Ken Finlayson

Work History

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  Artist

  Synthesis AI

  May 2022 - Present

  Remote
• 

  Principal Procedural Technical Artist

  Parallel Domain

  October 2021 - May 2022

  Edmonton, Canada
• 

  Senior Tech Artist

  Improbable

  December 2018 - October 2021

  Edmonton, Canada
• 

  Character Lead

  Hinterland Studio

  April 2015 - November 2018
• 

  Lead Character Artist (studio)

  Insomniac Games

  March 2011 - January 2014

  Within the first year reduced the run-time cost of all Character related assets by 1/3rd or greater while increasing the visual quality coming out of the department.
  
  Steering character development and process within character art as well as between departments. Consulting on everything from steering Engine tech and Middle-ware to new hires. Implementing change. Managing the character art team in Burbank across all active and unannounced SKU's.
  
  Projects:
  Sunset Overdrive
  Houdini Engine
  Fuse / Overstrike
  Unannounced Cancelled
  Resistance 3
• 

  Lead Character Artist - Mass Effect Franchise ME2 DLC and ME

  BioWare

  January 2010 - March 2011

  Currently managing an experienced team of character artists in both the Edmonton and Montreal studios making Mass Effect 2 DLC and Mass Effect 3 assets.
  
  Projects:
  Mass Effect 3
  Mass Effect 2: Arrival
  Mass Effect 2: Kasumi: Stolen Memory
  Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker

  

  

  
• 

  Zbrush 3.2 - 4.0 beta tester (OSX)

  Pixologic

  January 2010 - August 2010

  Was involved for many months with the testing and feature suggestion of the core mac builds as well as plugins (GoZ, Multimap exporter etc) for zbrush 3.2, 3.5 and 4.0.
• 

  Senior Character Artist - Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origi

  BioWare

  October 2007 - January 2010

  As a 3D Character Artist (Lvl 3), I build and conceptualize 3D characters in a variety of styles. I have full ownership of a character meaning I am responsible for the base cage, textures, high rez sculpt, and the in game engine materials.
  
  Projects:
  Mass Effect 2: Zaeed: The Price of Revenge
  Mass Effect 2
  Unannounced Cancelled
  Dragon Age: Origins - Warden's Keep
  Dragon Age: Origins
• 

  Character Artist - Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins

  BioWare

  February 2006 - October 2007

  My brief time on ME1 before moving to DAO included building new and reworking some old assets. Making the transition to 3DS maxa tool I had not used up to that point. Being the liaison to get Bioware a part of the closed Mudbox beta.Organizing a small session to share Zbrush and Mudbox trips and tricks.
  
  Projects:
  Dragon Age: Origins
  Mass Effect

  

• Mudbox 0.0 - 1.0 beta Tester

  Autodesk Media & Entertainment (Skymatter)

  January 2006 - October 2007

  Was in the original batch of 30 people testing the pre-public builds of Mudbox 1.0.
• 

  Character modeler / ZBrush specialist

  Electronic Arts Canada

  July 2005 - January 2006

  This was a unique time and position within EA. As a Character Modeler specializing in Zbrush, I worked exclusively on Next-gen games providing support for 4 games teams and special projects at the end of the modelling pipeline doing "asset finalization".
  
  Painted master head texture templates for the ADAM head system.
  
  Established visual targets for multiple game teams (i.e. Visual TARgets)
  
  Initiated the development of a ZBrush Users Group a EAC
  
  I have also taught intermediate/advanced Zbrush classes through EA's internal education system (EA Univ
• 

  Zbrush 2.0 and Zmapper beta tester (WIN)

  Pixologic

  August 2005 - December 2005

  Myself and a small group of others at EA Canada tested and suggested features for what would become the ZMapper Plug-in for ZBrush 2.0 This plugin to a large extend replaced the native normal mapping tools and was upgraded to work in the Zbrush 3-3.1.
• 

  Contract Modeler

  Rune Entertainment

  November 2004 - April 2005

  As a modeler I built highrez (organic and hard-surface) toys, electronics and furniture for a TV commecial. Zbrush was used in some cases that required extreme closeups of detail.
• 

  Junior VFX animator

  Mr. X

  July 2004 - October 2004

  I worked primarily as a Lighter, but because it was a fairly small shop and the fact that complete shots would be the responsibilty of on avg. just two ppl (1x2d, 1x3d) I was invovled in many areas of the pipeline. This included; Camera tracking, match moving, Pre-viz, effects animation, model making and texturing, and finally lighting and Render wrangling.
  
  Projects:
  Assault on Precinct 13
  The Ice Princess
  The Perfect Man
  
  *Was able to meet David Chronenberg who has made several films with the company over the years.