Tara Packard

tara@tarapackard.com

Summary

• Character animator on AAA titles such as the Sims, Lego Island & John Madden franchises
• Fine art background including traditional 2D and stop-motion animation and design
• Art and animation direction, management and project lead experience
• Character and environment design, modeling, texturing and design background
• Shipped products in Maya, 3DS Max, Photoshop, game engines such as Unity and more
• A team player, who’s self motivated, has a passion for quality, while maintaining deadlines
• Animation background includes object, biped, quadruped, creature, and facial animation
• Tool and user generated content design experience along with good understanding of social games

Employment

Real Life Plus , San Mateo, CA Feb 2010 – Oct.. 2011

Art Director (online social Games & entertainment)

• Directed the look and feel for casual social games: Style Studio, Fashion Face Off, and Mermaid Cove.
• Created human and animal character animation
• Created style guide, documentation and assisted with presentation art
• Helped build team and manage internal & external artists
• Helped create and direct user avatar tools design for user generated content

Vivaty , (social, casual, 3D world), Menlo Park, CA June 2009 – Jan. 2010

Sr. Character Animator

• Created character animation for social networking 3D MMO Vivaty.
• Created character animation for the Flash Facebook version of Vivaty.
• Refined animation dance system and implemented it
• Helped design tools and avatar set up improvements on legacy model with engineers

Doppelganger , San Francisco, CA July 2005 – Dec 2008

Character Animator. vSide (social MMO), The Music Lounge (social MMO), & MTV's vLES (social MMO of lower East Side NY & Clubs)

• Created character animation including emotes, dances, actions
• Designed clothing line “Mod-pods” dresses for virtual store
• Helped design system to create 2 player interacting content within current games limitations
• Created models and textures for environment, clothing and objects
• Designed first avatar specs and chose best software to implement for project
• Helped create interactive live dance system, a guitar playing system and user tool specs for user generated content creation

Electronic Arts / Maxis , Walnut Creek & Redwood City, CA 2001– 2004

Character Animator

The Sims 2 (PC);The Urbz (PS2); The Sims Exp. Packs: Hot Date, Vacation, & Unleashed (PC)

• Created 3D character animation for 3 expansion packs for award winning The Sims
• Created 3D character animation for The Sims2 and The Urbz
• Created and altered facial animation and expressions
• Interviewed prospective animators

Additional Titles

Starship Troopers , Playstation for Hasbro / Microprose: as Lead Animator

Van-Pires , TV Series for Rhino: as Character Animator

LEGO Island , PC for Mindscape: as Character & Cinematic Animator

Steel Harbinger , Playstation for Mindscape: as Computer Artist

Hello Howdy, Pippen for Bandai: as Lead Artist & Designer

Congo , Sega and Nintendo for Viacom and Visual Concepts as 2D animator and artist

John Madden '94, & ‘95 , Sega and Nintendo for Visual Concepts: as Computer Artist & Animator

Education

Rhode Island School of Design: Providence, R.I., Fine arts

Computer Arts Institute, S. F., CA: 3D Computer Animation

Academy of Art , S. F., CA: Computer Arts

Master Classes and Seminars

Richard William' s Animation Master Class

Pixar Animation Workshop: Advanced Character Animation

Don Bluth : Animation Seminar

Ed Hooks Seminars: Acting for Animators

Gary Schwartz : 2D and stop motion animation