Ken Proudfoot
Technical Art / Animation / Rigging / UI
Santa Clara, CA 95050
408.835.0788


My Portfolio:
http://portfolio.kenproudfoot.com

References:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenproudfoot


 

Highlights:

·         15+ years in Video Game Development.

·         17+ shipped titles (N64, PS1, PSP, XBOX, Wii, iOS [iPhone and iPad], Facebook).

·         BFA / MFA Film (CG Animation) degrees from CalArts.

·         AA Graphic Design degree.

·         Maya, Max, MEL scripting, JavaScript, PHP, CSS, HTML, CS (Adobe), Unity3d fluent.

·         Extensive rigging and animating experience. Responsible for rigging vehicles/characters on numerous high profile licensed titles from Pixar, Disney, and THQ.

·         Management and Team ‘Lead’ experience (Responsible for 2 to 20 artists/designers.).

·         Experience building/designing/evaluating engine/editor development tools as well as artist DCC workflow tools.

·         Experience implementing 3rd party interchange file formats (Collada, FBX, VRML, etc.).

·         Experience with Facebook Canvas and Apple iOS Provisioning and set up.

Employment:

    • Technical Art Director                                                                        June 2011-present
         RealifePlus, Inc:
      Responsible for managing art team, art pipeline support. UI flow (UIX) design as well as UI Art. Created Maya tools for exporting clothing items into Unity3d engine. Perform various web/IT related functions. Responsible for Apple iOS device provisioning and Facebook app integration.
    • Technical Art Director/ Artist / Co-founder                                          Dec. 2008-May 2010
         Portable Zoo, Inc:
      Defined art tools and processes. Created art workflow tools for Maya artists. Llead small team of artists and designers. Worked on level design, sound design and implementation. Created a full ‘track’ system which allowed users to create their own racetracks on iOS.
    • Lead Technical Artist                                                                         Feb. 2009-July 2011
         Hooked Wireless, Inc:
      Designed the art-side of proprietary editor for creating 3D worlds and UI on mobile devices (used by Google and Audi). Created/implemented art and UI. Worked with clients to define product solutions. Provided remote training/demos for clients.
    • Principal Technical Artist                                                                      June 2004-Nov. 2008
         Locomotive Games, Inc:
      Lead technical art team as part of ‘Advanced Technology Group.’ Co-designed proprietary editor/exporter system to replace RenderWare- used on multiple shipped titles. Designed and created animation system and rigs for a FPS (Red Faction for Wii). Created object placement tool (Maya) for Destroy All Humans. Did all rigging and character development for Pixar’s Cars and Ratatouille for PSP.
    • Senior 3D Animator                                                                                                 1998-2004
         Pacific Coast Power & Light, Inc:
      Modeled/Textured characters and environments. Lead animator/rigger on MX (motocross stunt racing) and Power Rangers titles. Art Lead on MX Superfly franchise.
    • 2D Artist                                                                                                   Mar. 1996-Oct. 1996
         PIXAR, Inc:
      Responsible for UI, Localization, and various artwork on 2D versions of popular kids titles (Toy Story).
    • Graphic Artist                                                                                         Feb. 1995-Feb. 1996
         Growing Up In Santa Cruz:
      Created magazine covers (monthly) and overall article/ad layouts for various client ads.
    • Graphic Artist                                                                                                           1993-1994
         Ryan Ranch Printers:
      Responsible for all layout and artwork designs. Worked on brochures, menus, etc. Pre-press preparation.



Education:

·            M.F.A. degree: Film/Video- Major: CG Experimental Animation   Calif. Inst. Of the Arts - 1998

·            B.F.A. degree: Film/Video- (Experimental Animation Dept.)   Calif. Inst. Of the Arts - 1996

·            A.A. degree: Graphic Design   Monterey Peninsula College – 1993

 

Games Experience:

 

·            Personal Shopper™ (iPad/Web)

·            Companion Style Studio™ (Web/Facebook) [currently in pre-beta] 

·            Bubble Bubbles™ (iPhone)

·            Boomerang AR™ (iPhone)

·            Tripletters™ (iPhone)

·            Karuki Rescue!™ (iPhone)

·           Letter Bug™ (iPhone)

·           Red FactionTM B.E.A.S.T. cancelled 10/08  (Wii )

·            Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed© (Wii)

·            PIXAR's Ratatouille© (PSP)

·            PIXAR's Cars© (PSP)

·            Power Rangers: Dino Thunder!© (PlayStation 2/GameCube)

·            MX Superfly© PS2 (PlayStation 2/XBOX/GameCube)

·            MX 2002© PS2 (PlayStation 2/XBOX)

·            WWE Crush Hour© PS2 (PlayStation 2)

·            JetMoto3© (PlayStation One)

·            Nuclear Strike© (Nintendo 64)

·            Road Rash© (Nintendo 64)

·            PIXAR’s Toy Story Animated Storybook© (PC)

·           PIXAR’s Toy Story Activity Center© (PC)


Skills:

Tech:
Assisted engineers in creating proprietary engine, editor, and exporter for multiple studios. Experience designing and maintaining an art pipeline for multiple target platforms. Created various Maya tools via MEL scripting language. Experienced in (and enjoy) pre-production Art Tech R&D. Recently created and maintained a central repository of Rules and Process for the studio artists. Trained artists on current and emerging technologies and techniques where applicable to the platform and tools. Studio contract manager for Autodesk (responsible for communicating with Autodesk on all Maya bugs and software issues).

Art:
2D Shell and UI design/flow/implementation, 2D and 3D animation, character rigging, character & environment modeling, and texturing. Animation tree/system FSM design and character rigging for games from racing, to platform, to shooters; in resolutions from FMV to handheld to high res consoles. Worked with license holders throughout the art approval process on multiple titles including PIXAR, Disney, Google, and Audi.

Programming/Scripting:
Maya MEL scripting (various production scripts, as well as some available on creativecrash.com), HTML/JavaScript, WDL, UnityScript, PHP. I have experience setting up mail, ftp and HTML servers, as well as wiki, forum, and blog-type network based applications. Extensive web design/ development experience, have set up MySQL and PHP dynamically driven styles.

Management:
Team leadership. Lead Tech Artist for Advanced Technology Group (Art pipeline, art process/specs documentation, efficiency design, tech development, artist training). Asset management, Asset scheduling, creation of initial art asset lists from design docs. Lead artist on multiple shipped, licensed titles (managed approximately 8-15 artists). Worked closely with Production, Design, and Engineering teams to facilitate new tools to streamline the overall development pipeline.

Software/Hardware:
Maya, Photoshop, Unity3D, 3DSMax, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, MS Project, various proprietary apps, Quake-based (BSP) level editors, Unreal engine. Experienced with PlayStation© 1, 2 & PSP, XBOX©, Wii©, and iOS/xcode development environments. Experienced in iOS and Facebook development and provisioning.

References available upon request.
More recommendations/References can be found at LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenproudfoot