Microsoft
Art Director
2016-2018
Led visual strategy for 3D assets and special effects across platforms
Developed production pipelines for AR, VR, and VFX in Microsoft products
Managed partnerships with creative agencies and studios
Oversaw large-scale asset creation and tracking
Directed development of "WORLD OF ELEMENTS" AI bot guide
ROLES
Creative Leadership: Direction, Planning, Design
Facilitation: Brainstorming, User Journeys, Stakeholder Alignment
Management: Resources, Agencies, Milestones
TOOLS
Design: Adobe Creative Cloud, Cinema 4D
Project Management: Shotgun Studio
Business: Microsoft Suite
3D for Everyone Initiative
Developed diverse, accessible 3D models, animations, and effects for Microsoft's ecosystem. Established efficient processes for team communication and asset management, ensuring broad audience reach.
3D Character Collections
Creative Direction, Art Direction, Project Management
Directed "Retro-Pop" and "Occupations" stylized characters for Paint3D, among other series. Designed for user customization, promoting creative exploration within the program.
Strategic Content Pipeline Development
Established scalable processes for efficient creation and collaboration of spatial content across Microsoft's 3D ecosystem, serving key partners like Office and Paint3D.
Defined work flows, roles and responsibilities
Tracked assets, facilitated stakeholder collaboration, and implemented incremental feedback systems.
"REMIX & LINEAGE" User Scenario
Modular 3D Collections - Created mix-and-match asset series for Paint3D, enabling easy customization. Simplified 3D design for beginners while showcasing program potential.
Diverse Subject Matter and Artistic Direction
Directed creation of wide-ranging 3D assets, from educational to playful, in styles from realistic to highly stylized. Guided creative process, advised team, and ensured high-quality outputs aligned with project goals.
Cross-Platform Asset Design
Art Direction, Creative Direction, Project Management
Created versatile 3D assets for use across Microsoft platforms (Paint 3D, HoloLens, Office). Designed for broad age appeal and easy customization, like a school bus adaptable for both children and teens.
Experience-Driven, Data-Informed: Crafting Intuitive Collections
Created user-friendly 3D asset collections based on research and usage data. Developed highly successful "Flat 3D" style, which proved popular in user metrics. Expanded investment in this style based on positive data, optimizing for quick loading and Paint 3D feature showcase. Iteratively refined collections to match user preferences and behaviors.
Augmented Reality Animations
Established design principles and framework for HoloLens and Mixed Reality Viewer AR animations.
High-Volume Asset Management
Efficiently organized and tracked large-scale creative content production for Microsoft's 3D ecosystem. Facilitated team collaboration and integrated data insights to continuously improve processes. Maintained solution-focused approach to navigate complex workflows, ensuring consistent success across diverse projects.
Recommendations
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"I've been a big fan of Nate's illustrative work for a long time, but recently I had the chance to collaborate with him closer and observed his great skills as Art Director, Nate has an incredible eye for good artistic quality, he is methodic and a sharp idea-man, with strong creative process and solid organizational skills. Besides that, he is also a great team player. Any team will be lucky to have Nate's skills on their side!!"
Alberto Cerriteño
Principal Art Director at Microsoft | Windows Next - EDM
"Nate is a smart and enthusiastic Art Director with a great eye for visuals as well as a great brain for design. When we work together, he regularly contributes to ideas way beyond just art and has demonstrated a willing to go the extra mile to make stuff work. I totally trust that when Nate is on something, it's going to be awesome.
On top of his prodigious talent, he's a good person and has managed to work well with everyone he's encountered on our team."
Struan Robertson
Principal Creative Director at Microsoft
I have really enjoyed collaborating with Nate this year on the 3D for everyone program at Microsoft. He leads with kindness, openness, listens to all voices, and provides great insight and feedback to any solutions we are trying to tackle. I'm excited to continue growing our collaboration and evolving our products together!
Rachel Hatley-Starnes
Art Director, Microsoft, Future Innovation and Experiences
"Nate is a jack of all trades Art Director who can help manage diverse pipelines of artist content and switch up styles, genres, mediums, and underlying art tools at the drop of a hat. As a collaborator, he's a great person to riff with, spinning up new ideas, and then taking them and refining them for artists to begin work. When it comes to overseeing production, his experience has taught me a lot about how to handle directing high volumes of content without getting too bogged down that you become a production bottleneck. As an independent illustrator and creator it is clear that is drive doesn't stop when he heads out the door each day. Combined, I think these are the sort of traits anyone would look for in an Art Director."
Andrew Klein
3D Lead at Microsoft
"Humble and very creative Art Director. It was an amazing experience to work with him in Microsoft, he has a very unique vision through his personal imagination that adds his personal style to every project. He is also a natural leader and a great companion."
Carlos Go-niji Loera Orozco
Senior Motion Designer/VFX Technical Artist at Microsoft
"Nate has brought a great perspective to the projects we've worked on together. He's great at balancing his contributions as an art director with project constraints and goals. In addition to those skills, he brings a great demeanor and temperament to the fast-moving environment in which we've worked together."
LaSean Smith
Studio Manager at Microsoft
"As an Art Director Nate was excellent at communicating his vision while being hands on with his team to lead them to the right outcomes. While working with him, I found him to be passionate about his craft while also being realistic on what could be delivered. He was also super flexible when we had crazy last-minute requests and had a "can-do" attitude that helped us meet numerous deadlines. Nate is a pleasure to work with and would be an asset to any product."
Tarrah Milo Wilson
Producer & Design PM: Video Games & Virtual Reality
“Nate is a pleasure to work with. He communicates very clearly on what he is looking for in a project. Always has a developed clear/creative vision on the project he's involved with. He always gives great feedback/solutions.
The most important of all, Nate always has a great positive attitude which helps the whole team.”
Chris Kent
New Media Content Creator