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Full name
Michael McDonald
Title
Sr. Artist at Weta Gameshop / Magic Leap
Location
Wellington, New Zealand
Biography
As a game developer with over 10 years of experience I have had the opportunity of working with some very talented teams over the years, creating content for a wide range of games that are enjoyed by millions of players every day.
Throughout my career I have been involved in all stages of game art development from pre-production right through to live service updates. I have also had the pleasure of working with other internal and external teams including Engine Core, Marketing, Legal, Creative Services, and Publishing as well as having a working background in film, TVC's, web and print.
12 Shipped Games:
• Need For Speed: No Limits (iOS/Android) – Lead Environment Artist
• Real Racing 3 (iOS/Android) – Mid-Level Artist
• Need For Speed: Most Wanted (iOS/Android) – Mid-Level Artist
• Mass Effect: Infiltrator (iOS/Android) – Mid-Level Artist
• The Sims: FreePlay (iOS/Android) – Mid-Level Artist
• Dead Space (iOS/Android) – Mid-Level Artist
• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (iOS/Android) – Mid-Level Artist
• Need For Speed: Nitro (DS) – Outsourced Artist
• The Sims 3: World Adventures (iOS) – Outsourced Artist
• Path of Exile (PC) – Environment Artist
• Petanque Pro (Wii) – Technical Lead Artist
• World Sports Party (Wii) – 3D Artist
Specialties
Photo-realistic or stylised art asset production, (environments/characters/vehicles/props), High/low poly modeling/sculpting, Texturing and material shaders, Real-time and pre-rendered lighting, Concept art, Look development, Level greyboxing, VFX, UI graphics, Key art, Game optimisation, Bug fixing, Pipeline maintenance, Documentation, Task planning/scheduling, Art direction, Team leadership/mentorship, Agile scrum meetings
Experience
Sr. Artist
Weta Gameshop / Magic Leap
Working with amazing people and technology to help create new and exciting Mixed Reality gaming experiences. (more information once NDA’s are lifted)
Lead Environment Artist / Sr. Specialist Artist
Electronic Arts
• Conceptualising, greyboxing, modeling, texturing, lighting, optimising, polishing and delivering real-time art assets and level environments for high budget game titles on iOS and Android.
• Working closely with the Sr. Art Lead to ensure all art across the project is consistently high quality and meets our high level objectives.
• Supervising environment artists by providing mentorship, constructive feedback, art guidelines, reference materials and documentation, as well as hosting scrum meetings, assisting with sprint planning, and task scheduling.
• Collaborating with internal and external teams including: Game Development, Engine Core, Marketing, Legal, Creative Services and Publishing to help plan and produce exciting new game content and improve upon art tools/pipelines.
• Providing look development images, proof of concepts, visual target images, pre-vis videos, and case studies to assist with the projects visual direction.
Mid-Level Artist
Electronic Arts
• Modeled and textured real-time environments, characters, vehicles and props for a wide variety of game titles on iOS and Android platforms.
• Collaborated with designers and Art Leads to ensure environments were effectively facilitating gameplay, free of bugs, and of high visual quality.
3D Artist (Contract)
Tin Man Games
• Provided outsourced art assets for IronMonkey Studios and Firebrand Games.
• Created environment models and textures for games on iOS and Nintendo DS.
Environment Artist (Contract)
Grinding Gear Games
• Created tileable environment assets to support procedurally generated levels.
3D Artist (Technical Lead)
Mere Mortals
• Created cinematics and real-time art assets for game titles on Nintendo Wii.
• Established lighting methods and art optimisation techniques for the team.
Art Lead / Co-Founder
Disyi Arts
• Helped manage the business direction of a small start-up games studio.
• Directed a small art development team to create our own original IP.
Art Tutor
Bubble Dome Ltd
• Taught 3D art skills to students and other teachers.
• Prepared and managed lessons and lectures.
Education
Graduate Diploma of Game Development (Art Stream)
Media Design School
• Recipient of the Sidhe Interactive Scholarship for 2006.
Diploma of Multimedia
Natcoll Design Technology
Skills
Photoshop (14+ years), Maya (11+ years), 3ds Max, ZBrush, Modo, Quixel Suite, Substance Painter, After Effects, various rendering engines, in-house proprietary tools
Awards
| 2012 | Best Mobile Graphics , IGN |
| 2012 | Mobile & Handheld – Nominee , BAFTA |
| 2008 | Best Animation , 48Hour film festival |
| 2006 | Sidhe Interactive Scholarship , Media Design School |
| 2004 | 2nd place in a nationwide TVC competition , The Edge Radio Station |