About Me - Who I Am

Well, where to start. I am a super happy guy, all the time. I am typically the optimist of whatever group I am apart of ,and usually the only one grilling and wearing a bow-tie (and yes, not a clip on, I wear and tie the real deal. If you're interested in learning to tie one, let me know. It's not as bad as you think). I love to laugh, share stories, and be involved with many things. Video games, watching movies, and attending soccer games are some of my biggest hobbies. I am really social and take my friendships and relationships very seriously.

About Me - Education and Career

I started perusing my interest with videos in 2008 when I started at the Art Institute of Ohio — Cincinnati. There I got an Associates Degree in Digital Video Production. This allowed me to get a better feel of what part of the video making process I really liked. Funny thing, I hated my first motion graphics class. I thought it was the most terrible and time consuming part of that quarter. Then I ended up digging deeper and deeper into after effects, and by half of the way through my stay at that school, I knew that I had fallen in love with it. Every project I created needed to have some form of compositing or 2D motion graphics in it.

I quickly started to become a big fish in a small pond. I ended up taking leadership roles as a Resident Assistant, Student Ambassador, Video Production Club President, and Teaching Assistant. And to top it all off I left with a bang and got the Best in Show award at the Portfolio Show (nailed it). I made many great friends and professional partners I still work with to this day.

The day came when I graduated and moved to the greater Chicago area and attended The Illinois Institute of Art — Schaumburg. There I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. I was lucky enough to have one of the Residents Assistants leave so I applied and got the job. As I worked my way through the courses I started freelancing on the side of my two jobs at the school, and my night job.

I continued to work and fine tune my motion graphics skills. A quarter or two before I graduated, an internship position at Echelon Design, Inc. opened and the position was refereed to me, per a professors suggestion. I stayed an intern through my graduation until I was a contracted employee. A few years later I took an Animator position at Zynga, Inc. Since working at Zynga, I’ve moved from Flash animation, to Unity animation, and now to Marketing and Motion Graphics work.

Now I continue to work full time and pursue more fun projects on the side. Please reach out and let me know if you are interested Motion Graphics services!

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Education

The Illinois Institute of Art — Schaumburg
Bachelor of Fine Arts for Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, 2012

The Art Institute of Ohio — Cincinnati
Associates in Applied Science for Video Production, 2010

Awards

Communicator Award (2014) Red Caffeine / Ligado Platform Video

Communicator Award (2016) Clearbrook - 60 Year Video

Stevie Award (2016) Clearbrook - 60 Year Video