From an early age on I have aspired to work in the animation industry and bring characters to life. My passion for drawing started when I was very young. Both of my parents worked as graphic designers and illustrators, which made for a very creative family and upbringing. Disney movies and cartoons eventually drew me to animation and in the summer of 2011, after moving continents and graduating college in Canada, I turned that childhood dream into a reality.
In the initial years I was able to gain a lot of valuable experience animating on various TV shows, ranging from an Irish live-action hybrid to a series for Disney XD. This broadened my repertoire of styles.
In 2014, after a few years of freelance and contract jobs, I was hired for my first role as an Animation Supervisor, which led me to relocate to Vancouver and work in-house at Atomic Cartoons. It was there, in 2017, that I had the opportunity to take the next step in my career, by serving as Series Director for a Marvel Animation show.
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After an incredible four season run and with the pandemic in full swing, I looked for something new and in early 2021, I was brought on as the Supervising Director of Animation at Relish, which has afforded me many great opportunities to learn and grow.
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One of these opportunities was leading an initiative to explore the potential benefits of Unreal Engine in a 3D production pipeline for the studio. While my collage degree encompassed anything from traditional animation to level design in Unreal Engine, my career had mostly been focused on 2D up to this point. However, in the summer of 2022, I had started developing my first video game inside Unreal Engine, which allowed me to apply the knowledge and skills I had been acquiring to my work at Relish.
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Today, as I navigate the ever-evolving landscape of the animation industry, I am extremely excited by the possibilities and tools that make it easier than ever for people to be creative. Relish allows me to keep growing in my role, while my game development project constantly teaches me more about programming and game development.
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MY
STORY
â–ª Director
â–ª Animator
â–ª Artist
â–ª Game Developer
SKILL
TREE
Hover over the skill topics to find out more.
Direction
â–ª Directing projects from start to finish
(creative brief to final delivery)
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â–ª Delivering projects that meet & exceed expectations
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â–ª Working with Writers to create exiting scripts
â–ª Directing Voice Actor performances
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â–ª Leading full animated TV production crews
(Artists, Animators, Composers, Sound Engineers, and
more)
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â–ª Take on additional roles on lower budget projects
(Art Director, Storyboard Supervisor, Voice Director)
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â–ª Balancing production constraints with client expectations
(Project quality vs. budgets and schedules)
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â–ª Evaluating art & animation job applications
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â–ª Interviewing & recommending candidates to be hired
ANIMATION
â–ª Expert understanding of the 12 Animation Principles
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â–ª A keen eye for detail
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â–ª Mastery of the 2D paper cut out animation style
â–ª Traditional animation training
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â–ª Years of TV production quota experience
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â–ª Experience on a variety of project types
( 52x11min style TV shows, trailers, YouTube shorts, etc.)
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â–ª Adobe Animate & TB Harmony working experience
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â–ª Understanding of Unreal Engine 2D pipeline
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â–ª 2D Character animation & limited 2D animation
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â–ª Some experience animating in 3D
ART
â–ª Ability to adjust to different art style
(from realistic portraits to stylized cartoon characters)
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â–ª Comfortable drawing anything
(Characters, Props, Environments, Turnarounds, etc.)
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â–ª Comfortable with digital & traditional mediums
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â–ª Understanding of 3D Modelling & Texturing
LEAdership
â–ª Leading crews of up to 40 people
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â–ª Leading a studio initiative to develop a production
pipeline utilizing Unreal Engine
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â–ª Creating a safe and welcoming work environment
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â–ª Allowing every crew member regardless of seniority
to have a voice.
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â–ª Understanding that a great leader listens
TEAM PLAYER
During my career, I've had the opportunity to work with many amazing people. Not only Animators and Artists, but also Actors, Composers, Editors and more. From the beginning it was clear to me that everything you do as an individual matters, as every single scene passes through many hands before reaching the audience.
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As a result of this, workflow, efficiency and organization have always been at the top of my list, as the work I can do can greatly affect the workflow and efficiency of teammates down the production pipeline.
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From a director's perspective, I've always prided myself on creating a work environment that encourages teamwork and collaboration, allowing every member of my crews to make their ideas and feedback heard.
Communication
â–ª Communicating with the client
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â–ª Relaying the client's feedback to the crew
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â–ª Giving clear revision notes to the crew
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â–ª Conducting kick off & revision meetings
From receiving and applying feedback myself, raising concerns or challenges to leadership, to giving feedback and communicating the client's vision and feedback to the teams, communication is a big part of my job and career experience.​
TEACHING
â–ª Leading animation workshops for production crews
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â–ª Conducting one on one animation lessons
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â–ª Creating the outline of an extensive 2D animation
resource for a studio
Software Proficient
â–ª Adobe Animate / Flash / Macromedia
â–ª Toon Boom Harmony
â–ª Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, Procreate
â–ª Premier Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve
â–ª Blender
â–ª Unreal Engine
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Throughout my career and for many of my personal projects I have the need to learn a plethora of software packages.
Quick Study
â–ª Quick at grasping complex concepts
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â–ª Picking up new skills comes easy
In 2022 I decided to learn how to make a video game with zero coding knowledge (outside of HTML and CSS). I downloaded Unreal Engine and within a few weeks I had a basic character controller and within a year a working prototype.
I learned how to use Unreal Engine's blueprint system to code the game, while gaining basic understand for any software that I would need in the moment, such as Blender, Gaia, Substance Painter and more.
I am continuing on this journey almost daily, learning new skills and concepts as I go.
PRAGMATIC
The understanding of how productions work, what their constraints are, such as budgets, schedules or crew talent, coupled with my knowledge of animation and art, allows me to meet and exceed the clients expectations.
I strive for quality within the means of a production. Challenging the crew where appropriate, managing client expectations where necessary and pushing the limits of the schedule where possible.
MULTI LINGUAL
â–ª Native German speaker
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â–ª Native level English
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â–ª Learning Spanish
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â–ª Expert understanding of the 12 Animation Principles
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â–ª A keen eye for detail
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â–ª Mastery of the 2D paper cut out animation style
â–ª Traditional animation training
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â–ª Years of TV production quota experience
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â–ª Experience on a variety of project types
( 52x 11min style TV shows, trailers, YouTube shorts, etc.)
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â–ª Adobe Animate & TB Harmony working experience
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â–ª Understanding of Unreal Engine 2D pipeline
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