John W. Shroades
johnshroades@outlook.com | 425-591-7718
Characters, Environments, Concepts, UI, Marketing Art, Management, Scheduling, Agile Development, Interviewing and Outsource Management.
TOOLS
Photoshop, 3D Studio, Maya, Illustrator, Unity, Flash, Marmoset, familiar with ZBrush, Substance Painter, xNormal and Headus UV Layout
EXPERIENCE
Freelance Illustration — Illustrator
JUNE 2004 - PRESENT
Client List Includes: Harper Collins, Scholastic, Random House, Disney, Blue Sky Studios, Highlights Magazine, Upperdeck, Wizkids, Oxford Press, Dutton and many others.
Represented by Shannon Associates for over 10 years.
Job types include: 32 page picture books, teen novels, periodicals and card game art.
PopCap-EA, Seattle, WA — Senior Concept Artist
JUNE 2018 - PRESENT
Plants vs. Zombies Projects: Tower defense game.
Plants vs. Zombies Projects: Tower Defense mobile game.
Concepts for characters and environments.
UI and Marketing art.
Jam City, Bellevue, WA — Principle Artist
MAY 2016 - MARCH 2018
Kitty City: Mobile builder game and other mobile game prototypes.
Art styles and trends evaluation.
Concepts for over 60 characters.
Isometric environments and structures.
Logos, banners, icons and other marketing art.
Glu Mobile, Bellevue, WA — Senior Environment Artist
AUGUST 2015 - MAY 2016
Nicki Minaj The Empire: Celebrity role playing mobile game
Research, concepts, game asset art in Photoshop for isometric exterior environments.
Implemented environment art and executed prop animations in Unity.
Provided technical and artistic guidance to environment art team.
Amazon Game Studio, Seattle, WA — Senior Artist / Art Director / Manager
APRIL 2012 - APRIL 2015
The Unmaking: Castle defense game for Kindle using AppStream.
Art Direction: Led a team of nine in-house artists.
Created style guides and character concepts in Photoshop.
Produced marketing materials, banners and icons.
Photo Agent: Facebook photo puzzle game.
Characters, UI, logo and promotional art in Photoshop and Illustrator.
Managed image acquisition for puzzles.
Gazillion, Issaquah, WA — Senior 3D Character Artist
AUGUST 2008 - MARCH 2012
Super Hero Squad Online : Persistent Marvel MMO squad building game.
Characters: Concepts, Models, UVs and textures using 3D Studio, Photoshop, Unity.
Art direction of outsourced freelance artists for in-game digital card art.
Produced various game proposals using Photoshop, 3D Studio, and Flash.
Vivendi Games, Issaquah, WA — Senior 3D Character Artist / Outsource Manager
MARCH 2006 - JULY 2008
Creature Hunter Persistent MMO pet collecting roleplaying game for China market.
Directed and taught external character art team in China remotely.
Created, scheduled, and managed creature and avatar production pipeline.
Created concept art and 3D models and textures using 3D Studio Max and Photoshop.
Microsoft Games Studio, Redmond, WA — Senior Artist / Art Director / Manager
JUNE 1997 - APRIL 2004
Assisted in interviewing and acclimating artists through two acquisitions, FASA and Bungie.
Mythica: Fantasy MMORPG in a Norse mythology universe using a proprietary game engine.
Directed, managed internal and external character artists and 3D modelers.
Created character and environment concept art, modeling and texturing.
UI/UX early development.
Prototype development and game pitch art.
Pandora’s Box: 2D and 3D puzzle game collection designed by Alexey Pajitnov designer of Tetris.
Art director of a three-artist team and coordinated image acquisition. Puzzle art and UI elements using 3D Studio Max, Photoshop.
Sierra On-Line, Oakhurst, CA — Art Lead
MAY 1991 - MAY 1996
Environment, character and UI art for King’s Quest 6 and 8, Space Quest 5 and 6, Gabriel Knight 1 and 2, Ecoquest 1 and 2 and contributions to many other titles and marketing. Traditional media and DePaint.
EDUCATION
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA — Bachelor of Fine Arts: Illustration
SEPTEMBER 1988 - APRIL 1991
Won Art Center Scholarship, graduated with distinction.
California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA — Major: Commercial Art / Graphic Design. Minor: Art History
SEPTEMBER 1982 - JUNE 1988