Illustrators and Animators at the Top of Their Fields

LIVE YOUR VISION
CAREERtrack
2008
MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART
volume X
Illustrators and Animators at the Top of Their Fields:
High Profile Assignments and Successful Careers
In our increasingly visual culture, the demand is high for artists who can give form and
expression to the content of our culture and interpret the environment in which we live.
At MICA, students regularly connect to top
professionals in the fields of illustration and
animation and have access to the tools to
create their own unique visual language using
traditional techniques and media or stateof-the-art technology—and their work is
informed by study in perhaps the best liberal
arts program available at any top art college.
So MICA illustrators and animators don’t
just have the tools to communicate
visually—they have something to say.
MICA students are also building
professional credentials:
Through courses in the experimental
animation department, students are
exploring the potential of and acting as
test pilots for new technologies, partnering
with industry leaders on the local scene. At
Big Huge Games, they’ve pushed the limits of
3D character animation in gaming, and with
Direct Dimensions, they explored the latest
technology in 3D scanning. MICA is just
minutes away from one of the hottest clusters
of computer game companies in the U.S.,
including Big Huge Games (founded by MICA
alumnus Dave Inscore) and Firaxis Games.
Both employ MICA students as interns—and
actively recruit new hires from each year’s
graduating class.
Most MICA illustrators graduate with
professional publications and awards:
as a sophomore at MICA, Jasmine Sarp ’10
published an illustration in The New York
Times; Jesse Turnbull ’04 helped artist Kent
Williams develop his illustrated novel, The
Foundation (Vertigo/DC Comics); Tashana
McPherson ’05 illustrated Giant Foods’ 2005
Profiles in Excellence Black History Month
brochure; Dominick Taylor ’06 received a
$4,000 Art Out Loud Award from the Society
of Illustrators, the largest cash award the
Society had given to a student. Each year,
MICA illustrators have been honored in the
Society of Illustrators’ student competition,
which includes publication in the Society’s
prestigious Annual. Several students have won
the award multiple times. In each of the last
three years, five MICA illustrators’ work were
among the approximately 100 selected from
more than 5,000 entries nationwide. In 2007,
Piero Macgowan ’07 won the Best of Show
award in the 3x3 Student Awards and was
selected for inclusion in American Illustration
26—a professional competition. In 2008, two
MICA illustration students were among only
13 nationally to receive merit recognition in
Creative Quarterly II.
Current students and recent
graduates have successfully
landed internships, competitive
freelance assignments, and
jobs throughout the country.
Apple Computer
Atari Interactive
Big Huge Games
Cartoon Network
DC Comics
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Firaxis Games
Johns Hopkins Microsurgery Advanced
Design Lab
Industrial Light & Magic
LucasArts Entertainment
MTV, New York
New York Times Op/Ed Page and Book Review
Penguin Books
Seoul Movie Company, LTD – Korea
Studio of Illustrator Kent Williams
Sesame Street
The Orphanage
USA Today
MICA illustrators and animators—shaping the way we see the world…
…as entrepreneurs
• Javier Ameijeiras (illustration ’05) is a freelance illustrator
whose clients include Disney/Touchstone Pictures, HBO,
HarperCollins, and Rolex. He worked as a production
illustrator on the films 27 Dresses, PS I Love You, and Step
Up II.
• Cara Petrus (illustration ’04) is an illustrator and book cover
designer working in New York City whose illustrations have
been featured on greeting cards, book covers, magazine
spreads, and limited edition prints. Her clients include:
Random House, Penguin Publishers, St. Martin’s Press,
and Harper Collins.
• In 2004, Kimberly Love (illustration ’03) started Group
Memory, a firm that provides graphic recording services
to clients including American Institute for Research, The
Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, and the Tavis Smiley
Foundation in Los Angeles.
• Yanni Kim (illustration ’03) is a freelance illustrator for
magazines such as Maison and CASALiving. Her work has
been published in RSVP’s Directory and American Illustration.
• Okan Arabacioglu (illustration ’05) had a piece published in
American Illustration 23 while still a student at MICA, and is
now a freelance illustrator for clients including Aktuel
Magazine, Södra Teatern (Sweden), the band Sonic Youth,
Boston Globe, and Rolling Stone.
…at top companies and studios
• Krystal Higgins (illustration ’04) is interactive designer
in the creative department of NVIDIA Corporation in
Santa Clara.
• Baltimore area electronic gaming firms, such as Firaxis,
Micropose, and Big Huge Games, benefit from the
creativity and talent of MICA students and alumni.
Firaxis Games, home of legendary game designer Sid
Meier, currently employs many MICA alumni and has
hosted dozens of MICA student interns. Along with Intel
Corporation, Firaxis Games co-sponsored MICA/JHU’s
New Techne Symposium in Spring 2004.
• Emily Leborgne (experimental animation and general fine arts
’03) is a character animator for O Entertainment, where she
works on the television series Back to the Barnyard. Her
own short films can be viewed at www.eleborgne.com.
• Kevin Margo (general fine arts ’00) is a CG supervisor for
Blur Studio in Venice, California, a firm that specializes in
computer animation, visual FX, concept art, and broadcast
design. Rockfish, a computer-animated short film for which
Margo did scene assembly, was nominated for an Oscar in
2004. He also did animation on the Aeon Flux and Area 51
video games. www.kevinmargo.com
• Meaghan Ross (ceramics ’05) is the head of props at Shadow
Machine Films, in Los Angeles, where she works on the
Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken and Moral Orel.
• Jeremie Talbot (illustration ’98) did special effects for the
Adam Sandler film Little Nicky, and the Eddie Murphy film
Dr. Doolittle. Jeremie has worked for LucasArts and at
Metrolight Studios, were he interned as a MICA student.
…publishing their work
• Melody Shickley (illustration ’05) was awarded the coveted
Xeric Grant for her graphic novel In the Hands of Boys
with Janet Tangriala. Only four awards are given each year
to promising graphic novelists to publish their works.
www.melodyshickley.com
• Emily Flake (illustration ’99), the Brooklyn-based author
and illustrator of the Lulu Eightball alt-weekly comic
strip, published her first book, a collection of Lulu
Eightball comics, with Atomic Book Company. Her strip
runs in six alt weeklies, including one in Iceland. Her work
was also included in a Communication Arts Illustration
Annual, and her clients include Chicago magazine, the
The New York Times, and Playboy. www.eflakeagogo.com
• Jarrett Rutland (illustration ’02) illustrated Spatz: The
Scratching Sound, a children’s book by Sherry Fair.
www.rutlandart.com
• Dave Inscore (illustration ’95) co-founded Big Huge Games
in 2000, where he is vice president of graphics. Big Huge’s
first release, Rise of Nations, has brought the firm widespread critical acclaim. Currently, five MICA alums are
artists with Big Huge, which has also hosted many MICA
students as interns.
CAREER TRACK
OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSION
MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART
www.mica.edu
[email protected]
410-225-2222
© 2008 Maryland Institute College of Art
In 2008, the Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Career Development
moves into a new expanded home in The Gateway, MICA’s newest
student residence and life center. The new location offers even
more space for students to research their career options, prepare
for the grad school admission process, and meet with counselors
to prepare résumés and craft applications for competitive
residencies, grants, scholarships, and fellowships.