About Me
I'm a Motion Designer who greatly emphasizes Creative Direction and Storytelling and I live in Indianapolis. I’m what they call a “Creative”. I can’t help it. I have to create that which is worth working on, because in order for it to be truly captivating, the project has to be driven by the right idea. It gets everyone on the team motivated to make sure that the project is a thing of beauty. That is the kind of environment I want to create around me.
As you may guess, I prefer to spend time in Pre-Production, where I can gather reference material and inspiration, storyboard, and develop a style. As pretty much everyone in my field does, I use the Adobe Creative Suite extensively, especially After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.
In terms of my other passions, I love to play tennis as well as follow it (#VamosRafa) as well as running, when I can. I could talk about Star Trek or Seinfeld all day, any day. And I also take great interest in craft beer and craft coffee.
Background
Since graduating with a Digital Media Animation degree from Huntington University in 2010, I've been fully immersed in Animated Video production, largely for commercial purposes.
I started out with an internship in a Studio / Media Agency environment. There, I learned the in's and out's of working with a team in production, as well as gained experience and knowledge that has greatly influenced my current workflow. This was also a great time to learn how to do freelance work and drive things on my own from start to finish.
I carried what I had learned from my internship and freelance work into the next stage, where I worked at a studio as the go-to person for anything and everything related to Graphics. This could be Print Ads, Design for Web and Mobile, Support Graphics like Lower Thirds and Demonstrative Animation, and even fully animated 2D and 3D videos. Working at a studio that featured live action video prominently also meant that I did a fair share of VFX and Compositing as well. While I learned a lot while I was there, I also knew that it was not a long term fit for me, and I left to start a company with a friend and former classmate of mine.
Co-founding a Media Production company requires a vast amount of hours, an endless supply of dreams, long-term investment, and the ability to constantly adapt. Working up contracts, managing budgets, networking and sales, and other business-related tasks have to be performed while also giving creative direction, rigging characters, and animating.
In short, I've learned and grown during each part of my career thus far. It feels like I've grown exponentially in many facets, but that's how I always want it to be. Animation is fascinating to me and I draw constant inspiration from the masters. But when it comes down to it, Animation is not only uniquely captivating, it is hugely important to telling stories that need to be told.
I started out with an internship in a Studio / Media Agency environment. There, I learned the in's and out's of working with a team in production, as well as gained experience and knowledge that has greatly influenced my current workflow. This was also a great time to learn how to do freelance work and drive things on my own from start to finish.
I carried what I had learned from my internship and freelance work into the next stage, where I worked at a studio as the go-to person for anything and everything related to Graphics. This could be Print Ads, Design for Web and Mobile, Support Graphics like Lower Thirds and Demonstrative Animation, and even fully animated 2D and 3D videos. Working at a studio that featured live action video prominently also meant that I did a fair share of VFX and Compositing as well. While I learned a lot while I was there, I also knew that it was not a long term fit for me, and I left to start a company with a friend and former classmate of mine.
Co-founding a Media Production company requires a vast amount of hours, an endless supply of dreams, long-term investment, and the ability to constantly adapt. Working up contracts, managing budgets, networking and sales, and other business-related tasks have to be performed while also giving creative direction, rigging characters, and animating.
In short, I've learned and grown during each part of my career thus far. It feels like I've grown exponentially in many facets, but that's how I always want it to be. Animation is fascinating to me and I draw constant inspiration from the masters. But when it comes down to it, Animation is not only uniquely captivating, it is hugely important to telling stories that need to be told.
You sound like quite the creative individual, Mr. Deal ~ My hat's off to ya!
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