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Producer: Robin Heenan. Staff Artist: Tim Springer. Senior Artists: Sonia Prins, James Hopperstead. Concept Art: Kurt Andersen, Neville Hidalgo, David Ceniceroz.

Producer: Robin Heenan. Staff Artists: Tim Springer and Justin Valvo. Concept Art: Kurt Andersen, Neville Hidalgo, David Ceniceroz, and David Houry.

Producer: Robin Heenan. Staff Artists: Tim Springer and Justin Valvo. Concept Art: Kurt Andersen. Senior Artists: Julianne Rodgers and Kim Paulsen. Character animation: Jason Newkirk.

I am a creative leader with over 15 years of experience making games and leading teams. With deep roots in Visual Direction, Team Management, Internal and External Art Production, Graphic and User Interface (UI) Design, Illustration, and Motion Graphics, I draw upon a myriad of hard and soft skills - balancing timeline, budget, and team member strengths - to achieve product goals and timelines.

As Art & Audio Design Manager for IGT’s Core Studio, I lead a talented and versatile internal team. We develop original IP for IGT's Core Video Portfolio. During my tenure as Sr. Manager, we succeeded in our Core Video ‘turn-around’. In Q4 2018, IGT became #1 in Core Video. Today we continue selling more units than our competitors.

Team Building: Recruiting and Hiring

With a goal of “getting the right people on the bus”, I worked with Staff to identify gaps within our internal team. Then

created interview guidelines and Art testing process
collaborated with IGT Global Marketing team to create recruiting materials
advertised Ignite career opportunities on job sites and social media
recruited and screened candidates
coordinated in-house interviews
hired Lead Artist, Senior Artist, External Art Coordinator, and Video Production Artist

Ensure Quality across Ignite Portfolio: Promoting Visual Excellence and Art Polish

With a goal of making assignments that were best-suited for individual artists and game teams, I worked to identify Art team members' strengths. I provided Art team organization that improved consistency in art services across all game teams. These factors allowed more time to perfect our games and achieve a higher bar for "visual excellence":

individual contributors work toward their strengths
All Producers now have access to Concept Art, Design Direction, Lead Artist, Video Production, and External Art Services, as needed.
improved planning and communication between Ignite Staff > Art Manager > Art Team
improved "buy-in" from Stakeholders, preventing last-minute 'drive-bys' or swings in visual direction

Support On-Time Deliveries: Completing Games on Schedule

worked closely with teams to understand needs and ensure appropriate assignments and staffing
supported Artists in accurately estimating production time
attended game team stand-ups to keep my finger on the pulse of production
anticipated potential road blocks, raised a flag when appropriate, and worked toward necessary changes in course, timeline, and assignments.

Facilitate Transparency, Feedback & Communication

Producers asked for more transparency into the Art iteration process. Artists described a culture where in-person feedback didn’t align with conversations behind closed doors.

Introducing Basecamp project site allowed us to build visual development histories for each game. Basecamp is accessible to all game team members – internally and externally. Team members post Art updates and have a forum for giving and receiving written feedback.

In game team meetings, we practice timely, straight-forward feedback. In some cases I facilitated difficult conversations between Producers and Art Team members, with a goal of resolution and improving working relationship.

In 2017 we continue to improve Communication between Artists and Producers through a series of classes – Communication 101, DiSC, and Difficult Conversations.

Align Art with Product Goals

We identified the key to successful game development is the Lead Artist’s ability to work with the Producer, understand goals for the product, then focus Art efforts to elevate product goals. When the Producer and Lead Artist are in alignment about product goals, results include greater

ease in collaboration!
enhanced creativity and innovation!
stronger product!

We identified stand-out Art Team members who excel in this area - drawing upon years of development experience and player empathy to distill 2-4 main product goals. Then focus art efforts – investing hours in what matters most while deprioritizing less-impactful game elements.