kevintoddfx@gmail.com

ExperiencE

Senior VFX Artist - Firewalk Studios

  • Worked on multiplayer asymmetric FPS Concord from pre-production into full production and release.

  • Realtime VFX in Unreal Engine 5 for character abilities, environmental FX, and global game mechanics. All optimized for 60 frames per second at 4k resolution in networked multiplayer.

  • Owned the visual direction of the global status effect suite in collaboration with Design team. These were designed with in consideration of: project style, visual hierarchy for competitive clarity, accessibility, and future growth and evolution of the project’s character roster and evolving mechanics.

  • Led stand up, review, and multi-disciplinary meetings in the Lead’s absence.

  • June 2022 - November 2024

VFX Artist - Riot Games

  • Realtime VFX for Teamfight Tactics with a cross-disciplinary team.

  • Creation of Boom skins, Arena skins, and gameplay VFX.

  • Creation and ownership of over a dozen Champion skins for League of Legends.

  • Feb 2020 - April 2022

VFX Artist - FXVille

  • Realtime and in-game cinematic effects in hand-painted, stylized, and realistic workflows. Generated and painted textures, modeled FX related geometry, implemented FX into game through script, optimized assets for performance.

  • Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Destiny 2, Days Gone, Mortal Kombat 11, and other unannounced titles

  • Took on leadership roles for task assignment, deadline projection, training artists, quality approval and communication with clients

  • February 2017 - Current

President - Game Development Network

  • Brought in professional connections for speaking events

  • Allocated and managed funds

  • Fall 2015 - 2016

game development intern - Graphite Lab

  • Hive Jump, released Summer 2016, various children's apps under John Deere, My Little Pony, and Transformers brands

  • Gamification and Web Design of community forum for Hive Jump project.

  • Bug Tracking through JIRA

  • Task Management and Deadline Projections for product owners

  • Game Testing and Design Feedback

  • Summer 2015

Product Development Intern - Studio M

  • Lead Developer for Pet Personalities

  • 80+ Products on shelves worldwide

  • Graphic Design tasks for print, web, and outdoor products

  • Organizational tasks for sample inventory and display items

  • 2012-2014

Education

Savannah college of art and design

  • Interactive Systems and Game Development

  • Game Effects specialization

  • Graduated Fall 2016

Loyola University Chicago

  • Psychology Major

  • Graphic Design Minor

  • 2011-2013

 

Tools

Skills

  • Expert proficiency in node based shader logic

  • Experience with particle systems in many game engines (Unreal, Unity, proprietary engines, etc.)

  • Able to learn new systems rapidly due to wide experience with many projects (5+ studios and tools)

  • Excellent communication skills and values, from a variety of leadership responsibilities and integrating with teams on quick timelines.

  • Great problem solving skills stemming from experience with navigating technological, conceptual, and scheduling constraints.

REcommendations

As an artist I have worked with companies on licensing programs since 1999. Working with Kevin was the best experience I've EVER had. He understood exactly what I wanted for my work, he was responsive, creative and extremely thorough. When negotiating the transition from artwork to product, many design challenges are presented and Kevin really was responsible for solving every one of them so that we could all feel proud about the program when finished. Kevin's a great communicator; funny and intelligent. His mastery of the technology to take my artwork to product seemed effortless, and he had a real understanding of the aesthetic and stepped up to bat to preserve the integrity of my intentions. Effortless, joyful and rapid. What more could you possibly want? I wish I could hire him to run my whole company. Someone is going to get a real gem and I'm totally envious.

Ursula Dodge, licensed Studio M artist

Kevin was a very organized, motivated and energetic intern for Graphite Lab during the summer of 2015. He executed on tasks assigned to him, brought new ideas to the table, and always kept a positive attitude. I look forward to seeing him grow as an up and coming talent!

Matt Raithel, Studio Director at Graphite Lab

Kevin is an ambitious yet humble worker. He has big dreams and is working hard to achieve them. There's no task too big or too small that he won't own and complete diligently. I see a bright future for Kevin and recommend him highly to any future employer. He's truly a pleasure to work with.

Matt Donatelli, Game Designer at Graphite Lab

Kevin is a highly technical individual with a great creative mind. I had the pleasure of working with Kevin while here at Studio M. He caught on quickly to objectives and lead a successful project on his own with a well known artist. He is always seeking out ways to be most efficient, without sacrificing quality or creativity. He is catching on quickly to advanced techniques in software programs such as Photoshop (which he primarily used while at Studio M).

Kevin would be a great asset to any company given his creative nature and great personality.

Christine Ainsworth, product designer at Studio M