Headspace: Character Design Panel and Q&A
Filled under Events
Thursday, December 11th, 2014, 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Join us Thursday, December 11th for a special presentation, discussion panel and Q&A session with the artists of Kojima Productions LA. Ricky Zhang (Lead Character Artist), Csaba Molnar (Senior Character Artist), Jonathan Stein (Lead Game Designer), Jordan Lamarre-Wan (Concept Artist) and Sungwook Su (Lead FX Artist) will share some of their most recent personal work, discuss their experiences in the industry prior to working for Kojima and end with an extended Q&A session with the audience. Headspace is a casual community event driven by the goal of bringing together artists in the entertainment industry. If you're looking for insight, inspiration and guidance, this is the event for you. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served.
Guest Speakers
Ricky ZhangLead Character Artist at Kojima Productions Los Angeles
Ricky Zhang began his career in the gaming industry as a character artist for Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, theResistance series, Fuse and finally a small contribution to Sunset Overdrive. Ricky was fortunate enough to work on a range of titles that varied vastly in style, from cartoony to stylized to photorealistic characters, weapons and mechs. Being able to alternate work on both hard surface and organic characters in a variety of styles was extremely refreshing but eventually his interest in all things Metal Gear brought him to Kojima Productions where he currently resides as the Lead Character Artist. Ricky hopes to continue guiding and producing the excellent and painstakingly detailed works of art that the studio is known for.
Csaba MolnarSenior Character Artist at Kojima Productions Los Angeles
Csaba Molnar is a Senior Character Artist at Kojima Productions Los Angeles. Born in 1980 in Hungary, Csaba spent 6 years in art school before landing his his first job. He has been working in the graphics industry since 2001 and in the game industry since 2005. His specialty is character modeling with a focus on hard surface modeling. During the past 10 years he was an outsource supervisor. He worked as a freelancer for Ubisoft on Might and Magic Heroes 6 and was later in charge of multiple mobile game projects as an Art Director at Gameloft where they developed Modern Combat 5. In 2012 he moved to the US joined Kojima Productions.
Jonathan SteinLead Game Designer at Kojima Productions Los Angeles
A 20 year survivor of the game industry, Jonathan has enjoyed tenures at Nintendo of America, Monolith Productions and Naughty Dog. Currently developing something that shall not be named, he is a founding member of Kojima Productions' new stateside studio. Examples of his design work can be found in the Condemned and Unchartedseries. He is not a fan of writing about himself in the third person, cynicism or red beets.
Jordan Lamarre-WanConcept Artist at Kojima Productions Los Angeles
Jordan Lamarre-Wan's career has spanned both films and games, including his contributions to Disney's Epic Mickey series and Guillermo Del Toro's Book of Life. His passion for the Metal Gear Solid games and artwork led him to taking a position at Kojima Productions Los Angeles where he is now focused on developing the studio's up and coming project. See examples of Jordan's work at theartofjlw.com.
Sungwook SuLead FX Artist at Kojima Productions Los Angeles
Sungwook is currently the Lead FX Artist at Kojima Productions Los Angeles working on an unannounced project. Over the past 10 years Su has worked on more than 50 different TV commercials as a technical director and CG supervisor. He has also worked on a variety of film and animation projects as an effects technical director, in addition to having worked at Sony Pictures Animation for 5 years. Sungwook's film credits includeG-Force, 2012, Sucker Punch, Green Lantern, Smurfs, Journey to the Mystery, Hugo,Snow White, After Earth and Oblivion.
