art direction.
illustration.
graphic design.
Hey there! My name is Rich and I’m a highly-organized and exceptional team leader and seasoned digital artist based in Central Florida with expertise in creative solutions, specializing in leading teams with a relentless focus on design and brand excellence. With over 15 years of design experience, I have accumulated a vast knowledge of working in various design mediums, from digital to print, seeking out fun and challenging new opportunities to create visual awesomeness.
illustration
Character illustration of Professor Qwerty, main protagonist of a learning series that was built and animated inside Adobe Character Animator. See her in action on my demo reel!
Professor Qwerty 180* turn for animated movement. See her in action on my demo reel!
Professor Qwerty addressing her classroom. See her in action on my demo reel!
Students within Professor Qwerty's classroom striking up conversation. See them in action on my demo reel!
Students within Professor Qwerty's classroom typing notes. See them in action on my demo reel!
Original character illustration for training video, watching a cooking demonstration.
Original character illustration for training video surfing the web, shopping.
AT&T Retail Sales Representative greeting a customer inside a store. Illustration for training content.
Variations of Retail Sales Representative.
Customer inside their house, playing video games. Illustration for training content.
Customer inside a doctor's office, browsing on their mobile device. Illustration for training content.
Customer at home, contacting customer service. Illustration for training content.
Customer in home office, browsing the internet. Illustration for training content.
Customer in home kitchen. Illustration for training content.
Original concept illustration for AVEE, a robot character used for Web-based Training of the benefits of AVPN.
Final design of AVEE.
Concept animation of laser etching for AVPN training video. Highlighting color play when laser is activated.
Set design of AVPN video. See this in action on my demo reel!
Set design of AVPN video. See this in action on my demo reel!
Video clip of AVEE going through conveyor system, getting a good washing up! See this in action on my demo reel!
Video clip of AVEE being transferred from conveyor system. See this in action on my demo reel!
Frame-to-frame animation of AVEE's status screen glitching with a confused look. This was how AVEE was able to communicate during the video.
Frame-to-frame animation of AVEE's status screen showing laughter/joy. This was how AVEE was able to communicate during the video.
Family illustration created for training video content.
Character sheet for animation in a video for training content.
Stop motion-animated tears of joy created for video training content. Who knew hot glue can be so versatile? See this in action on my demo reel!
Stop motion-animated smoke created for video content. Cotton balls are pretty useful! See this in action on my demo reel!
Stop motion-animated rays of hope created with a reversed crumpled sheet of paper, edited inside After Effects. See this in action on my demo reel!
Papercut illustration of a storefront used for training content video. See this in action on my demo reel!
Papercut illustration of inside store aisle used for training content video.
Papercut illustration of inside store department used for training content video.
Papercut illustration of inside store pharmacy used for training content video.
Custom avatar likeness illustration for email correspondence for leadership.
Paige Turner, a custom book-inspired character created for internal educational purposes at Scholastic. Notice those spiffy book-winged shoes!
Character sheet of different poses for Paige Turner, to be easily used by training designers.
Character sheet of different poses for Paige Turner, to be easily used by training designers.
Character sheet of different poses for Paige Turner, to be easily used by training designers.
1/3 Illustration steps used in an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
2/3 Illustration steps used in an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
3/3 Illustration steps used in an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Pixel illustration destination map for an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Original character and asset sheet for an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Original character sheet for an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Original pixel illustration level design for an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Original pixel illustration level design for an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Original pixel illustration level design for an 8-bit video game-inspired training video. See this in motion on my demo reel!
Rich is consistently a superb communicator, both written and in meetings. His responses are detailed, thorough, and well thought out. Combined with his highly organized work style, he is one of those team members you can always count on to never let something slip through the cracks.
graphic design
Environmental designs created in Adobe Dimensions and enhanced inside Adobe Photoshop for a training video.
Scholastic Book Fair Delivery Truck wrap
trade event graphics & signage
Graphics package designed and developed for Scholastic Book Fairs annual Texas Library Association trade show booth appearance. I even flew to Texas to help them set up and install the large-format signage, displays, and vinyl wraps. 10/10 would do it again.
case studies
Happy Camper Book Fair Logo
Camping. Outdoors. Wilderness. Cute. Fun. Bright. These were the word prompts that rose to the top of the design brief when tasked with this camping-inspired theme logo for Scholastic Book Fairs. This illustration would be the foundation on which the entire spring season’s theme art and marketing materials would be based, so it had to look especially supoyb.
The challenge when creating these illustrative logos is being able to develop something that not only appeals to elementary-aged kids but educators as well. Working directly with the Senior Art Director and Director of Marketing, I created a shortlist of wilderness characters that could be featured and locked the logo type as a simple callback to travel postcards. Wish you were here!
Once the type was set, I began developing concepts that focused on different aspects of the illustration: characters, hero type, and slogan. The result was a beautiful combination of the three, having the characters interact with the type itself as well as making it feel a part of the environment. I chose the color palette on aspects of camping that I have experienced; showing the warmth of the campfire, the cool night air, and the crisp and bright morning of a new day.
The result was one of the most popular Book Fair themes, allowing volunteers and teachers to easily decorate their classrooms and libraries to get kids excited to visit the Book Fair!
case studies
Professor Qwerty Video Series
Creating a character from scratch to be the headliner for a new training video short series is always a challenging task. The training manager client at AT&T wanted a fun and exciting trainer that would capture the attention of the employees taking the training courses. Enter, Professor Qwerty.
A quirky and energetic educational leader. Someone excited about the material that’s being presented and can’t wait to share everything she knows with her classroom. A Miss Frizzle-esque personality, with a tech-savvy and modern vibe. That is what Professor Qwerty should embody.
The videos needed to be high-impact, fully animated, upbeat, and done on a very short timeline. The classroom students needed to be diverse, not only in age but also in tone, ethnicity, and background. Working with the client, I sculpted the script they provided into a more fluid and conversational tone and developed a production timeline to meet their goals. Once the script was approved, it moved on to voice-over recording and laying the audio over a rough animatic to be approved by the client.
I created the main protagonist, Professor Qwerty, and the first four speaking students in video 1. An additional illustrator used the character style I developed to finish out the rest of the student body. For the second video, I fine-tuned four additional students for speaking parts. Video 1 was a quick turn around, only being able to utilize myself and leading 1 editor and 1 illustrator to deliver the video. For video 2, I led a team of 4 animators, 2 illustrators, and 2 editors to animate and composite footage and motion graphics to correspond with sound design.
The videos ended up being vibrant and exactly what the client asked for. Accolades were flying like lovebugs and they couldn’t wait to incorporate the video into their training material.
case studies
Safety Posters for Technicians
A client reached out to my team regarding developing new safety posters based on standard life-saving principles to be displayed inside technician break rooms and garage spaces. The challenge was simple: develop something bold and out-of-the-box to stand out amongst a crowded wallspace while staying visually memorable to practice basic safety measures while in the field.
We used a juxtaposition between slight whimsy and the seriousness of the message with the goal of higher retention rates compared to traditional safety poster designs. Using a standard corporate color palette and working directly with the Brand Management team, I successfully led three illustrators through the design and illustration of ten posters from sketch concepts to a final rendered delivery that was lauded by the client.
demo reel
The respect he gets from all team members is something to be admired. His calming presence on team and client calls spreads a feeling of calm and assurance, which in turn breeds an unrivaled confidence in our team.
Exceptional organizer, very effective project manager and a skilled creative mind.
Rich is thorough, methodical, and organized, with a tireless attention to detail. His team reviews are in-depth and informed by his technical expertise. He shares his knowledge with the team via tutorials and 1-on-1 help. His artistic drawing talent is a benefit and inspiration to the team.
I never felt out of the loop when working on a project with him. I was always informed in a professional, yet somehow personal, level.
Richard is a great team player, always willing to help out on a project, and does it with a positive attitude. When working on a project, the quality of his work is exceptionally good, always putting forth his best work.