Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom
- Current
-
- Games Artist/Lead Artist at Astraware
- Past
-
- Games Artist/Creative Director at Rusty Nutz Ltd.
- Junior Artist at Virtucraft Studios
- QA at Rage Software
- QA/ Junior Artist at Denton Designs
- Education
-
- University of Bradford
- Recommended
-
3 people have recommended Mike - Connections
-
23
connections
- Industry
- Computer Games
- Websites
Mike Hanson’s Summary
Professionally, I have worked in a number of areas of computer/video game production, both 2D and 3D. I have plenty of experience in most disciplines of classic computer game art and am never happier than when I'm engrosed in some detailed character design and animation.
Although the majority of my experience in this has been in in 2D art, I also enjoy experimenting in 3DS max.
Since university I have been a fan of everything cinematic and while attending, directed and art-designed a number of decent science fiction and horror movies. The prospect of the crossover between cinematics and gaming interests me greatly.
At the time of writing, my aim is simply to work for a respectable, solvent company on an equally respectable wage. When I feel I have matured enough at what I do, I may look into a role with more responsibility.
Mike Hanson’s Specialties:
2D character animation, 2D Backgrounds, Low Polygon 3D modeling, texturing, and character animation. 3D backgrounds, character design, storyboarding, cinematics, flash animation and optomisation, I also have an interest in sound production and editing.
Mike Hanson’s Experience
-
Games Artist/Lead Artist
Astraware
(Computer Games industry)
June 2006 — Present (3 years 2 months)
Astraware are a highly reputable developer/publisher of PDA games. We produce and port many popular titles. Software I use daily includes Photoshop, Pro Motion, Flash and 3DS Max.
Astraware products I've worked on include Pop Cap, Sandlot and Sony titles such as Bejeweled 2, the Tradewinds series and Quantum of Solace.
I also designed and produced graphics for the acclaimed Astraware Solitaire, Boardgames and Casino games. We've revently moved into Iphone development, allowing us to create exciting, forthcomming titles.
The advantage of web-based distribution allows us to communicate directly with our audience. I regularly produce the site's flash banners and additional graphics.
Our games are multi-platform so a great deal of resolutions have to be complete on release. This type of production requires mental agility, technique and expertise to achieve. Our games are of a very high standard and the company regularly gains awards for quality and innovation. -
Games Artist/Creative Director
Rusty Nutz Ltd.
(Computer Games industry)
March 2003 — September 2005 (2 years 7 months)
I assisted in the founding of this company and for a few months, worked from home, designing original mobile phone game concepts and producing the artwork for ports and revamps of existing classic games. These Included "Bombjack", "Mighty Bombjack" and "Striker" for Elite, alongside many pitches for other titles.
When we leased our offices and moved into next gen games, I was able to work on a number of credible PS2 and XBox 360 games including Sony's "Lemmings" for EyeToy and "Late Night Poker". Most of this work was modeled in 3DS Max with 2D work in Photoshop.
In 2005, I was outsourced with other artists from the company to use Maya for building maps on "Project Gotham Racing 3" at Bizzare Creations in Speke.
However, I found that the running of my own company was a highly strenuous and financially demanding career choice to make this early. I eventually resigned my position, opting to move away from my native Liverpool and explore more suitable work elsewhere. -
Junior Artist
Virtucraft Studios
(Computer Games industry)
December 2001 — November 2002 (1 year)
This was my first permanent position out of universty. Virtucraft produced GBA games for a number of clients. The majority of my work was for The Cartoon Network, though Bam!! Entertainment.
We used Pro Motion for almost all of our work, and I had a great deal of experience in tile mapping and dynamic 2D character animation. Later, when the company made the jump to "next-gen", I gained experience of 3DS Max and Maya.
Games I worked on at Virtucraft included "Samurai Jack And The Amulet Of Time", Dexter's Laboratory", "The Powerpuff girls: Relish Rampage", "Dexter's Chess", Comix Zone" and "Rocky".
As it headed into liquidation Virtucraft layed off most of its staff in November 2002. I was included in this number, and with colleagues, went on to form Rusty Nutz Ltd... -
QA
Rage Software
(Computer Games industry)
July 1996 — August 1996 (2 months)
After the Rage aquisition of Denton Designs, the lead staff from Dentons invited me to work in QA for Rage over the summer. For this 8 week period I worked on the SNES version of Fifa 97.
-
QA/ Junior Artist
Denton Designs
(Computer Games industry)
October 1993 — September 1994 (1 year)
My first experience of games industry work was for Denton Designs Ltd, based on Rodney street, and later, Roscoe Street in Liverpool. I worked for them periodically when school/college hollidiays would allow me the time. Mainly, my work was in QA. Occasionally I would produce graphics for the games with Deluxe Paint or build backgrounds with their in house software.
Projects I worked on included "Striker" for Gameboy, "Krusty's Funhouse" for Amiga, "Batman Returns" for Amiga, and "Powerdrive" for Amiga.
