Jon Sims
Los Angeles,CA
Summary
Critically acclaimed and technically agile creator on the bleeding edge of immersive tech. Known for innovative, first-of-its-kind XR experiences for clients like Warner Bros Discovery Sports and influencer level drag performers. Nurtures an abiding love of genre, devotion to story and 10 years of creative VFX work on name IP's.
Overview
1
1
year of professional experience
Work History
Unreal Environment Artist / Unreal Art Director
AR Wall, Discovery Channel
Los Angeles, CA
- Art directed Unreal VP environments for Discovery Channel show "Tales from the Explorers Club"
- Collaborated with production designer to create VP environments that seamlessly integrate with practical art department elements
- Led a team of designers and engineers to execute my designs.
- Provided onset creative support to production.
Unreal Environment Artist / Director
"Til The Last Gasp" ad campaign | Darringon Press
- Wrote the script and storyboarded narrative.
- Concepted and designed six distinct fantasy and scifi environments in Unreal.
- Managed and produced the LED virtual production stage
- Directed actors and photography.
- Oversaw edit and post production
Unreal Artist / Director / Tech Director
"Medusa" by Featured | Unreal Music Video
- Developed first-of-its-kind technical workflow to deploy a spatial video character into Unreal
- Designed and executed a compelling and versatile virtual set
- Used Unreal for storyboards and previs
- Blocked and animated virtual cameras in a cinematic style
- Real-time handheld footage - Connected virtual cameras to mobile devices to shoot in a spontaneous, handheld style.
- Developed an efficient sequencer workflow for hundreds of shots.
- Rendered hundreds of shots out of Unreal
- Completed edit in DaVinci
In House VFX Artist
American Gods LLC
Los Angeles, CA
- A collaborative rapport with auteur showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green
- Solved creative problems with VFX sequences on demand
- Executed thematically and stylistically specific visual ideas rapidly through a fluency of cinema and art history
- Top down view of how visual creative choices affect narrative
- Fluency in elaborate file structure and naming conventions.
Director / Unreal Environment Artist
Katya Zamo, “Be Your Own Dentist” XR Film
Los Angeles, CA
- Used Unreal to create an XR experience of arresting visual style.
- Aesthetic inspired by Moebius, Jodorowsky, James Turrell, and Clive Barker to elevated Katya's brand of cerebral absurdity and elegant horror.
- Technical fluency informed a strong creative vision to maximize production value
- Developed a first-of-its kind technical workflow to integrate studio quality 3D footage into an XR film.
- Critically acclaimed. "Cosmic and Visionary...Jodorowsky meets The Cell" -Film Threat and featured by Avengers directors The Russo Brothers at AGBO's 2023 XR Spotlight
Lead Unreal Environment Arist / Art Director
Hyper RPG, AMC FearHQ "Kollok"
Los Angeles, CA
- Art Directed Unreal environments for 20 episodes of AMC FearHQ's cult hit "Kollok 1991"
- Employed Soviet Brutalism, Lynchian Noir, Googie, and Zdzisław Beksiński's dark surrealism to create Kollok's distinct vision of dystopian horror in Unreal environments.
- Directed a small team to deliver visually engaging worlds with interactive elements tailored for Twitch livestream format.
- Insane schedule: concepted and delivered four environments a week demanded by an episodic, live Twitch format.
Animatic Editor
Nickelodeon | Invader Zim: Enter The Florpus
Burbank, CA
03.2017 - 03.2018
- Perfected the structure and timing of shots, dialogue and scenes for this hit Netflix film for a beloved IP.
- Was the center of a dynamic workflow of the creator, director, producers and storyboard artist.
- Ingested, organized and edited thousands of storyboards.
- Identified and solved creative and structural problems of the story, including additional
Education
Bachelor of Arts - School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CASkills
- Strong Creative Vision
- Lateral Thinking Problem Solving
- Software Polymath: Unreal, Unity, Nuke, C4D, Houdini, After Effects, Premiere, DaVinci, Generative AI, Adversarial AI, Blender, Photoshop
- Literacy in Culture, Genre and Gaming
- Fluency in understanding and addressing creative notes
- Fluency in creating and interpreting storyboards and previs
- Literacy in XR, Spatial Video, Virtual Production and Photogrammetry
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Animatic Editor
Nickelodeon | Invader Zim: Enter The Florpus
03.2017 - 03.2018
Unreal Environment Artist / Unreal Art Director
AR Wall, Discovery Channel
Unreal Environment Artist / Director
"Til The Last Gasp" ad campaign | Darringon Press
Unreal Artist / Director / Tech Director
"Medusa" by Featured | Unreal Music Video
In House VFX Artist
American Gods LLC
Director / Unreal Environment Artist
Katya Zamo, “Be Your Own Dentist” XR Film
Lead Unreal Environment Arist / Art Director
Hyper RPG, AMC FearHQ "Kollok"
Bachelor of Arts - School of Cinematic Arts
University of Southern California
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