Background

My name is Ryan and I was born and raised in the Jeffersonville-Youngsville area of the Catskill Mountains in New York. This area could also be known as “Not the City”. At a young age I developed a passion for doing art. It started with drawing pictures and simple doodles. In the early 90’s the computer was introduced to me as a tool for creating works of art. This helped start me on the path of animation. Some of my first animations were done in Microsoft PowerPoint. In high school I took video production where I learned the fundamentals of camera usage, timing and sound integration. I also learned some 3D modeling in a computer art class.

Education

With my priorities set, I found one of the best art schools in the country right near the beautiful beaches on the west coast of Florida. In 2003, I was accepted into Ringling School of Art and Design (now Ringling College of Art and Design) with a Graphic and Interactive Communication major. At Ringling I was able to improve my drawing, technical, video, and animation skills. I received a Bachelor of Fine Art and moved back to New York.

Experience

My first job out of college was working in page layout for a small local paper. This was not a very challenging or fulfilling position. I got a job with Lifetouch Photography to keep money coming in while I searched for a career I would really enjoy. Surprisingly the photography job was pretty fun. I enjoyed meeting new people every day and attempting to make them smile. While Lifetouch was fun, it was a seasonal position. Luckily I received a position as a Graphic Technician at Deluxe Digital Studios. There I worked on localizing DVD and Blu-ray menus. This means I would receive an already designed menu and a text document with foreign translations of all the words in that menu. Then I would copy and paste the translations into the menu. So while Deluxe Digital Studios was a step in the right direction, I needed to find something more fulfilling.

Career

My good friend Nick Hamer (fellow Ringling alum) offered me a cheap place to stay in Los Angeles while I attempted to find work. It was an opportunity of a life time. So I packed up my ’92 Camry with my computer and my clothes and headed west. Nick also helped me get an internship at Baked FX where I started doing rotoscoping for major musical artist’s music videos. This was starting to look like what I wanted. The internship turned into a job and over a couple of years rotoscoping evolved into compositing and motion graphics. I’ve gotten to be a part of some amazing projects. Music Videos for artists like Rihanna, P!nk, P. Diddy, and Lady Gaga, commercials for companies such as Verizon, State Farm, and Kubota, and major titles in feature and television including Now You See Me and Game of Thrones. It has been a huge honor to be a part of these great projects.

While awesome, VFX was a very challenging industry to be apart of if I wanted a steady income and benefits. In 2016 I moved into the gaming industry as a motion designer at NCSOFT. I was in the marketing department designing and animating for web and social media. After a couple years I was promoted to a senior level. Unfortunately, in early 2023, I was part of a massive layoff at the company. Where to next?

Looking Ahead

The current me is an award winning digital artist excited about the next chapter in his life. I’ve achieved some great things in visual effects, and my motion and design skills grew a lot at NCSOFT. No reason the greatness should stop now.