visual impact on events in CSR2 as well as spending a year on StarWars Hunters, my first title that was cross platform on mobile and console. I'm currently on a journey creating a new unannounced game with the company and am enjoying being part of an inclusive and talented team of people.
Breakdown of Skills
Adobe Applications: Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects
Mock up and animation pre-vis for UI screens, widgets, Icons, game HUDs and other UI elements. Events and themed art creation and graphic design for CSR2. Screen, widget and animation pre-vis revamps for Star Wars Hunters. Creation and management of assets and adobe libraries. In game animations and VFX for slot games.
Unity UI implementation and animation
Building UI screens from the ground up using native Unity UI tool set. Applying dynamic scaling, Unity animations, sprite sheet creation and management, optimisation for mobile platforms and bug fixing. Marketplace, daily goals and gameplay HUD implementation on Doodle Jump Space Chase on mobile, Event panel and widget implementation on CSR2, complete screen creation on an unannounced project. Familiar with Perforce integration. Ongoing improvement and training through regular workshop sessions.
Experience on multiple platforms: Mobile, PC and Nintendo Switch
8 years working on mobile casual F2P titles, 1 year working on Star Wars Hunters primarily on Switch and mobile, 3 years working on an unannounced title for PC and Mobile. Accounting for different input types for cross platform projects. Working with UX and following wireframes.
Graphic design
Spearheading the visual style and identity of the American series and Europe series in CSR2, a long running set of events which utilised a racing festival aesthetic. Iterating on design compositions and colourways to create a visually striking and unique in game event which set the bench mark for further events going forward. Collaborating with 3D artists to refine and perfect the composition to best complement car imagery. Contributions to branding identity and logo creation. Using graphic design skills to create attention grabbing compositions for further events using character art, car liveries, typography and colour.
Familiarity with game development pipeline
6 Years at NaturalMotion in a role with complete immersion in an agile working environment. Proactive in seeking feedback and review from peers and feature owners. Working closely with other disciplines such as UX, Product Management and design to ensure visibility is kept and requirements are met. Working with production to ensure time is managed efficiently and that tasks are estimated.
Working to a style guide
Keeping and maintaining an outlined and consistent style throughout the UI. Working with licensing specialists and providing approval documentation for review by external IP owners. Responding to feedback and requirements.
UI best practice
Highly developed sense of UI best practice accumulated from years of working in this field along side other talented and accomplished professionals in the UI arena.
Senior level responsibilities
Frequently in charge of mentoring more junior team members and providing training to help with on-boarding. Running and taking ownership of play test sessions while encouraging active participation from others. Collating feedback and bugs . Providing feedback and guidance on the work of more junior UI artists. Providing a weekly art report for leads and directors. Contributing to presentations for team wide meetings and stakeholders. 6 months of training on the Torch leadership programme.
Unreal 4 implementation
1 year working on Star Wars Hunters and contributing sprites, bug fixes and some general improvements in Unreal 4.
Animated marketing material
Creating 30 second animated attract videos and menu buttons for slot games using After Effects.
2D generalist and hand drawn art skills
5 years contributing general illustration, pitch artwork, characters, 2D animated sprites and overall screen layouts for casual mobile puzzle games and board game adaptations at Finblade Ltd. In game asset creation for board items, buttons, menus and themed backgrounds. Experience in a fast moving and varied generalist role. Further 2D art creation on a tablet device for backgrounds, symbols and marketing material for cabinet based slot games. Complete ownership of the art creation for Caribbean Quest, an original slot game which required touch deck UI creation, Caribbean themed environment art and symbols with a variety of values.
3DS MAX modelling, texturing, rigging and animation
Character modelling and UV unwrapping in 3DS MAX. Creating texture art in photoshop, character rigging and animation. Facial expression and animation using morph targets. 2D split pin style character animation. Game board modelling and rendering for Battleship.
Personal interest in digital drawing and painting
Much personal time spent improving and refining digital painting skills using a Cintiq device and Adobe Photoshop. Passion for stylised art and cartoon styles seen in Pixar and Dreamworks animated movies.
Employment History and Released Titles
NaturalMotion, Senior UI Artist, 2019 – present
• CSR2 – Car racing and collection game on mobile
• Star Wars Hunters – Competitive PVP game on Nintendo Switch and mobile
• Unannounced Project – current unannounced racing game on PC and mobile
Fuzzy Frog/ Hugo Games, UI Artist, 2017 – 2019
• Doodle Jump Space Chase – A 3D instalment of the popular game Doodle Jump on mobile in association with Lima Sky
Betdigital, 2D Graphic Artist, 2016 – 2017
• Caribbean Quest – Original cabinet slot game on Inspired General platforms
• Mermaid of the Nile, Treasures of the Pyramids – IGT owned online slot games which were integrated onto land based platforms
The Moment Content Company, Media Developer, 2015 – 2016
• E-learning and maritime training programmes on mobile and web.
Finblade Ltd, Artist, 2010 – 2014
• Battleship, Operation and Pictureka – Collection of classic Hasbro board games adapted and developed for iOS
• Puzzler Magazine – Conversion of the popular puzzle magazine into an iOS game where puzzles can be purchased in packs
• Ninja Ranch – Original stylised and illustrated casual puzzle game based on Shikaku for iOS
• Grooveyard – Original stylised and illustrated puzzle game based on Shikaku for iOS
• Sci-fi Movie Quiz – Casual multiple choice quiz game for iOS which tests the players movie quiz knowledge • Wordsearch – stylised word search puzzle game for iOS
• Headcast – Broadcasting and social media tool for celebrities like Stephen Fry and Tom Daley
Portfolio
Thanks for visiting my online portfolio. For ease of navigation I've divided my work examples into digital art and art tests, mobile games, slot games and animations. For some more info about me and my skills and experience simply keep scrolling. To contact me I can be reached on my LinkedIn profile.