Creative problem solver seeks insurmountable problems to solve:
I am a motivated creative person looking for a chance to put all of my skills to work. I am looking for a position that needs someone who looks at things a little differently, that needs someone who can adapt, where doing something that hasnít been done before is the order of the day. I have a strange and eclectic range of skills from the day to day useful, i.e. Quark and Illustrator, drawing by hand, or defragging the hard-drive; to the unusual, sculpting, paper engineering, building working models; to the esoteric, building full body costumes, and identifying plastics by taste. I understand the confines of budget, and deadline, and as a toy designer, I have learned the value of cheap magic; (q.v. there are ways to make a big impact with little cost, often all it takes is attention to detail.) 
Full-time work history: Romar Childrenís Accessories Feb. 2001 - Present
In order to stretch myself I took a job as a  designer of children's acessories. The job itself was mostly working with licensors to create backpacks. We designed some packaging, and some display pieces. Occasionally I got the chance to show my stuff by mocking up packaging, or coming up with innovative presentations that move or light up. I also found myself for the first time the primary defacto in-house Mac consultant for all my fellow designers.

Pragmatic Designs/Digi-Frame -1999 - Feb. 2001
 In June of 1999 I was hired for just such a position.  I was hired to be part of a Toy design team at Pragmatic Designs, a company that specialized in electronics for the toy industry that was shifting its focus to inventing toys and selling the concepts to manufacturers. For 8 months I designed toy concepts, executed working models, and brainstormed and picked up some of the graphics work for the company. I made dolls that played hokey pokey, a maze that dispensed candy when you won, and made Barbie clap to the beat. I created presentation materials/displays to sell ideas to clients. I did casting, mold making, built a vacuform machine so that we could make better models, and solved engineering problems for manufacturers, before they knew that the problems existed. 
 Shortly after the first of this year, the company changed focus. They were returning to the electronics manufacturing business, but this time for adults. The company would no longer put its resources into inventing toys. I was given the work of creating the Digi-Frame corporate image, designing the manufacturing materials (manuals and warning sheets) and designing and producing the advertising and promotional materials for trade shows. I handled all technical aspects of printing and advertising. Dealt with vendors for our point of purchase display. Designed nationwide magazine advertisements, without any budget, and only stock photography of the product to work from. 

Hasbro -1998
 A summer internship at Hasbro the toy manufacturer gave me valuable experience working in teams. The work centered on creating sellable products, by working closely with cost engineering to come up with designs that kept manufacturing costs low while maintaining the play value of the toy and the integrity of the product line. I learned to play well with others: the importance of communication and documentation so projects can be passed from department to department with a minimum of fuss.
 
 Freelance Client list:
  • Layhill Cafe; Silver Spring MD - 2001 
    • Logo design
    Menu design
    Buisnes cards
  • Quack Attack Demolition Derby Team - 2001 
    • Logo design
  • Stull & Benoit / Jersey City Sewerage Authority 1997 - 2001
    • Built a display for Earthday, to promote the "Catch the Basin Beat!" campaign.
    N. J. WAVE award winning "Snap" Educational Program:
    Provided content / illustrated the childrenís activity book.
    Illustrated the pledge card / book mark for the campaign.
  • Design Magic - Toy/Game/Gift Inventing, 1995-1999
    • Concepts for toys, games and illusions, picked up a variety of principles of stage magic, that have since come in useful as attention getting tricks in other areas. 
    Acted as science advisor on a magic of science set.
    Paper engineering, and design consultant on the "Magic Show" pop-up book.
  • Stephanie Janis Inc. - Toy Design 1997-1999
      • Looks-like and working models
      Producing Presentation boards
      Concept generation for girlís products
  • Frank DeGreggorie - Graphic design -1997
    • Prototype construction
  • Ellen Rixford Studio - 3-D illustrator -1996
    • Studio assistant
  • Holiday Market - Grand Central Station -1995
    • Constructed giant bows for the booths
  • Merce Cunningham Theater - Ariane Anthony and Co. -1995
    • Set Design for dance performance
  • DIFFA, New York - Kevin O'Calahagn -1995
    • worked on the team that designed and build the information booth at the Design Industry Foundation Fighting AIDS show and fundraiser.
    • Education:
    		 School of Visual Arts - BFA Illustration & Cartooning - 1996
    An illustration degree with an emphasis on 3-D design and problem solving.
    Skills acquired:
    Painting & sculpting in a variety of media, graphic design, model making, mold making, puppetry & theater, visual problem solving, art history, photography.


    Fashion Institute of Technology - BFA Toy design - 1999
    A very practical skill based education to prepare for the toy industry.

    Skills acquired:
    marker rendering, drafting, package design, graphic design, model making, child development, product engineering, advertising. 


    Self-Taught - 
    Macintosh computer, Illustrator, Quark, Word, Photoshop, love of literature & science.