I was born in Napa Valley, California. I suppose that's where I get my taste for wine from, though I only lived there until I was about six years old, and doubtless did not consume much wine in that time. My parents packed up and moved us to Gakona Alaska, along with my half-brother David who would spend the winters with us (in the freezing cold), and the summers with his mother in California (in the blistering heat). Growing up in Alaska is quite an experience. Growing up in Alaska means playing your NES on a small black and white TV, and only while the generator's on. Well, the generator thing was only for a short while; soon we moved into a proper house, with real electricity and running water and all that. Throughout my life I have had a fascination (my parents would probably say obsession) with video games: from the NES, to the Sega Genesis, to that wonderful Super Nintendo, to Computers, to all the major systems right up to today.

And not just playing them, either. I clearly and fondly remember drawing maps for an unnamed Super Mario Brothers 3 sequel in my spiral notebook in second grade, drawing new and horrendously colored ninja characters for the Mortal Kombat series, making modifications for Doom, Duke Nukem 3d, Quake, Marathon, and so on.

Sometime around sixth grade, my friends and I formally collected our ideas into a game "company" called DiJiT. You'll note me under the amazingly creative handle of "Slayer." Short lived, but fun.

The Mastersword Project, a persistant online RPG created for the Half-Life engine, was one of my first major projects. I have done so many small jobs (and many not so small jobs) for that project that it's hard to count them all, but for the most part I am the World Designer, Musician, and sometime GUI/Texture/Modeller/Mapper artist for the project. It's still going strong to this day due to a small group of diehard fans, and in my spare time I still make a point to visit them and occaisionally write them a new piece of music.

Music is a hobby of mine. I have been playing the piano since I was five, took lessons for a year then stopped, and continue to play to this day. I can also strum a chord or two on a guitar, blow into various whistle-like instruments, and my singing voice isn't amazingly cringeworthy. To that end, I create music in my spare time, either for the various game projects I've worked on or for my own personal album projects.

I went to Glennallen High School, which was about 20 miles away from my home in Gakona. Dragging yourself out to a bus at -40F or colder "makes a man out of you," or so says my father. I think it makes you cold. Damn cold.

Starting in 2003, I began attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I have taken courses in (but not limited to):

Traditional Arts (Drawing, Sculpture, Painting)

Digital Arts (Digital Photography, Visualization and Animation, Digital Video Compositing, Macromedia Flash)

Japanese Language and Culture (Japanese 101, 102, 201, 202, and Modern East Asian History)

Creative Writing (Workshop courses in Poetry, Fiction)

Art History (Many courses, including Seminars in Modern Art)

During my third and fourth years of college, I worked on campus as a Desk Attendant, meaning that I was part of a team responsible for dorm security. In my spare time, I continued making assets for games, working with my good friend Troy Lawlor on Prayer.

I applied to (and was accepted in) the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art program in the spring of 2007. Around the same time, I was accepted for the job of Resident Assistant on campus.

Starting in the summer of 2007, I began work on my B.F.A. Thesis animation, the Fate of Children, with the final show occuring April 21st 2008. It was certainly difficult taking a full class load each semester, working as a Resident Assistant, and creating art for my B.F.A. Thesis show at the same time, but it was also the most challenging and rewarding experience of my life.

I graduated cum laude in May of 2008 with a B.F.A. in Computer Art. I have since moved back home and begun packing for a move to the States and searching for jobs, preferably in the computer games industry.

As part of the B.F.A. program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I wrote a short Thesis Report detailing my project. It can be viewed online here: BFA Thesis Report