Ian Olsen was born in Cincinnati, OH, and earned a BFA in Computer Animation in 2003 from Ringling College of Art and Design. As a game developer, he has 17+ years of experience working as a Character Artist with multiple AAA game titles shipped for stylistically varied properties including Fallout, Doom, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, and Metroid. His artistic passions are sculpting in Zbrush, digital illustration, and the study of human and creature anatomy.
He currently lives in Austin, TX working as a Lead Character Artist at Bethesda Game Studios.
(PDF resume upon request)
experience
Lead Character Artist
Bethesda Game Studios : March 2018 - Present
Fallout 76 - Lead Character Artist
Responsible for Art Direction and delivery of all Character assets authored by in-house, external and outsource artists
-Power Armor, Creatures, NPCs, Weapons, Armor, Outfits, Headwear, Backpacks
Overseeing PBR guidelines for artists to follow to ensure valid spec/gloss material authoring
Leading initiatives with Production and Leads on pipeline management using Jira dependencies and templates
Driving improved pipeline efficiency and organization, working closely with Tech Art and Tools development
Hard surface sculpting in Zbrush and surfacing in Substance Painter, introducing new weapons to the Fallout universe
-50cal Machine Gun, Auto Grenade Lancher, Single Action Revolver
Organic creature sculpting in Zbrush and surfacing in Substance Painter, bringing new cryptids to the Fallout wilderness
-Sheepsquatch, Trogg, Overgrown Elder
Responsible for all major story initiatives' NPC facial creation and review
-Steel Dawn, Steel Reign, The Pitt, Atlantic City
Directly responsible for public-facing Atomic Shop virtual store art renders and presentation
Engage regular 1:1 meetings with direct reports and external developers
Point of contact for training and tech support for in-house and external artists
Fallout 76 - Senior Character Artist
Creating Realistic/Stylized post-apocalyptic player-equipped outfits, armor, power armor, and weapon assets
-Sculpts/Models/Textures/Materials
Completed PBR resurfacing of all Robots and Power Armor variants and paint jobs from Fallout 4 to be used in Fallout 76
Collaborated in the development of Substance Painter PBR material library
Implement and organize outsourced assets
Senior Character Artist
BattleCry Studios : February 2014 - March 2018
Prey - Senior Character Artist
Stylized human character hair - Sculpts/Models/Textures
Worked directly with sister studio Arkane, adapting to their style and quality standards
Doom - Senior Character Artist
Realistic/Stylized demonic character and sci-fi weapon art - Sculpts/Models/Textures/Materials
Sculpted and textured 1st person demon art for DLC multiplayer
Worked remotely with the id team in Dallas, adapting to their style and quality standards
Battlecry - Senior Character Artist
Stylized WWI Sci-fi character art - Sculpts/Models/Textures/Materials
Lead 3d look development and full creation of 3 playable warriors in the Battlecry lineup
Sci-fi mechanical and organic sculpting of armor, gear, and weapons
Advisor for team during the transition into PBR environment and helped design character pipeline
Collaborated in the development of Substance Designer PBR material library and defined faction identity
Hair shader tech development and direction map solutions working directly with Technical Art Director
Art directed and trained outsource artists in both 3d and concept art capacity
In-house Contract Character artist training and support
Primary Character Artist
Terminal Reality : February 2007 - 2013
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (360, PS3, PC) - Primary Character Artist
Horror character art - Sculpt/Model/Textures/Materials
Benchmark zombie, vetted by AMC
Zombie variation Materials/Systems using Gradient maps and Color blocking
Authored character pipeline and Art directed outsource vendors
Lead development with Principal Programmer to improve skin and hair material tech
Managed 11,000+ zombie system variants, 40+ unique NPC characters, 6 healthy-to-zombie custom transitions
Kinect Star Wars (360) - Character Artist
Stylized Sci-fi character art - Sculpts/Models/Textures/Materials
Lead jedi and sith, actor likenesses, human and alien characters, approval by LucasArts
Female body archetype sculpt
Anatomical proportion and design advisor
Art directed outsource vendors
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (360, PS3, PC) - Character Artist
Fantasy character art - Sculpts/Models/Textures/Materials
Boss ghosts, actor likenesses and supporting characters
Ghost lighting development and particle FX
Concept art
Character Artist
Retro Studios : November 2005 – December 2006
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), Cancelled Project - Character Artist
Sci-fi character art - Models/Hand-Painted Textures
Boss and mini-boss, alien and mechanical characters
Concept art
Animator
Sony Computer Entertainment of America : July 2005 – August 2005
Cancelled Project (Xbox) - Animator
Cleaned and altered mocap
honors & awards
CGHUB Gold Award and Editors Choice x2
Kotaku Fine Art featured artist
Polycount.com showcased thread and banner
Honored Judge - Dominance War 4
2nd Place (3D) - Unearthly Challenge
software
Autodesk Maya, Maxon Zbrush, Adobe Substance Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, Creation Kit, 3ds Max, Jira, Marvelous Designer, xNormal, Knald, CryEngine, Quixel DDo, Pilgway 3D-Coat, Autodesk Mudbox
education
Ringling College of Art and Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts B.F.A., Computer Animation
1999 – 2003