2009-01-29T11:56:00.000-08:00

Michael "Rusty" Drake
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drakeimages.blogspot.com
netrust9@yahoo.com

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Work Experience

Freelance Artist______ Sept 2011 - Present
HOME OFFICE, Gainesville, Florida
Environment, Character, and prop Conceptual Design. In-game asset creation. UI Design and asset creation. 3D Modeling of props and characters.

Creative Director______ Apr 2011 - Aug 2011
TRIBASE STUDIOS LLC., Gainesville, Florida
Creative Direction, Art Direction, Conceptual design, 3D Modeling, UV Layout, and Texturing for level environments, characters, skyboxes, and props for iOS game “Requiem“. Also created all of the cinematics and sound effects.

Lead Concept Artist______ July 2009 - Nov 2010
IGNITION ENTERTAINMENT FLORIDA, Gainesville, Florida
Conceptual design for level environments, characters, and props. Design storyboards and cinematic storyboards. Environment and Prop creation using 3D Studio Max. Texture creation and UV mapping.

Art Director______ April 2008 - July 2009
VIRTUAL SPACE ENTERTAINMENT, San Anselmo, California
Provided Art Direction for virtual world creation within the Crytek Engine. Conceptual design for virtual world environments, characters, props, and foliage. Design storyboards and storyboeards for film. Matte Paintings for use in-world. Used Adobe After Effects to create motion graphics for billboard displays. Created buildings, characters, props, and animations using 3D Studio Max. World/Environment creation in Crytek Engine. Texture creation and UV mapping.

Artist ______ July 2005 - March 2008
STORMFRONT STUDIOS INC., San Rafael, California
Conceptual design for level environments, characters, and props. Design storyboards and storyboards for cinematics. Matte paintings for use in-game. Used proprietary software (BARD) to create in-game cinematics. Used Adobe After Effects to create conceptual/design gameplay animations. Prop creation and animation using 3D Studio Max. Final artwork creation for use in original IP pitch documents. UI and HUD concepts and art implementation. Creator and Art Director of original IP now known as “Escape Plan“.

Artist ______July 2004 - June 2005
CRYSTAL DYNAMICS, Menlo Park, California
Conceptual design for level environments, characters, and props. Design storyboards and storyboards for interactive movies. Prop creation using 3D Studio Max.

Principal Artist ______February 1998 - May2003
THE 3DO COMPANY, Redwood City, California
Designed characters from concept images to final control art for use in model creation for main game characters as well as creatures and NPC's. Created illustrations and storyboards, both traditionally and digitally for use in video games, magazine advertisements, promotional materials, and box covers. Animated using Adobe After Effects for cinematics. Utilization of 3D Studio Max to create low polygon characters, game objecs, and vehicles. Directed cinematics from storyboards to final renders. Worked as main contact and manager of outside vendors on numerous projects. Layout artist and colorist for Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse comic.

Colorist ______ December 2000 - 2006
DISNEY ADVENTURES MAGAZINE, New York, New York
Coloring interior comic pages for Little Gloomy and Kid Gravity comic book series.

Colorist ______ June 1999 - 2005
SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS, San Jose, California
Cover Art Coloring for Little Gloomy comic book series.

Concept Artist ______ December 1996 - February 1998
ESPECTRA MEDIA, INC., West Los Angeles, California
Illustration, game design, character creation, model making, environment design, brochures, corporate identity, EMI web site design programming and implementation.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES COMPANY, Los Angeles, California
Environment design, illustration for "Star Trek the Experience".

AEON PRESS, Berkeley, California
Illustration, cover art, and computer coloring for comic series.

PROP'ER EFFECTS, Culver City, California
Prop design (McHale's Navy), Costume Manufacturing, Model Making (Starship Troopers).

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PROGRAMS / SKILLS

Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects
3D Studio Max
ZBrush
Crytek Engine, Unity Engine
Painter
Sound Forge
ACID
Visual communication and concept creation skills focusing on character, environment, and component ideation and design in varying styles and level of realism.
Strong ability to conceptualize and think in 3D.
Ability to create sequential art as with comic books and storyboards.
A strong understanding of the creative process in the video game entertainment field.
Low poly modeling and texture manipulation in Max.
Able to give accurate and productive critiques of other's work in 2D, 3D, animation, and sound.
Can direct a task (such as a high polygon character with rigging and morph targets) from concept to completion successfully.

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EDUCATION

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California
Degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration with emphasis on Entertainment Design.

California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
Illustration and Design courses.

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GAMES

Shipped

Battle Tanx
Battle Tanx 2
Sarge's Heroes
Sarge's Heroes 2
Army Men - Weapon X
Protal Runner
Army Men - Air Attack
Warriors of Might and Magic
Dragon Rage
Godai
Sarge's War
Demon Stone
Eragon
Spiderwick
Tomb Raider Legend
Escape Plan
Requiem

Un-shipped (Tech Demo or Prototyped)

Motocross Game
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Wicked
Gemini
Supercharge and Kilowatt
Crime Lords
Zombies
Darkstar
Virtual World NeauVenice, Qin Tomb
FPS (currently in production)

Game Pitches

Espectra
Khan
Justice
Nether
Fog City
Angel Wars
Runner
Professor Gorkin
Marvel X-Men
Doctor Zamzy

Comic Books

Filthy Habbits
Xray
Little Gloomy (Disney Adventures Magazine)
Kid Gravity (Disney Adventures Magazine)
Portal Runner (with Dave Devries)
Four Horsemen (with Simon Bisley)
Blue Shift (with Dave Devries)

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References Available Upon Request

DrakeImages Resume