Welcome to my website.

I am a professional production artist living and working in Los Angeles, CA. I am currently employed by Canon Communications LLC. Most of my time is spent at work but I do get a chance to do freelance work. This website is a place for me to showcase those projects and share them with you. Your input is always welcome. Please take a look at my work by clicking on the icons at the bottom of the screen. Don't forget to send me an email by clicking on my email address in the upper right hand corner or clicking on the envelope icon. Enjoy the site.

My Biography

I was born and raised in Michigan. Like many people who hand code their own websites, I was a geek. Technology has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. My family bought a computer when I was around ten. I have fond memories of picking up the phone and hearing the odd screeching noise and then my Father yelling, "Who picked up the phone?" He was even more upset when he found the computer taken apart and strewn all over the office floor. He eventually forgave me after I put it back together and added more memory.
My life didn't really get interesting until I moved to New York City to attend The School of Visual Arts. There I excelled in photography, my major, graphic design, and social studies. In art school I was no longer a geek. Or at least I couldn't tell because I was surrounded by them. If I wasn't in the darkroom I was in the computer lab. My computer skills really came in handy at the time. Photography was going digital. Well, it already was, but there were still some people resisting the change. I was able to work with some amazing people. Everyone I was working with came up with their own solutions to various problems and brought them back to share with the group.
Experimentation was the norm. During the weekends I remember working on my video project in the morning, making color c-prints after lunch, mixing up custom developers using pyro-galol around dinner, after a quick snack going back to the lab to start a few After-effects renders, and closing out the lab making palladium prints. I wasn't always that busy but it sure seemed like it.
After graduation, the skills I had developed in school helped, but it was my ability to work with computers, and particularly Photoshop, that helped me find work. Not looking for a serious job that would tie me down, I temped and freelanced as a retoucher, photographer, and a production artist. At the time I really wanted to become a photographer and I still enjoy the craft. But I soon became disenchanted with the industry. For the most part I was a temp for advertising agencies. It was in this environment that I learned pre-press techniques, color consistency, and the importance of neat and tidy files.
Soon it became clear that the real world would come crashing down on me. I promptly avoided the responsibility by teaching English in Korea. I had a really great time in Korea. I was basically paid to play games with kids all day and then hang out with interesting people from all over the world in the evening. The Korean countryside is incredibly beautiful and a hiker's dream. My favorite thing to do was to travel around the country by rail or bus and hike the trails through the mountains. I met all kinds of people, from gangsters to priests— all of them gracious beyond compare.
Nine months had passed and my student loans were looming over me. It was clear I had to return to the states and get a "real job." So I did, or rather attempted to. I had the idea I would move home and get a job in Michigan. However, it was the fall of 2007 and unemployment in Michigan was around 10%. Not able to get a job that I would like, I saved some money and made a change in scenery. I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about on the West Coast. There were plenty of positions I was qualified for, and for a Michigan boy, the weather was very promising.
Now here I am. Two weeks after I moved to Los Angeles I was hired at Canon and have been there since. I live near the beach, bike to work, and slowly pay off my student loans. Life is good.

My Resume

Professional Experience:

• Canon Communications LLC, Production Artist, 01/08-Present, Los Angeles, CA
• My primary responsibility at Canon is pagination. With four other people, I have to keep a production line going that starts with raw text and graphics and ends with a printed magazine for 29 publications. An average day includes laying out pages utilizing templates, processing images, building detailed illustrations from multiple media types, building tables, making edits/corrections requested by over 20 editors, fixing ads, troubleshooting, exporting editorial content to HTML via XML/XSL, printing proofs, building classified ads, post-scripting files for print, updating templates, and taking care of the occasional custom job. I use Indesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, Photoshop CS3, DreamWeaver CS3, Microsoft Office, and a multitude of other programs.

• CES Academy, Conversational English Teacher, 12/06-09/07, Gimhae, South Korea
• I taught 5-6 classes a day of conversational English to kids ranging from 6 to 16 years of age. I learned some Korean as a result.

• BMG / Columbia House, Production Artist, 07/06-11/06, New York, NY
• My primary responsibility was to scan, separate, and proof CD labels using Quark Xpress and Photoshop CS2. I also retouched and placed images into catalogs using Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, and Cumulus Assets. This was a temporary position facilitated by a staffing agency.

• The 7th Art, Graphic Designer / Production Artist, 01/06-06/06, New York, NY
• At this position I had multiple responsibilities. I did retouching, page layouts, web animation, map layouts, mechanical production, PowerPoint presentations, film editing, DVD authoring, and image research. I used Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2, Flash MX, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, and PowerPoint. This was a temporary position facilitated by a staffing agency.

• Quad Imaging, Retoucher, 06/05-09/05, New York, NY
• I was responsible for retouching and creating clipping paths for images in many magazines, mostly Condé Nast publications. I used Photoshop CS1 exclusively. This was a temporary position facilitated by a staffing agency.

Education:

• Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA 06/09-Present
• I am currently taking online classes to work on my web design skills. My focus is on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

• The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 09/02-05/05
• B.F.A. Photography, recipient of the Chairman's Award Scholarship, GPA: 3.5, featured in the 2005 Mentor Exhibition.

Strengths:

Career Goals:

• I want to learn as much as possible and develop the skills I need to produce the highest quality product I can and continue to by keeping up with advancing technologies. I would like to eventually advance to management where I would help implement streamlined work flows based on Six-Sigma principles.

Hobbies:

• Running, yoga, strength training, swimming, hiking, traveling, photography, cycling, skydiving, and always looking for a new adventure.