About

I'm John, an art lead and director. My last 17+ years have spanned gaming, social VR, and enterprise software — often as a senior IC, art director, and outsource lead at the same time.

I work hands-on across 3D — environments, props, cinematics, marketing visuals — and the visual pipeline behind it: look development, lighting, technical art, and shader writing. On the 2D side, graphic design and UI/UX with the research behind it. I lead art direction across all of that without losing touch with the hands-on work, partner well with internal teams and outsource studios, and lean into AI when it earns its keep. I've shipped on every major gaming platform — VR, mobile, PC, and console.

My favorite moments come throughout a project — pulling back in a viewport, a design canvas, or even an art production doc, watching the pieces come together and getting more excited the closer it gets to something both beautiful and well-crafted, ready to hand to the people it was made for. That's the part I've never stopped chasing.

Some projects ask for my opinion; some ask for me to serve someone else's vision. The work itself decides which. Either way, the craft underneath has to be honest — that's what makes a project enjoyable regardless of whose taste is leading.

The other half of why I do this is the people. The teams I want to be on are obviously talented, but more importantly they take care of each other. I've watched what happens to talent when team morale slides, and it's not pretty — the work flattens out fast. The best projects I've been part of came from rooms where people respected each other's craft and gave each other room to grow. I take seriously what I owe to the artists who are still on their way up; some of the best ones I've worked with taught me as much as I taught them.

Published Games/Experiences