Rick Schmitz @rickart

I am an Art Director working in the field of video games for PC, Mac, iOS (iPhone and iPad), Xbox and PS3. Most recently I was the Studio Art Director at PopCap games. I managed 15 artists at PopCap's Seattle office where I also worked with producers, designers and engineers to create fantastic, beautiful games.

Previous to PopCap I was the Art Director at Centerscore/Vivendi where I managed 4 artists and oversaw the look and feel of a variety of casual games for the Mobile market. The best known of our projects were Surviving High School and Cake Mania 2. Additionally, our Art Team produced images to pitch new game ideas. I personally produce Mock ups and concept art in order to establish the style of each of our games.

Before Centerscore I was the Art Manager on Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar at Turbine Inc., supervising a team of 11 artists. I maintained schedules and approved assets for artistic quality and style. I concepted, modeled, textured and animated many assets myself as well. I also worked closely with the other members of the Dev team to make the best game possible within our ambitious schedule. I started out at Turbine in the role of Art Director for AC2: Legions. As the Art Director I guided the look of the project, managed a team of artists and personally created many of the game’s art assets as well.

Before Turbine I worked at Sony Online Entertainment where I worked as the Concept Lead on EverQuest 2. In that position I was responsible for shepherding the look and feel of all the races and environments of the world and created hundreds of drawings myself as well. Previous to that I was the Character Lead on the Scars of Velious expansion for EQ where I created and animated characters and headed up a 5-member team that created tons of new assets for the game. My time at SOE started as the Character Animator/Designer for the original version of Everquest.

I started out in the Game industry at Blue Sky Software/Sega of America, where I was Lead Artist on Vectorman 2 creating half of the levels myself. I also worked on many other Genesis projects including Roadrunner and Coyote, Ren and Stimpy, Shadowrun, and Spider-man 32X.

I have a B. A. in Studio Art from the UCSB. Before making video games, my professional career spanned a number of fields including Comics, Editorial Illustrations and Educational Software. A list of former clients and employers includes Image Comics, Marvel Comics, SCEA, 989 Studios, Jostens Learning, Presto Studios, Highlights for Children Magazine, and Humpty Dumpty Magazine. I have taught drawing and cartooning classes, been a guest lecturer at Cal Arts Character Design classes, and I have participated in the Artist in Residence program at the Charles Schulz Museum. I live just outside of Seattle with my splendid wife, my 3 fantastic kids and 2 fat cats.