Hello Knowledgehook

I’ve curated some projects here that I believe are relevant to your search for a 2D Artist & Animator.

Mobile Kids Game

Client
Aluna (website)

Responsibilities
Art Direction, Vector Illustration, Animation, Concept Art, UI Design, Storyboarding

The largest project I’ve worked on. Aluna hired me to handle the entire creative vision for their children’s game. This meant not only designing every piece of final artwork, but writing a narrative, storyboarding user journeys, collaborating on gameplay mechanics and overseeing the implementation of all art into the engine.

One of the coolest parts of this project was watching how it empowered children to monitor their own health. We saw asthmatic kids reduce their anxiety, miss less school and stay on top of their own medications.

Creating the world

We knew that we wanted a bright and friendly world for our players to explore and so building the map was a crucial first step in tackling the game’s artwork. To make the planets feel special and memorable, each was given a unique theme and colour combination. There was a lot of experimentation at this stage as it set the tone and style for all the artwork that was to come.

Level design

After arriving on each planet, players launch themselves from the surface with their own breath! This is how we track their lung health. By collecting gems and special items, players are able to make slow, meaningful progress through the story each day.

Boss fights

Later in the story a band of space-faring pirates known as the Vapowraiths enter the fray. Armed only with their breath, players must strike the weak points under their hull and bring them down.

Customizable ships

One of the largest (and most fun) tasks was designing a system of interchangeable ship parts. Players are motivated to keep playing the game by trading in collected gems at the Intergalactic Outpost. As soon as we implemented even a few of these ships we became overwhelmed with requests from our test groups for more! To us, that meant that the ships were a success.

The Cast

Aluna isn’t just about flying around aimlessly through space. There is some serious trouble brewing! The following are the different characters players encounter as they progress through the story.

Behind the scenes

Here is a peak at some concepts, rough designs and storyboarding that went into producing the final game.

Hellboxer Concept Video

Client
Personal

Responsibilities
Art Direction, Game Design, Illustration, Motion Graphics, Unity Prototyping, Music/Sound Design

Over the years I have developed a few iterations of a rhythm game in which you have time your strikes to music. While initial versions were prototyped in Unity and play-tested at game design meetups around Toronto, I wanted to capture the desired aesthetic by animating a proof of concept video in After Effects.

Earlier versions

While the animated version of the game is not playable, previous versions are! Here is a screenshot of a working prototype built in Unity and it being play-tested. There may also have been a paper prototype made to test certain interactions between players.

Illustration Tutorials

Client
Skillshare, Sticker Mule

Responsibilities
Vector Illustration, Graphic Design, Motion Graphics, Video Editing, Script Writing, Filming, Marketing

Over the course of five years I became one of the top teachers on the education platform Skillshare. I have had 2.5 million minutes watched across my 14 illustration and graphic design courses. While it was not easy to put myself in front of a camera, this was an incredible experience. I was paid to learn new illustration styles and software and then teach them to others.

After becoming established on Skillshare, I was hired by Sticker Mule to create design tutorials for their YouTube page. This often involved creating a custom piece of vector art and then recording myself setting it up for printing with one of their products.