Gigacon Guests 2011

Maasa Kuwana-Muelhaupt

Maasa Kuwana-Muelhaupt, also known as AZURE is an Animation Director, Storyboard Artist and Illustrator in NYC.  After graduating Parsons School of Design in 2005, she has worked on both TV animation including Ugly Americans, MAD, The Electric Company, and TV commercial spots such as Sweet 'N Low.  Her illustrations were featured in the Autodesk Galleries in San Fransisco and Las Vegas, and at SIGGRAPH 2011.  One of her pieces is included in the ART FOR HOPE, a digital artbook supporting the ongoing disaster reconstruction efforts in Japan.
Maasa also does knits design, and runs an online store AZURE KNITS+ where her original knits and handspun yarns are on sale.
http://azure-m.com/  http://knits.azure-m.com

Brian Muelhaupt

Brian Muelhaupt is a 2D animation director in New York City.  In addition to developing his own productions, he is a character designer for the Sesame Workshop, has directed several commercials, and animated on several television series including Ugly Americans and Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law.  He is currently animating on the new FX series Unsupervised.

http://brianmuelhaupt.com

Jennifer Dutton

Jennifer attended the Art Institute of Washington on full-scholarship, and graduated December 2009 with a BFA in Media Arts & Animation. She worked as a tutor at AIW for a year and a half, she was the Lead Artist at the indie video game developer Forever Interactive for two years, and freelanced with Spark Flow Studios for six months. Now she is an artist at WMS Gaming in Chicago, creating concepts, illustrations, and animations for high-end slot machine games. WMS Gaming has been ranked the #1 large company to work for in Chicago, by the Chicago Tribune.

Sam Ellis

Sam Ellis is currently working as Lead Illustrator/Character Designer on the FX animated project Archer. As a freelance illustrator and designer he has worked as a story artist, character designer, and illustrator for shows on [adult swim] and has provided artwork for several comic book companies.

Some of Sam's work can be seen at http://manofmissle.blogspot.com/

Eric Basaluda

The artist known as Ebas started in comics working at Top Cow in 2000 under the direct tutelage of Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri.  He soon became one of the Top Guns and Top Cow.  A self-professed thong lover, Eric is known for his depictions of beautiful women and sexy artwork.  Eric's has worked on many fan favorite comic series including Hunter-Killer, Witchblade, Tomb Raider, Freshman, The Magdalena, Blood Legacy:The Young Ones, The Darkness, Battle of the Planets, the Darkness/Vampirella crossover and the Witchblade/Wolverine crossover.  In 2006, Top Cow published a Sketchbook of Eric’s fabulous artwork.  In 2008, Eric did the artwork for the first ever Virgin Comics/Top Cow crossover, Devi/Witchblade #1.  Eric’s recent work includes various covers for The Flash, Top Cow, Zenascope, Marvel, Image and others.

Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams is a Multimedia Artist who graduated from the Art Institute of Washington in June of 2009. Having been working in html since 1999, she continued to work on her web design skills as well as other skills throughout school; from Character Design, Illustration, and Graphic Design. These skills proved useful when she began working at MTSI (Modern Technology Solutions, Inc); there she started as the Webmaster, defining the company’s online persona. While at the same company she continued to do illustration, graphic design, print design, web design and development, video production, and much more.

The two biggest influences in her life have been marine biology and the work of Walt Disney. These influences both manifest themselves in much of her illustration work and character designs. Her foremost output these days are illustrated works of hybrid creatures.

You can see some of Robyn’s work online at http://www.rewyndstudio.com

Rambo Siu

Rambo Siu was born and raised in Rockville, Maryland. He graduated with a BFA in Media Arts and Animation from The Art Institute of Washington. He started teaching himself 3D modeling and texturing in high school. After graduating high school in 2006, he was awarded a scholarship to the Art Institute of Washington. Rambo got his foot into the industry during his junior year in college, when he got hired as a art intern at Big Huge Games. He is now a 3d character artist there. His work can be seen at www.rambo3d.com"

Freddie E. Williams II

Freddie E. Williams II burst onto the comic book scene in 2005, when he began work with DC on the Eisner Award winning series SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE.  Since then, he has Illustrated a long list of DC Comics titles: ROBIN, the FLASH, COUNTDOWN, 52, BLUE BEETLE, AQUAMAN, JSA CLASSIFIED, the OUTSIDERS, FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: RUN, JSA ALL-STARS, and most recently the New52 series CAPTAIN ATOM. Freddie is a mostly digital artist whose innovative approach to art can be seen in his new how-to book, the DC COMICS GUIDE TO DIGITALLY DRAWING COMICS.

Christopher Ondrus

Christopher Ondrus graduated from one of the first Computer Animation Multimedia programs from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1996.  Chris started his 15 year career at Bethesda Softworks working as a cinematic animator before transitioning to Mythic Entertainment to manage the animation department.  During his career at Mythic, Chris has warn many hats ranging from Senior Animator, Associate Art Director and Director of Outsourcing.    Since starting his career Chris has shipped 14+ games for the PC market. Franchises include The Elder Scrolls series, Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games; Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. Chris is currently working for Bioware as a Producer on two Projects for the China gaming market: Dungeon Keeper Online and Ultima China.

Alan Ide

I am the "Lead Game Programmer" for Latman Interactive, which is a new mobile game development studio based in MD. I also created a few independent mobile puzzle games, namely "Tesseract", and "ArcSpin" prior to this position. I am a huge fan of video gaming in general, but mostly FPSs and puzzles. Although being the father of a 3 year old doesn't leave much free time.

Crisanto Cimatu

Born and raised in Maryland, attended the Maryland Institute College of Art where he earned a BFA in Illustration, Minor in Art History, and a Studio Concentration in Curatorial Studies. In the past he has worked on various projects including exhibition design at the Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, public art proposals for the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, and various freelance web and print design projects. Currently he is the Lead Artist and Designer at Latman Interactive where he works with a great team to design mobile games for iOS and Android platforms. They currently have two games out- Quackville! and Qach! and are working on a third. He lives happily in Baltimore with his girlfriend Lindsay Petrick and pet rabbit Meatball.

To see his work visit:
www.crisantocimatu.com

Todd Churn

Todd Churn is an animator living in Arlington Virginia. A graduate from The Art Institute of Washington, Todd has recently worked on some extremely fun music videos for PBS Kids. Currently, Todd is animating for Latman Interactive and is enjoying every last minute of it.

Enrique Rivera

Enrique Rivera is currently a core artist at WMS in Chicago, one of the leading companies of casino and slot machine games. He is also co-creator and artist behind the web comic, "Bananas & Binary". He graduated from the Art Institute of Washington in late 2008 with a bachelors in Media Arts and Animation and never looked back. He's done work with licenses from Hasbro, Marvel, and Warner Bros. and worked on many small projects for Kaiser Studio Productions, including comics, concepts, and animations.

Bakia Parker

I am a 2009 graduate of The Art Institute of Washington.  Currently the Lead 3D Artist at Latman Interactive, a primarily mobile gaming house.  My specialty is in Hard Surface and Asset modeling.  My preferred tools of the trade are Maya, 3D Studio Max, MudBox, and Photoshop.  The subject matter in my artwork has always been conceptual machinery (robots, bikes, cars, spaceships, and so on).  I take great pride in applying my understanding of real world machine functionality and look to my pieces.  The end results are highly detailed production and real-time ready models.

On a more personal note, I like Robot Machine Things, Rock Music, Cake and Otters…......ok Ok OK…you got me…The Cake is a Lie.

My work can be seen at http://bakiaparker3d.com/

Rebekah Gallardo

Rebekah Gallardo graduated from the Art Institute of Washington in Spring 2010 with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Media Arts and Animation. After an adventurous summer working at Six Flags of America as a henna tattoo artist, she applied to and was hired full time as a graphic artist for Pinebrook Inc. Pinebrook is a small government contractor based in Southern Maryland that specializes in Acquisition/Program Management, Systems Engineering, Training and Education.

As Pinebrook's only artist she handles anything graphically related. She creates everything from interface buttons and icons to animations and interactive flash tools. She develops graphics mainly for courseware to support, enforce, and illustrate concepts and learning objectives, all while keeping the student visually engaged. While courseware is her main focus, she has also been called upon to design logos, charity wanted posters, and the occasional Christmas party flyer.

Anthony Spay

Anthony Spay is a comic book artist from Philadelphia, PA, and is currently the Art Director / Staff Artist for Zenescope Entertainment.   He is a graduate of Gettysburg College, with an MFA in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
In the last year, Anthony has worked on virtually every one of Zenescope’s titles,  such as Grimm Fairy tales and the Dream Eater Saga,  Drawing interior pages and covers, as well as editing and art direction.

Tim Bostaph

Tim Bostaph is in the Alpha Chi Honor Society, he has graduated from Allegany College of Maryland, The Bradley Academy of the Visual Arts and The Art Institute of Washington D.C. He is Comptia Security+, Network+ and A+ Certified. He has worked as a Web Designer, Animator, Graphic Designer, Inker, Colorist, Network Managers, an IT Consultant, and is currently employed as a Game Developer and Art Director.

Logan Lubera

Information coming soon!

David Silva

David Silva worked as a full-time freelance designer for McFarlane toys for about eighteen months, and three years as a sculpture for McFarlane toys, David showed a particular interest in the animal inspired characters and became a major contributor to lines such as McFarlene's Dragons, warriors of the Zodiac, and other in-house lines.

Unfortunately, in 2008 many of McFarlane’s in-house fantasy lines were put on hold indefinitely and eventually cancelled. David felt it was time to move on and pursue his next goal- Hasbro. With the portfolio gained from McFarlane Toys, David earned a temporary sculpting term at Hasbro in Pawtucket, RI in the summer of ’08 and returned for another term in winter of ‘09. Then in early 2010, a new opportunity came along from NECA, (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) as an in-house sculptor. The New Jersey based NECA has been a good fit for David and he has spent the past year working on their various collector based toy lines including Predators, Terminator 2, Clash of the Titans, and Iron Maiden. David has also been creating his own line of resin model kits, focusing mainly on dinosaurs and prehistoric animals, since Oct. 2009 under Creative Beast Studio.

Ryan Bowlin

I’ve been making images for as long as I’ve been able to get my little mitts around a Crayola. Some of my earliest memories involve being face down in a pad of paper, scribbling like a wild man on the living room floor. When I let my mind take me back I can still feel the shaggy carpet imprinting abstract designs on my skin. I can remember the waxy crayon smell as I'd pull it across the paper. 

It’s funny to think, looking back, that I’m still completely enamored with doing the very same things today. Sure, now I have a fancy desk and the tools aren’t nearly as crude. But the passion for creating stories and imagining worlds has always remained.

For the last five years I’ve been fortunate enough to have an outlet for that passion by working in the games industry. Most my experience has come from working on Fantasy MMORPGs that haven't quite come to fruition and dabbling in the casual gaming market with tiles for Facebook and iPhone. More recently I've found myself stepping up the challenge of tackling an understanding of a different casual market by creating art for casino gambling machines at WMS Gaming in Las Vegas, NV.

www.ryanbowlin.com

Garette Johnson

Garette is a multi-faceted design studio that combines modern fashion with art and illustration. The Garrott collection is a two part look, featuring draped knit dresses printed with original art work by the designer and lady-like leather pieces. A focus on construction detail and drape accentuate the figure. Contrast of the soft and structured reflects a modern woman's desire to be bold and feminine. Mutually inspired by fashion and the natural world; the illustration work delights in the absurd, ironic and beautiful poetry of the world around us. Garette collaborates with private and corporate clients alike to develop concept designs and illustrations for a multitude of commercial media.

Garette Johnson, the designer behind the studio, graduated in 2004 from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A. in fashion design and illustration. Upon graduation Garette accepted a position at Kay Unger New York, and has continued design work under labels such as Alberto Makali, and Magaschoni. The launch of her own collection Garrott; is a culmination of her experience in commercial design and a desire to create artistic pieces for the individual.

Hannah Benbow

As a kid my mom wouldn’t let me watch cartoons. She insisted that they would “rot my brain”. Well that back fired. Currently I work for BittyGames, a new and upcoming mobile gamming company. While I mainly am in charge of 3D animation, I also have the responsibility of creating all of the graphic assets needed for any games. In short I make the games look “pretty”. I am also a recent graduate from the Art Institute of Washington with a focus in 3D animation. Feel free to check out my work at

www.hannamations.com

Matt Dembicki

Matt Dembicki, a founder of the D.C. Conspiracy—a comics creators collective in the nation’s capital—previously edited and contributed to the Eisner-nominated and Aesop Prize-winning Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection (Fulcrum Publishing). His graphic novel Xoc—about a great white shark—will be published by Oni Press in 2012, as will a new anthology he is editing and contributing to, District Comics Vol. 1 (Fulcrum Publishing). .