It’s 1995, I’m 13, and this new 3D animated movie about talking toys comes out. From that minute forward I want to ride a Segway through the halls of Pixar for the rest of my life.
Cut to 17, and an awkward teenage experience later. I start learning everything I can about 3D animation and soon realize Sully’s beautiful, life-like, fur rendering in Monsters Inc. is the result of some very smart programming, thus begin a degree in computer science. About a year and a half and a lot of math later, I decide this is not the path for me.
Where is this going?
Well... in that time I fell in love with the process of movie-making and telling stories. For the next 8 years I absorbed all I could – cinematography, editing, motion graphics, directing, script writing, all of it. I knew becoming a storyteller in this industry was what I wanted to do, I just didn’t know which part. And then I discovered a career where you get to do ALL of it without actually doing ANY of it. Art direction. I’m in.
Now I enjoy any opportunity to tell a compelling story, even in the name of marketing. Great ads amuse, challenge, engage and a lucky few even become culture itself. Wazzzuuuppp!? (Ok, definitely better examples, but you get it.)
When I’m not learning to tell better stories I love camping, movies, Star Wars, comedy, interior design and Netflix and chilling with my wife. I mean that in the sit-on-the-couch-for-hours sort of way.