ABOUT ME
Hi. I’m Alex, an art director, creative director, concept artist, narrative designer and illustrator. My focus has always been on channeling the power of aesthetics and visual storytelling, to emotionally engage audiences and customers across many markets, mediums and platforms.
I also believe in strong collaboration, communication and trust, shared among diverse and talented teams. I've become well-practiced in bridging the languages and 'cultures' of Art, Audio, Design and Tech, fostering passionate, respectful, silo-free cultures.
My career spans more than two decades of visual design, image making, artistic and creative development and leadership - including video games, feature films, commercials and immersive AR, VR and MR experiences.
As a visual effects art director and concept designer at Industrial Light & Magic I worked on numerous commercials and feature films, including Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy and The Day After Tomorrow, among others - and was recognized with a Visual Effects Society award for my effects art direction on Minority Report.
I later migrated to video games, working for Electronic Arts’ London studio on Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, and Germany's Crytek studios on the award-winning Crysis. Back in the USA, I spent two years at LucasArts where I helped launch and direct a new story/IP incubation group for George Lucas.
I was a Principal Art Director at Microsoft working on their HoloLens Mixed Reality and future Windows-app R&D, where I helped create public-facing HoloLens experiences
and demos including: the virtual travel experience HoloTour, partnerships with Legendary Pictures, Case Western Reserve University, the Cannes Lions Festival and Volvo.
As Director of Artistic Design at HBO's IIX (Immersive Interactive Experiences) team, I led the visual side of our mission to redefine the future of interactive narrative entertainment through multiple platforms, devices, and storytelling paradigms.
Returning to games, at Studio Wildcard I led their 40+ Art and visual content team through preproduction and into production for ARK 2, the ambitious sequel to the company’s hugely successful open-world dinosaur survival game franchise. I defined the new game’s aesthetic and visual quality bar, driving major improvements over the beloved (but visually outdated) original, in addition to art directing an elaborate cinematic and two announce trailers.
More recently, I served as a Creative Director at Meta for the Gemini team's ‘biophysical avatars’ R&D work within Reality Labs Research, exploring future of digital humans and the intersection of emergent tech innovation and the expressive, creative potential of Metaverse avatars in the five to ten year time horizon.
COMPLETE FILMS & COMMERCIALS LIST
2011: CLOWN - Freelance Concept Artist
2010: THE CONSPIRATOR - VFX Art Director, Concept Artist, Matte Painter
2009: GREEN LANTERN - In-house Concept Artist
2008: UNIQUE - Freelance Concept Artist
2006: THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES - Freelance Concept Artist
2004: THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW - VFX Art Director, Concept Artist
2003: PETER PAN – Sr. VFX Art Director, Concept Artist
2002: MINORITY REPORT -Sr. VFX Art Director,, Concept Artist
2002: STAR WARS EPISODE 2 - Contributing Concept Artist
2001: THE MUMMY RETURNS - VFX Art Director, Concept Artist
2000: MISSION TO MARS - VFX Art Director, Concept Artist
1999: THE MUMMY - VFX Art Director, Concept Artist
1999: THE BFG (feature bid) - Concept Artist
1998: FRANKENSTEIN (internal feature bid) - Concept Artist
1997: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - VFX Art Director
1997: CONTACT - Concept Artist
1997: JACK FROST - Concept Artist
1997: DEEP IMPACT - Concept Artist
1997: RAIDERS of the LOST ARK–SPECIAL EDITION (bid) - Concept Artist
1997: CITY OF ANGELS (bid) - Concept Artist
1996: RETURN OF THE JEDI, Special Edition - Asst. VFX Art Director
1996: EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Special Edition - Asst. VFX Art Director, Digital Matte Painter