JD’s Curriculum Vitae
I have always had a love of art and creating artwork. I was really inspired in high school to make art, but didn’t really know how to pursue it, or if I really had a future making art. In college I studied all of the fine arts at Oregon State as well as University of Oregon. I had many great instructors, professors, etc., and learned a lot from them. I wish I had worked harder and paid attention more because I think I may have gotten to a better place in my professional career earlier if I had. I really learned from some incredibly talented and knowledgable people and feel fortunate that I was able to be in their classes. Nelson Sandgren, Laura Alpert, Paul Buckner, Mike Holcomb, Paul Tetzner, Ken Paul, Ken O’Connell, George Kokis, to name a few, greatly influenced me in my artistic path. Thank you all for all of the knowledge and experiences!
After college, I worked at a few business forms companies in the hopes of doing strictly graphic design work, but I was totally unsatisfied by the lack of that work that was given to me. When I took the chance at Will Vinton Studios, I was ecstatic to get hired and work in such an incredibly creative environment, with so many amazing and talented people. I have learned so much from everyone I’ve worked with and feel very fortunate to have worked there while I have. The industry and environment have really changed over the past 16 years, but there are still amazing and talented people there. Again, thank you to everyone I’ve had the pleasure to work with and learn from. So many great friends have come out of my working at the studio in all its iterations over the years.
I continue to grow as an artist and am currently attempting to take my creative passions in a new direction. There are so many things I want to do, build, design, create…there just isn’t enough time in the day…
1982 – 1986: Jesuit High School, Portland, Oregon.
September 1986 – June 1987: Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Studied Liberal Arts.
September 1987 – May 1991: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. Graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Visual Design.
1992 – 1993: B-Laser Graphics and Business Forms, Portland, Oregon. Typesetter and graphic designer. Built business forms using industry software and Adobe products, Photoshop, Illustrator and PageMaker to create precision business forms according to customers’ specs. Scan, clean up and rebuild logo artwork. Operated film negative and paper positive printing and developing equipment.
1993: City of Beaverton, Oregon. Designed a piece of artwork for a local athletic event that was subsequently chosen to be the official logo of the city of Beaverton. This logo was used throughout all city agencies, street signage, postal materials, etc. from 1993 until 2010.
1994: Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, Portland, Oregon. I took single classes here and there, drawing and ceramics, to enhance my skills.
1993 – 1994: CBS Business Forms, Portland, Oregon. Business form typesetter and graphic designer. Built business forms using industry software and Adobe products, Photoshop, Illustrator and PageMaker to create precision business forms according to customers’ specs. Scan, clean up and rebuild logo artwork. Operated film negative and paper positive printing and developing equipment.
1994 – 1995: Wright Business Forms, Portland, Oregon. Business form typesetter and graphic designer. Business forms builder, using Adobe products according to customer specs. Printed film negatives and paper positives for the in-house printing department to use on 4-color lithographic presses.
1996: Portland Community College, Portland, Oregon. I took more ceramics classes to reinforce my skills and to enjoy the creative outlet that was not afforded by my job at the time.
1995 – 1998: VSR Graphics, Beaverton, Oregon. Business forms typesetter, graphic designer and printer. Typeset business forms according to customer specs, rebuilt logo artwork, designed and built advertising brochures for clients. Operated a Risograph printing system for jobs in-house.
1999 – 2004: Will Vinton Studios, Portland, Oregon. My first job at the studio was to paint flat toothpicks various colors of greens and yellows to be used on the set for a Chili’s restaurant stop-motion commercial “Assembly Required.” I also helped paint the set and made a few props that were on the set and I also designed and built the instruction page that the chili characters were using to assemble their bicycle. That was a pretty cool introduction to the production process, the studio and some incredibly talented people as well. After that project I was the art department runner and coordinator for the great NFL on FOX stop-motion spots that Vinton produced.
List of all jobs I worked on and the specific pieces that I did.
2004 – 2006: Vinton Studios, Portland, Oregon.
2006 – 2014: Laika/house, Portland, Oregon.
2014 – present (contract employee): House Special, Portland, Oregon.
2014 – 2015: Ffake, Portland, Oregon.
2011 – 2013: Bent Image Lab, Portland, Oregon. “Hoops and Yoyo and the Haunted Mall” plus various commercial spots.
2016 April – June: LAIKA, Hillsboro, OR. End credit sequence for “Kubo and the Two Strings.” Ink and Paint artist, animator of textures and highlights and shadows.
2017 May – August: Bent Image Labs, Portland, OR. Assistant/cleanup animator and Ink and Paint artist on “We Bare Bears” commercial for the Nintendo Switch.
2018 – 2019: Visionem, Scappoose OR.