ArtStation

Probably my most pervasive work to date was as the former founder/CEO of ArtStation, the showcase platform & marketplace for creators.

ArtStation grew out of a need from artist friends working in the games, film, media & entertainment industry. They needed a way to showcase their portfolios, find work and make money.

ArtStation was launched in April 2014. We bootstrapped the product and did not take investors. It has transformed the industry and has grown into one of the world’s largest online platforms with millions of users. ArtStation was acquired by Epic Games in April 2021.

Ballistiq

Ballistiq was a software development company I co-founded with Clarence Martens and Kevin Strike. It provided web development services. Clients have included Autodesk, Riot Games, NVIDIA, Pixar, Gnomon School, Allegorithmic and more. Ballistiq ran for 10 years from 2011 to 2021 and was the parent company of ArtStation. It was acquired by Epic Games.

I led many of the initial client projects internally including Autodesk Fusion 360 Hub, NVIDIA Developer Zone, Autodesk AREA product launches, Gnomon Online (online school), CGarchitect and 3D Awards. As ArtStation grew, I eventually transitioned to it full time.

Autodesk

I served at Autodesk as a Product Marketing Manager. I ran product marketing for Autodesk’s efforts in the games industry, working on positioning and go to market for all Autodesk Entertainment Creation products (3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox, Motionbuilder) and middleware (Kynapse, HumanIK).

After leaving Autodesk to found Ballistiq, I was retained as a consultant via Ballistiq. I continued to work on the development of several projects such as the Autodesk Fusion 360 Hub, until transitioning to ArtStation full time.

Softimage

I served as Product Marketing Manager at Softimage until its acquisition by Autodesk.

Products in my portfolio included Softimage|XSI, Mod Tool, Face Robot and Alienbrain.

Particularly exciting at the time was the release of XSI 7, which had the ICE visual programming system. It made a massive splash in the industry, and we were acquired by Autodesk not long after.

Credit to Pasquale Volpintesta for his incredible art direction for Softimage during this era and for many of the images here.