The Story
About Me
I began attending the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010 as an art major. I experimented with a variety of mediums – from electronic art to painting, installations, and sculpture – but I began to focus on 3D animation in my junior year. Around that time, I found a job callout for someone who can create visual work that can illustrate and explain ideas and concepts. One of the preferred skills for the job was 3D animation. The funny thing is I had just begun learning how to animate and create 3D models. I figured it was at least worth a try in the hopes of demonstrating what I knew at the time and learning more about 3D animation on the job.
My application, despite a lack of experience, landed me a kind of trial run for the job showing a lot of potential. The trial allowed me to demonstrate the value I could bring by completing tasks for free. After about a month of working for free, I was given the opportunity for paid work. The opportunity was invaluable to growth – meeting demanding deadlines, fixing mistakes, learning when to assert creative freedom, and when to play within the border of projects.
Throughout my undergraduate year of working freelance was when the opportunity I took was growing to become something significant – the startup company named Ontera, (formerly known as TwoPoreGuys). It was a little before my graduation I was hired as an employee for the newly started Ontera – producing scientific illustrations and product designs to show and explain single-molecule-detection biosensors. After graduating, I continued to focus on producing animations for Ontera up until the company began to rapidly grow
The growth caused demands to change, requiring more than just a 3D animation render being needed to convey the company’s vision. A physical mockup was desired, and I pushed myself to keep up with company changes and demands. The skills I learned through the hectic growth period took me beyond my art degree and role as an animator.
As a result, I acquired skills in developing CAD models and assemblies, designing for 3D printing, CNC milling, machining, CAM, and injection molding. These skills allowed me to become proficient with rapidly prototyping designs through practice and quick iterations of parts and ideas. This allowed me to produce the desired mockups that look finished as a product, in addition to my role in Ontera Inc. transitioning to be a combined design and engineering focused. The versatility in my skill set enables me to go from idea to concept, to prototype, to product.