Animation Department Chair / Instructor at The Art Center Design College, Tucson, AZ
Tucson, Arizona Area
- Current
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- Animation Department Chair at The Art Center Design College, Tucson, AZ
- Animation Instructor at The Art Center Design College, Tucson AZ
- Past
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- Program Coordinator/Animation Instructor at School of Communication Arts
- Animation Instructor at School of Communication Arts
- Mac Support Specialist at Savannah College of Art and Design
- Print Graphics Tutor (Self-employed)
- Freelance 2D Animator at Laughing Pizza
- Tutor at Savannah College of Art and Design
- Freelance Maya Setup Artist at Sensing Places
- Teaching Assistant Internship at Savannah College of Art and Design
- Education
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- Savannah College of Art and Design
- The Maryland Institute College of Art
- Recommended
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7 people have recommended Erik - Connections
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153
connections
- Industry
- Animation
- Websites
Erik Westlund’s Summary
My original training is in fine art (figure drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture) having earned a BFA in General Fine Art from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Worked in various trades for several years and in special education with severely emotionally disturbed inner city children for 2 years. I discovered both aptitude for and interest in technology when I moved to the print industry for 4 years and graphic design for 1 year. Eventually returned to college for my MFA in Computer Art from Savannah College of Art and Design. One animated short I created screened in a variety of festivals around the country and I have contributed to other independent projects as a freelance animator and setup artist.
Art, music, and movement have always been central in my life. Animation combines all areas of interest for me. Currently, I am the Chair of the Animation Department at a 4-year art college while continuing to develop my personal portfolio specializing in character animation, character setup, and organic modeling.
Erik Westlund’s Specialties:
character animation, organic modeling, character setup, Maya/MEL, After Effects, sound design/ProTools, ZBrush, Photoshop, Illustrator, all stages of electronic prepress and direct-to-plate printing in a PostScript workflow
Familiar with UNIX/Linux command line interface, particle effects, and Houdini
Erik Westlund’s Experience
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Animation Department Chair
The Art Center Design College, Tucson, AZ
(Animation industry)
May 2008 — Present (1 year 3 months)
Manage faculty, students, and curriculum in comprehensive Animation BA program encompassing concept development, traditional and digital 2D, and 3D media.
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Animation Instructor
The Art Center Design College, Tucson AZ
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Animation industry)
September 2007 — Present (1 year 11 months)
Instruction in traditional 2D animation using established principles of animation, posing, timing, and character performance. Instruction in 3D modeling, character setup, and keyframe animation using Maya. Also instruct print production concepts and methods in visual communications.
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Program Coordinator/Animation Instructor
School of Communication Arts
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Animation industry)
January 2006 — August 2007 (1 year 8 months)
Facilitating instruction in 2-year vocational program focusing on 3D animation pipeline using Maya on Windows/Intel workstations. Oversight of curriculum development, documentation, and delivery to students from 6 member animation faculty including myself.
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Animation Instructor
School of Communication Arts
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Animation industry)
April 2005 — August 2007 (2 years 5 months)
Instruction in 2-year vocational program focusing on 3D animation pipeline using Maya on Windows/Intel workstations. Traditional art foundation and design program support curriculmn geared primarily towards independant short animation production.
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Mac Support Specialist
Savannah College of Art and Design
(Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
November 2003 — March 2005 (1 year 5 months)
Computer Services Department provides Windows and Mac OS X systems for faculty, staff, and classroom lab facilities at Savannah College of Art and Design. Macintosh support includes installation, repair, and replacement of Apple hardware, installation and upgrade to OS and application software, daily maintanence of classroom labs, scanners, and networked printers.
In this position I coordinated with and accasionally assisted Windows Support Specialists performing diagnostic, installation, and upgrade repsonsibilities. Coordinated with Network Services regarding status of network support for various departments.
Position requires an ability for working GUI, UNIX command line, and human interfaces simultaneously. I supported hundreds of computers located in labs and individual offices for Foundations, Sculpture, Athletics, Student Union, Professional Services, Performing Arts, e-Learning, Art History, and Sequential Art all networked and spread out over 12 buildings. -
Print Graphics Tutor
Self-employed
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Professional Training & Coaching industry)
January 2004 — March 2005 (1 year 3 months)
One-on-one arranged tutoring for SCAD graduate student seeking additional help with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Quark Xpress. Tutoring covered basic computer graphics concepts relating to raster images, vector images, and the relationship between the two as they relate to print production. Other graphics topics covered include fundamental art concepts of line, form, perspective, pattern, design, and rhythm as well as vector and rastor masking, alpha channels, color gammut, and working with multiple color spaces. Additional topics included multipage imposition, design for production, the relationship of linescreen to resolution, and some basic color trapping, to name a few.
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Freelance 2D Animator
Laughing Pizza
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Entertainment industry)
August 2004 — November 2004 (4 months)
Based on our prior independant animation work one other artist and I were approached to create a 3-minute, hand drawn, animated music video for a childrens' entertainment company. We colaboratively developed concept based on provided music, created storyboards, animatic, and were responsible for art direction of project. I developed method for capturing and completing hand drawn sequences. Created several hand drawn character animation sequences, animated background elements, composited sequences in After Effects after completing partially automated 'ink and paint' process in Photoshop.
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Tutor
Savannah College of Art and Design
(Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Higher Education industry)
January 2002 — November 2003 (1 year 11 months)
Tutored graduate and undergraduate students in majors ranging from Animation, Painting, Fashion, Graphic Design, Photography in the use of graphics software including Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Quark Xpress, After Effects, and Maya.
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Freelance Maya Setup Artist
Sensing Places
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Animation industry)
June 2003 — August 2003 (3 months)
I created character setups for supplied models provided by advanced media and animation startup company founded by graduate of MIT. Project goal was to create a series of 3D holographic recreations of Operas composed by Giacomo Puccini. In addition to creating character setups for the provided meshes, I consulted with production manager regarding animation pipeline and technical requirements for project objectives as they apply to creating individual character performances.
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Teaching Assistant Internship
Savannah College of Art and Design
(Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Higher Education industry)
June 2003 — August 2003 (3 months)
Assisted Professor Becky Wible in teaching 2D Animation Studio II class. Assisted with planning, lecture, and class critiques for 10-week course. Reviewed concepts, planning, and goals of independent student projects. Developed written course material on the use of 2D animation software, digital file management, understanding graphics formats, and digital archiving. Supplied additional written material on subjects relating to theory and practice of sound design for film and animation and using audio documentary resources for story development. Presented demonstration of using Adobe After Effects for 2D animation.
Erik Westlund’s Education
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Savannah College of Art and Design
MFA , Computer Art , 2000 — 2005
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The Maryland Institute College of Art
BFA , General Fine Art , 1983 — 1987
Additional Information
Erik Westlund’s Websites:
Erik Westlund’s Interests:
Art, Technology, History, Music (piano/voice)
Erik Westlund’s Groups:
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CGCHAR - 3D CG Character Animation -
Animation, Media & Entertainment -
Savannah College of Art and Design Alumni
Erik Westlund’s Honors:
The Art Center Design College Instructor of the Term, Spring 2008
First recipient of SCA Outstanding Faculty Award, Fall 2006
2003 “Brut Walk” used as intro to SCAD Animation website
2003 “Watch What You Say” screened at:
• DC Independent Film Festival, Washington D.C.
• Sidewalk Film Festival, Birmingham, AL
2002 “Watch What You Say” screened at:
• Savannah Film Festival, Savannah, GA
• Downstream International Film Festival, Decatur, GA
• Portland Indy Animation Festival, Portland, OR
2002 “Watch What You Say” featured on:
• SCAD 2002 demo reel
• SCAD Animation website
2002 “Watch What You Say”:
• nominated for $5000 award sponsored by HBO Films
Erik Westlund’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
