Sonserae Leese-Calver

 

Objective

Creative position involving photo-realistic or stylistic texture map painting and creation, digital matte painting, 3D virtual environments, visual effects for film and other related areas which result in entertainment media, film, video or other medium.
 
 

Employment



Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Burbank, CA

 Texture Map Painter, March 2007 -Present  Texture map painter for "Tak and The Power of Juju"  and "The Penguins of Madagascar". Responsible for painting textures for textures for visual effects involving 3d props and characters, backgrounds and character visual effects, assigning shaders, etc. Software used: Autodesk Maya 8.0, 8.5, 2008, Maxon Bodypaint, Micosoft 64 bit XP, Adobe Photoshop, Painter, etc...

Walt Disney Feature Animation, Burbank, CA

 
Texture Map Painter, November 2005 -Present  Texture map painter for "An American Dog".  Responsible for painting textures for textures for visual effects involving 3d props and characters, backgrounds and character visual effects, assigning shaders, shader expressions, fur and feather generation,  etc. Software used: Alias Maya, Disney's Proprietary 3d Paint, Linux, UNIX scripting, Pixar Renderman, MTOR,  Adobe Photoshop, Painter, etc...

Texture Map Painter, September 2005 -November 2005  Texture map painter for "Joe Jump" (Test).  Responsible for painting textures for textures for visual effects involving 3d props, backgrounds and character visual effects., assigning shaders, shader expressions, etc. Software used: Alias Maya, Disney's Proprietary 3d Paint, Linux, UNIX scripting, Silicon Graphicss, Adobe Photoshop, Painter,  etc...

Texture Map Painter, July 2004 -September 2005  Texture map painter for "Meet the Robinsons".  Responsible for painting textures for textures for visual effects involving 3d props, backgrounds and character visual effects. , assigning shaders, shader expressions, etc. Software used: Alias Maya, Disney's Proprietary 3d Paint, Linux, UNIX scripting, Silicon Graphicss, Adobe Photoshop, Painter,  etc...

Sony Pictures Imageworks/Columbia Pictures, Culver City, CA

Senior Texture Map Painter, December 2002 -April 2004 Texture map painter for "Polar Express" starring Tom Hanks.  Responsible for painting textures for textures for visual effects involving 3d props, backgrounds and character visual effects. Software used: Alias Maya, Studiopaint 3d, UNIX scripting, Silicon Graphicss, Adobe Photoshop etc...

Cinesite/Kodak Studios, Hollywood, CA

Senior Texture Map Painter, August 2002 -November 2002(Short Assignment) Texture map painter for "Solaris" starring George Clooney.  Responsible for painting textures for textures for visual effects involving hands and face morphology and also created lens flare animations for space scenes using Adobe After Effects. Texture map painter for "XMen2" and "Last Samurai." Responsible for painting textures for some 3d props. Software used: Alias Maya, Studiopaint 3d, Adobe After Effects, UNIX scripting, Silicon Graphicss, Adobe Photoshop etc...

Rythm and Hues, Marina Del Rey, CA

Senior Texture Map Painter, July 2002
(Short Assignment) Texture map painter for "Gigli" starring Ben Affleck and J. Lopez.  Responsible for painting textures for architectural elements for a 3d environment for the film.  Software used: Alias Maya, Studiopaint 3d, UNIX scripting, Silicon Graphicss, Adobe Photoshop etc...

Sony Pictures Imageworks/Columbia Pictures, Culver City, CA

Senior Texture Map Painter, November2000 - June 2002
Texture map painter for "Stuart Little 2" Responsible for painting most textures on all 3d props and costumes for the film...(i.e. planes, car, furniture, vehicles, clothing, etc...) Also texture painted on the movie "I Spy" and the all CG Animated Short "The Chubb Chubbs".  Other responsibilities include 2d painting of digital elements for visual character     development. Software used: Alias Maya, Studiopaint 3d, Deep Paint, Renderman, UNIX scripting, Silicon Graphicss, Adobe Photoshop etc...
 

Walt Disney Studios/Feature Animation, Burbank, CA

Texture Map Painter, January 2000 - October 2000
Texture map painter for "Magic Lamp". A 4d show (Stereoscopic/Interactive audience events) for the Japan Disney Sea in coordination with Walt Disney Imagineering. System used...Unix, Silicon Graphics, Alias/Wavefront, Maya, StudioPaint 3D, Renderman, Adobe Photoshop, Metatools Painter
 

Walt Disney Studios/Feature Animation, Burbank, CA

Texture Map Painter, September 1997 - December 1999
The sole texture map painter on the movie "Atlantis". Responsible for painting texture maps for objects and environments created in 3d. Movie scheduled to be released in June 2001. Directed by the same wonderful talent that brought you "Beauty and the Beast" and "Hunchback". System used...Unix, Silicon Graphics, Alias/Wavefront, Maya, StudioPaint 3D
 

Morning Star Media Design, Pasadena, CA

Digital Media Artist, April 1994 - Present
Freelance artist specializing in digital imagery (using mainly Photoshop, Illustrator, Strata-Studio Pro, Painter), 3-D modeling, CD-ROMS, virtual 3d environments (design of environments/creation of photorealistic/tileable texture maps, etc), animation, presentation graphics, multimedia, interactive, web site graphics (thorough knowledge of HTML), photo compositing, retouching and print. Clients: Marlin Software Development (In Progress..."Forrest J Ackerman Museum of Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy" on CD-ROM with extensive VRML used throughout the Disk), Paramount Pictures (Website for the Movie Virtuosity which involved building 5 3d environments), Rainbow Studios (Proof of Concept for Dreamworks - Photo-realistic texture mapping of life-like human characters), Toshiba (Interactive Corporate CD-ROMS), L2 Communications (3d Virtual Environments), Pepperdine University, Spacegirlz (Website Creation), Technically Speaking (Website Creation), Hard Candy (Website Creation), Hunt-Wesson, Putnam Financial Investments, Orange County Printing Company, and others.
 


Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, CA

Instructor, May 1996 - Present
Multimedia Workshops, Photoshop I,II, & III, Interactive Multimedia. Responsible for teaching students Adobe Photoshop and designing high impact interfaces, ( i.e. creating buttons, file formats, interface design, compressing files, etc.) Also teach Multimedia classes to the DGA (Director's Guild of America) focusing on an overview of designing Multimedia and Interactive CD-ROMS and how to direct film/video for Interactive Multimedia.
 
 

Graphix Zone, Irvine, CA

Digital Media Artist, August 1994 - Sept. 1996
Responsible for concept, design and production of 2-D art, (creating of photorealistic/tileable texture maps for 3d environments, detailed airbrush painting (Photoshop/Painter), photo compositing, retouching, 3-D modeling, 3D environments, etc...Completed projects include: Oliver Stone's Nixon Interactive CD-Rom, Improv Presents Windows 95 Interactive Tutorial, Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Interactive, America's Funniest Home Videos I & II, Mariah Carey & Alice in Chains Enhanced CD Roms, Guided Tour of Multimedia, Herbie Hancock: "Living Jazz" History of Jazz Interactive CD-ROM, Willie Nelson. Specialization in interactive music CD Roms for recording artists. Have completed projects for Sony Music, Microtek, Motown, Compaq, Earthlink and others.
 
 

CUNA Mutual Insurance, Madison, WI

Computer Graphic Designer/Technical Specialist, 1988 - 1994
Responsible for setting up entire computer graphics division which included writing proposals and research of computer graphics equipment (software, hardware and peripherals) needed, developing corporate guidelines and standards for graphic applications, providing technical training and advice to Graphic Artists, developed and maintained technical requirements/technical support in accordance with Information Systems and equipment standards and also was responsible for producing projects, artwork and presentations (i.e. slides, overheads, handouts, etc.) created on the Genigraphics System and later created and developed a conversion process to transfer all files from Genigraphics platform to the Macintosh platform.
 
 

Genigraphics Corporation, Los Angeles, CA

Computer Graphic Designer/Media Production Specialist, 1987-1988
Computer Graphic Design. Media included slides, transparencies, print, multi-image presentations. As Media Production Specialist, responsibilities included shift leading, job scheduling, computerized imaging, darkroom processing, slide mounting, Metafile PC conversions, etc.
 

Education

Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA

Master's of Theology and the Arts Candidate, January 2006-present
http://www.brehmcenter.org

http://www.brehmcenter.org/visualfaith/Orvieto_Summer.shtml

The Master of Arts in Theology - Theology and The Arts Format is designed to prepare students with a strong background and/or interest in the arts to navigate the intersection between theology and the arts. Those who wish to pursue work as practicing artists, teachers, workers in related fields, or those intending further study will gain the historical, theological, biblical and cultural preparation necessary to be both interpreters of culture and theologically grounded artists.

Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA

Bachelor Of Arts Degrees, April 1984
Mixed Media Fine Art and Photography.
College level major subject areas include: Mixed media, airbrush, watercolor, photography, advertising, graphic design and production.

Cal State University, Santa Monica College, Professional Training & Seminars, Southern CA
Various Courses taken: QuarkXpress, Photoshop, Illustrator, Persuasion, airbrush painting, pastel drawing, life drawing, design, typesetting, paste-up, screen printing, letterpress and other related conferences/seminars such as MacWorld, E-3, Siggraph, etc...
 
 

Experience

Extensive hardware and software knowledge on Macintosh,  Linux, Unix, PC and SGI platforms. Applications include

Alias/Wavefront, Maya, StudioPaint 3d, Deep Paint, Renderman, Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, Strata Studio Pro, Elastic Reality, Morph, KPT Bryce, Poser, Specular Texturescape, Alienskin Textureshop, Apple Media Tool, GifBuilder, Debabilizer, HTML Language, Linux, Unix, etc...and Dos/Windows and various applications on the PC side.

Other Work Related Skills: Work one on one with Authorware/Apple-Media Tool Programmers and have thorough knowledge of all graphic elements needed (concept, design, screens, crops, highlights, rollovers, etc.) to complete any interactive multimedia project. Also have worked extensively with 3d Studio and 3d Studio Max modelers and other 3d programs. Thorough knowledge of DOS language and use, HTML, E-6 film processing, B/W darkroom production, typing 65-70 WPM, 10-key touch, thorough organizational and problem solving abilities, excellent oral and written communication skills, foreign languages - German, French

Honors and Awards



References

Available on Request

Note: Obsolete software and hardware has been eliminated from this list.
 

Send me e-mail at sdleese-calver@sbcglobal.net