Ron Friedman

[Character Animator]

Resume

Download Resume: [pdf][doc]

Employment

December 2018 - present
The Third Floor, Inc. Los Angeles, California
Senior Finals Animator

Responsibilities include animation production from concept through final delivery as well as implementation into Unity.

May 2015 - October 2018
Disney Interactive. Palo Alto, California
Lead Animator

Responsibilities include creation of animation assets and department management and supervision on an upcoming Star Wars game title.

July 2014 - May 2015
Learniverse, Inc. Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Lead Animator

Responsibilities include creation of animation assets for various projects, including an instructional series for schools on the subject of physics.

January 2013 - July 2014
HitPoint Studios Amherst, Massachusetts
Lead Animator

Responsibilities include managing and scheduling the animation team, casting scenes, reviewing scenes for approval, establishing and maintaining the animation pipeline and incorporation of animation into the game as well as creating my own workload of animation assets for various projects, including the Disney Fairies series for Windows 8.

June 2009 - November 2012
Tencent Boston/Stomp Games Concord, Massachusetts
Senior/Lead Animator - FX Artist

Responsibilities have included managing and scheduling a team of four animators, casting scenes, reviewing scenes for approval, directing outsourced animation assets, establishing and maintaining the animation pipeline and incorporation of animation into the game as well as creating my own workload of animation assets for Player, Enemies and other NPC characters. I have also been responsible for creating both animation and FX for characters in the game Robot Rising.

March 2008 - March 2009
NCSoft Corp. Mountain View, California
Senior Animator

Senior Animator for the PC MMO game "City Of Heroes". Responsibilities include animation of assets for both Player and NPC assets as well as programming sequencers to incorporate the animation into the game.

September 2007 - February 2008
Namco Bandai Games America Santa Clara, California
Animation Director

Animation Director for the Xbox360 title "Afro Samurai". Responsibilities include casting shots to other animators on the project, animation of assets for both in-game and cinematic sequences, reviewing scenes for approval prior to being shown to the Game Director, and overall management and scheduling of the entire animation department for the project.

March 2005 - September 2007
Café FX Santa Maria, California
Animation Supervisor / Senior Character Animator

Animation Supervisor on various digital-doubles and creatures for feature-film visual effects. Responsibilities include casting shots to other animators on the project, reviewing scenes for approval prior to being shown to VFX Supervisor, and overall management of the entire animation department for the project. Animation Supervisor on "Pan's Labyrinth", "Coca-Cola" and "Lucifer". Senior Animator on "Snakes On A Plane", "Evan Almighty", "The Kite Runner" and Frank Darabont's "The Mist".

December 2004 - March 2005
Liquid Development Portland, Oregon
CG Character Animator

CG Character Animator working remotely creating in-game character assets for Sony's Everquest Expansion.

September 2004 - December 2004
ReelFX Studios Dallas, Texas
CG Character Animator

CG Character Animator working remotely on the DVD feature "Action Man" for Hasbro.

June 2004 - September 2004
Electronic Arts Redwood City, California
CG Character Animator

CG Character Animator on pre-rendered hi-res cinematic for EA game title based on Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather". Also provided motion capture performance for secondary characters.

January 2004 - June 2004
Industrial Light & Magic San Rafael, California
CG Character Animator

CG Character Animator on various digital-doubles and creatures for Universal Pictures' "Van Helsing". CG Character Animator on digital baby and snakes for DreamWorks Pictures' "Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'". CG Character Animator on proof-of-concept animations of werewolf movement and behavior for Dreamworks Pictures' "The Talisman".

April 2003 - December 2003
Creative Capers Entertainment Glendale, California
Lead Character Animator

Lead CG Character Animator on various characters for AOL/Time Warner AIM Superbuddy project. Also provided voice-overs for select characters.

February 2002 - March 2003
Phantagram Entertainment Glendale, California
Character Animator

CG Character Animator on cinematic sequences for Phantagram Games titles including "Kingdom Under Fire II" and "Shining Lore", as well as for development projects for games and television.

October 2001 - February 2002
Threshold Digital Research Labs Santa Monica, California
Character Animator

CG Character Animator for the stereoscopic 3-D CG film "Hershey's Really Big 3D Show" for Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, PA.

August 1994 - October 2001
Creative Capers Entertainment Glendale, California
Animation Director

Animation Director and Lead Animator for "Adam Blaster" ("Intergalactic Bounty Hunter") for Pan Interactive (created 98% of all character animation for both in-game assets and cinematics); Animator and Supervising Animator for Lead Characters on various titles working in both 2-D traditional and 3-D CGI mediums. Also provided voice-overs for in-house development projects.

October 1993 - August 1994
Rich Animation Studios Burbank, California
Key Assistant Clean-Up Animation

Clean-up Animation in the animated feature "The Swan Princess". Also provided live-action reference for Prince Derek in select scenes.

September 1992 - October 1993
Hollywood Cartoon Company North Hollywood, California
Character Animator
Animator and Rough Asst Animator for Turner's feature "The Pagemaster".

Software Experience

Previous experience working in Maya, XSI, Lightwave, 3D Studio Max and Character Studio. I am also proficient in the Unity game engine as well as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects and Encore.

Teaching and Lecturing Credits

January 2015 - Present
Harvard University Extension Cambridge, Massachusetts
Adjunct Professor - Animation
Teaching an “Introduction to 3D Animation using Autodesk Maya” course. A “Character Animation for Videogames” course is scheduled to be added shortly.
January 2015 - Present
Mount Ida College Newton, Massachusetts
Adjunct Professor - Animation
Teach three separate 3D Character Animation courses for the Bachelor of Science program in the college’s School of Design.
January 2012 - Present
New England Institute of Art Brookline, Massachusetts
Adjunct Professor - Animation
Teach 3D Character Animation classes plus online lab instruction for students in the Bachelor of Science program for Media Arts.
June 2013 - Present
Digital Tutors Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Tutorial Instructor
I am an ongoing instructor creating tutorial videos on the subject of 2D and 3D Character Animation and other disciplines and software for the website DigitalTutors.com
September 2011 - Present
Toonimations.com
Owner / Animation Instructor
Teach 3D Character Animation through live one-on-one video conference sessions with students both here in the U.S. and in foreign countries.
February 2011 - Present
Boston University - Center For Digital Imaging Arts Waltham, Massachusetts
Animation Instructor
Teach character animation classes as well as other disciplines two nights a week and every other Saturday on a recurrent basis to students in the part-time program.
March 2011
PAX East 2011 Expo Boston, Massachusetts
Panelist
One of four panelists discussing animation for the videogame industry.
September 2011
Boston University - Center For Digital Imaging Arts Waltham, Massachusetts
Keynote Speaker
Was the featured keynote speaker at the Summer 2010 graduation ceremony of Boston University's school for computer graphics.
April 2010
IGDA Boston PostMortem - Animation for Games Boston, Massachusetts
Panelist
One of three panelists discussing animation for the videogame industry in the Massachusetts area.
January 2010
Boston University - Center For Digital Imaging Arts Waltham, Massachusetts
Featured Speaker
Presented a lecture on 3D Character Animation on behalf of Boston University's school for computer graphics.
March 2007
San Luis Obispo International Film Festival San Luis Obispo, California
Featured Speaker
Presented a lecture regarding CafeFX's involvement in the creation of Visual Effects for the film "Pan's Labyrinth".
March 2002
Game Developers Conference 2002 San Jose, California
Featured Lecturer
Presented a lecture entitled "Character Animation for Videogames" discussing the implementation of traditional animation techniques for use in character assets and cinematic cutscenes.
December 2000 - December 2001
Art Center College of Design Pasadena, California
Independent Faculty Member
Acting Instructor of Animation. Responsibilities also include reviewing and grading of work submitted by student towards their final grade for the class.
September 2001 - May 2002
Arts Commission of the City of Glendale Glendale, California
Committee Member
Member of the Animation Education/ Museum committee to promote the art and appreciation of animation.
March 2000 - May 2001
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Los Angeles, California
Panel Leader/Panel Member
Led the Art Direction and Animation panels for the 2001 Interactive Achievement Awards held at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in L.A. Served on Panel in 2000.
April 1999
ASIFA Hollywood Animation Expo '99 Glendale, California
Panel Member
Spoke on the panel for the Animation in Videogames workshop.
May 1996
Creative Capers Colorado Georgetown, Colorado
Animation Course Instructor
Taught animation course to students selected from Colorado Institute of Art and Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design. Curriculum included basic Animation and Clean-up Animation as well as Character Posing and Timing Techniques.

I have also appeared as a Guest Speaker and Lecturer for Siggraph and other computer arts organizations and at various Elementary and Junior High schools for discussions regarding working in the animation industry.

Group Affiliations

  • Former Member of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Local 839
  • Former Charter Member of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
  • Former Member of Screen Actors Guild
  • Former Member of I.A.T.S.E. Local 16