Rick Kolesar

Current

• freelance/stay-at-home dad at heavyness.com

Past

• Game/UI/Technical Artist at Microsoft [Filter]
• Environmental Artist at Ballena Technologies

Education

• Art Institute of Pittsburgh
• Forrest Elementary School

Recommended

2 people have recommended Rick

Connections

65 connections

Industry

Computer Games

Websites

• My Website
• My Blog

Rick Kolesar’s Summary

After school and working at a couple different 2D/3D jobs, I moved to Seattle to follow my goal to get into the Game Industry. For four years, I worked at Microsoft Game Studios making games for the web, mobile, and Xbox 360 Live Arcade.

I have taken time off to stay at home with my twin baby girls but I'm now looking to re-enter the game industry.

While I worked mostly as an artist, I'm looking to further myself and move into the Game Design side of things.

Rick Kolesar’s Specialties:

3ds max, Adobe Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, XUI, Game Design, Diplomacy,

Rick Kolesar’s Experience

• freelance/stay-at-home dad

  heavyness.com

  (Computer Games industry)

  May 2009 — Present (7 months)

  taking care of twin babies while working on small game ideas.

• Game/UI/Technical Artist

  Microsoft [Filter]

  (Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

  May 2005 — May 2009 (4 years 1 month)

  Worked at Microsoft Game Studios on an unannounced upcoming title, Fable II Pub Games, UNO Rush, Hexic HD, and a handful of web games and prototypes.
  
  Worked as artists and later as a technical artist on the Fable II Pub Games and UNO Rush. Also helped out in game design (when needed during development) and during brainstorm meetings.

• Environmental Artist

  Ballena Technologies

  (Privately Held; Internet industry)

  September 2004 — May 2005 (9 months)

  Architectural rendering/modeling. Responsible for modeling, texturing, and lighting huge indoor and outdoor 3D scenes. Lead a project and delegated work to other co-workers making sure all our models worked together in the final scene.

Rick Kolesar’s Education

• Art Institute of Pittsburgh

  Associate of Science , Computer Animation/Multimedia , 1996 — 1999

  Elected by fellow students as Manager of the Siggraph Animation Project for 2 semester (until i graduated).

  Activities and Societies:

  3ds Max User Group, Siggraph Animation Project, internship

• Forrest Elementary School

  Gold Star stickers by the fistful! , Reading, Writing, Math, Art, Kickball, Lunch , 1983 — 1990

  Was trusted to watch our class's newly hatched chickens and took them home for a weekend.
  
  Always picked in the first three rounds for outdoor activities including (but not exclusively); kickball, soccer, football, and basketball.

  Activities and Societies:

  The Dewey Decimal Book Team, Miss Tyler's Glue Collection Team (Tyler's GCT).

Additional Information

Rick Kolesar’s Websites:

• My Website
• My Blog

Rick Kolesar’s Interests:

Gaming (playing, creating, designing), 3D art, music, movies, and more gaming.

Rick Kolesar’s Groups:

CGSociety, part-time Voltron operator [Yellow Lion]

•    Gaming People - The Gaming People Expert Network (+9.500)
•    Linked:Seattle
•    Game Developers
•    Art Institute of Pittsburgh Alumni

Rick Kolesar’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch