Waking Oni

Contemporary artist with African American & Japanese cultural influences.

 

 

derrick@wakingoni.com

2D and 3D Contemporary Artist with over 10 years of illustrative and 3D design experience. Recognized talents in creating alluring, commentative works. Maintains a strong reputation for well executed ideas, dedication, humor, and the ability to stick to deadlines.

Education

Kent State University [2012]: Bachelor’s of Science in Animation and Game Design, Associate of Arts in Studio Art

Software Proficiency

Maya · Zbrush · 3DCoat · Unity · Photoshop · Illustrator · Animate

Professional Experience

WakingOni – Director, Designer, Lead Artist - Onsen Master
[2014 – present]
Onsen Master is an indie game project, on its 4th year of development. I am the lead designer, 2D and 3D artist, and director.

  • Created low-poly 3D character assets. This includes efficiently laying uv’s, hand-painted texturing, and rigging for animation.

  • Generated 3D environment assets utilizing the same skills for use in Unity 3D. This was followed up by importing all the assets and building the primary level and environment.

  • Manage development pipeline and quality assurance testing, providing critical feedback to the programmer.

  • Responsible for all developer blogs, audience building, and social media interaction.

 

Arda Wigs - Project Manager, Wholesale Liaison
[2012 - 2018]
Assisted in building a strong foundation for one of the leading cosplay wig companies in the US. Quickly adapted to roles as the company took from a home office, to its two locations in Chicago.

  • Created project management templates and guides, using the preferred applications of the company.

  • Organizing team members and milestones, maintaining positive encouragement and problem solving.

  • Manage and conduct sales for domestic and international B2B clients via email and sales management software.

  • Actively volunteering for new roles that need fulfillment and quickly learning new tasks, systems, and software.

Freelance Projects

Pentimenti Productions [2018 - present] - 3D VFX Artist - H.C. Westermann Project
[2018 - present]
Responsible for modeling, animating, and rendering 3D visual effects for the upcoming documentary, covering the works and life of fine artist H.C. Westermann.

  • Modeled and rendered hyper-realistic assets for 3D rendering.

  • Learned and utilized leading physic-based rendering softwares such as Arnold Renderer and Substance Painter.

 

Josh Tsui - 2D Artist - Insert Coin Documentary
[2018]
I designed 2D logos for Josh Tsui’s upcoming documentary, covering Midway Games. Under a short deadline, I made swift turnaround on the designs, parodying Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam in a 16-bit style.

  • Created 16-bit style logos, parodying Mortal Kombat 1 and NBA Jam and executed a retro look and feel.

  • Maintained swift and active communications as a remote artist, ensuring that the quality of work was met.

 

William Chyr LLC - 3D Artist, Animator - Manifold Garden
[2017 - present]
I worked closely with William Chyr on his upcoming indie title Manifold Garden. I was responsible for 3D modeling and animating architecturally inspired assets for his game.

  • Rendered intricate and puzzle-like polygonal shapes animating them to change state in a linear inorganic style.

  • Imported each asset into Unity 3D for quality assurance and troubleshooting.

 

Girls Make Games - 2D Artist
[2018]
Contributed artwork to Girls Make Games 2018 Summer camp. I created artwork for two teams in the final week of their game development program.

  • Brought to life and developed various 2D character sprites, game assets, and static environments under the design and art direction of the programs participants.