Resume - Laura Schumacher

I am a digital artist with over fifteen years of professional experience as a technical artist, animator, UI/UX artist, and game designer in interactive entertainment. I specialize in casual and mobile games. My greatest strengths are my versatility and ability to work fast.

Experience

Double Loop Games (San Francisco, CA / Redmond, WA): Senior Artist for mobile games - unreleased title. (2020 - 2023)

For Double Loop Games I did the following:

  • UI/UX design and implementation in Unity.

  • UI/UX concepts and animatics in Adobe Animate.

  • UI/UX documentation including wireframes, flow charts and use cases.

  • Tool design and documentation for Unity.

  • Cinematic sequence animations, including UI and dialogue implementation.

  • Character concepts and design in Photoshop and Illustrator.

  • Character animation in Spine 2D including integration with the Unity Engine.

  • Particle effects and animations in Unity.

  • Misc graphics including icons and UI elements in Illustrator and Photoshop.

University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT): Adjunct professor at the Entertainment Arts and Engineering program. (Spring 2020)

For University of Utah I did the following:

  • Designed and Taught a class in Procedural Art Generation to graduate level students.

  • Software included Houdini 18 and Unreal Engine 4.

  • Concepts taught in class included Procedural Art Generation, Game Asset Creation Pipeline, and General Tips for working in the game industry.

WildWorks Inc (Draper, UT): Technical Artist for web and mobile games. (2014 -2020)

For WildWorks I did the following:

  • UI/UX design and character concepts.

  • Design, Animate and Program behavior for pets in Animal Jam - streamlined process from 1 month to 1 week average.

  • Concept design for backgrounds, characters and UI design and implementation for mini-games in PlayWild.

  • Designed UI and setup for Crests and the Packs system in PlayWild.

  • Concept art for all characters, collectables and backgrounds in AJ Dash.

  • Create logos and UI in Illustrator and Photoshop.

  • Create prototype animations to demonstrate UI and UX concepts to the rest of my team.

Published titles include:

  • Animal Jam

  • AJ Play Wild!

  • AJ Dash

  • Tag With Ryan

  • Fer.al

Fat Loot Games (Everett, WA and Draper, UT): Artist/Animator for iOS games. (2013 - 2014)

For Fat Loot Games I did the following:

  • Created animation-ready characters in Illustrator.

  • Character animation in Spine 2D and Flash.

  • Created backgrounds in Illustrator and Photoshop.

  • Composed promotional videos in Adobe After Effects.

  • Created logos, promotional graphics, ads, and UI in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Published titles include:

  • Monster Stacker 


Jawfish Games (Seattle, WA): Artist/Animator for iOS games. (2012 - 2013)

For Jawfish Games I did the following:

  • Created character and effects animations in Flash/After FX for production, game design mockups, and promotional material.

  • Designed UI, logos, and icons in Illustrator and Photoshop.

  • Redesigned the Jawfish Games website.

Published titles include:

  • Match-Up! By Big Fish

  • Jawfish Poker

  • Jawfish Bingo

TinyCo (San Francisco, CA): Art Lead for iOS games. (2011 - 2012)

At TinyCo I did the following:

  • Oversaw a small team of artists in the creation of isometric vector graphics in Illustrator CS6.

  • Maintained quality standards for art assets and managed workflow to ensure timely delivery.

  • Created isometric characters and background objects on a tight deadline.

  • Mentored members of my team to ensure they met their personal goals as well as those of TinyCo.

Published titles include:

  • TinyZoo

PlexiPixel (Seattle, WA): Contract Illustrator - Avatars. (2011)

At PlexiPixel I did the following:

  • Designed avatar outfits for Pokemon Black and White characters for the movie promotional website.

  • Designed and created assets for Microsoft XNA game kit.


Euclid Games LLC (Mill Creek, WA): Artist and AS3 developer for online games. (2009 - 2011)

At Euclid Games LLC I did the following:

  • Created art assets for online games using Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender and Zbrush.

  • Designed and programmed games in Flash AS3.

  • Designed and maintained Euclid Games website, blog, and Facebook page.

  • Created trailers for games using Adobe AfterFX.

Published titles include:

  • Bobblestitch


Real Networks (Seattle, WA): Flash artist, animator, AS3 developer for FB social games. (2007 -2009)

At Real Networks I did the following:

  • Created art assets in Flash/Flex, including user interface, animation, and backgrounds.

  • Designed and programmed playable game prototypes in Flash AS3.

  • Created detailed game design documentation for use in production.

  • Prepared and gave presentations of completed projects as well as project pitches to senior management.

Published titles include:

  • Facebook UNO

  • Facebook Text Twist

  • Facebook Scrabble


McGraw Hill Learning Group (Bothell, WA): Artist/animator, K-12 educational games. (2005 - 2007)

At McGraw Hill I did the following:

  • Created user interface design for Flash and Shockwave games.

  • Designed original characters and made them animation-ready in Flash.

  • Created hundreds of cut-scene animations from storyboard through completion in Flash.

  • Worked both independently and as a team to create animations.

  • Created interactive science and math animations and scripted the interaction.

  • Developed time saving production methods through use of ActionScript.

Published titles include:

  • Real Math

  • Open Court Reading

  • Gear Up

  • Language for Learning


Milkandcookies.com (Seattle, WA): Milkandcookies.com is an online community that attracts over
100,000 unique visitors per month. I worked as an independent contractor to revamp the look of this site
and a variety of satellite sites. (2005 – 2007)

While working with the founder of Milkandcookie.com I did the following:

  • Created a variety of illustrations for CSS layout designs in Photoshop.

  • Created banner ads, t-shirts, and stickers, and custom Flash video skins to promote the site.

  • Created logos for print and screen.


4orty 2wo Entertainment (Emeryville, CA): I worked with the V.P. of design to produce the DVD cover
and menu system for ilovebees, the viral advertising campaign for Halo 2. (2004)

During my involvement with the ilovebees project I did the following:

  • Created the ilovebees logo, DVD cover graphics, and menu graphics in Photoshop.

  • Prepared the DVD cover and face for print.

  • Created a painterly-style illustrated puzzle which was viewed by roughly 1,000,000 people online.


Handheld Games (Mill Creek, WA): Sprite animator, then lead designer for J2ME cell phone and Jakks
TV Games. (2001 - 2003) and (2004 - 2005)

While at Handheld Games I did the following:

  • Created sprite animations of licensed characters for Nokia J2ME cell phone games

  • Created original character designs.

  • Designed the game-play, look, sound, and feel for mobile and Jakks TV games.

  • Created blue-sky game design documents for project bids to publishers.

  • Worked directly with programmers and artists to orchestrate the creation of designed games.

  • Worked directly with the producer to ensure the games were completed on-time and to the publisher’s specifications.

  • Created backgrounds and assets in ProMotion for use in games.

  • Created sprite animations of licensed characters.

  • Converted large graphics into the proper size and color space for the Game Boy Advance.

  • Re-designed the website for Handheld Games LLC in CSS and HTML.

Published titles include:

  • Dora the Explorer 5 in 1 TV Game (Published by Jakks Pacific, 500,000+ copies sold).

  • MLB Slugfest 2004 (Midway Home Entertainment, 2002)

  • Little League Baseball 2001 (New Kid Co, 2001)

  • Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham (New Kid Co, 2001)

Skills

  • Adobe Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Flash

  • Python Scripting with Maya

  • Unity 3D: C#, Shaders (from scratch), GUI Design and implementation

  • Game prototyping, including AS3 and C# programming

  • 3D Programs: Maya 2018, Zbrush, Blender, Swift 3D

  • Sketching: concept and character design

  • Storyboarding

  • Inking, coloring, layout and logo design

  • Animation: 3D, Pixel-based, Flash, and Spine 2D

  • Game design: design document composition, game-play flow charts, UI, dialogue and menus

  • Public speaking experience – TinyCo, RealNetworks, Cartoonists Northwest, Conferences, etc

Education

University of Washington (Seattle, WA): Certificate Program in 3D Art and Animation. (2007 - 2008)

Henry Cogswell College (Everett, WA): B.A. in Digital Art. (2001 - 2004) G.P.A. = 3.7

Centralia College (Centralia, WA): A.A. and A.S. in Graphic Art and Computer Science. (1998 - 2000) G.P.A. = 3.8, graduated with honors.