Meet The Crew
Skai Chow
Director, Co-Producer, Lead Animator, Layout Artist, Storyboard Artist, Texture Artist
I believe that animation is like life, it is a never-ending learning journey. I'm constantly learning wherever I go, and given enough time I can pick things up fast. I am also determined in my skillset and strive to push myself to hit the best animation quality that I can. In my freetime I also enjoy playing video games and watching movies/shows! They're a huge inspiration to what I do. As a huge fan of games and storytelling, I would love to give back and contribute my animation skills to the gaming community one day!
Rebecca Lau
Co-Director, Producer, Lead Tech Artist, Rigger, Props & Env Modeler, Character FX Artist, Texture Artist, Lighting Artist, Unreal R&D Lookdev
I love to bring ideas to life. Tech art has allowed me to be in the intersection between art and technology and I love the creative and technical aspects of the field and have been pursuing it ever since. As a 3D Character Technical Artist, my focus is on creating rigs, 3D models for props and environments, surfacing, character effects and lighting. I am proficient with industry-level softwares such as Maya, Houdini, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Marmoset Toolbag, and currently, I am diving deep into the exciting world of Unreal Engine 5 and in the process of exploring Python and discovering its power to bring ideas to life through scripting.
Hanke Wang
Animator, Layout Artist, Texture Artist, Rigging Artist
My upbringing was engaged by the animation world's immense associative force and creativity. I also made the decision to pursue animation as a lifelong subject. The disciplines of 3D and CG are significant media I utilize to convey stories if painting and 2D animation are utopias in my artistic production. At this point, I am proficient in a variety of critical facets of 3D animation, including storyboarding, 3D modeling, rigging, 3D character animation, rendering, and more. I'm looking forward to working on additional projects that will allow me to use my creativity and skills, as well as to expose more people to my speaking style.
Katie Richard
Tech Artist, Lead Creature Modeler, Props & Env Modeler, Texture Artist, Character FX Artist, Lighting Artist, Unreal R&D Lookdev
Although it sounds cliché, I have always known that art was meant for me. I was fortunate enough to grow up in an age where digital/3D art and more specifically, video games, were on the rise. As I grew older, I was able to further appreciate the amount of work and dedication to detail put into games. Every detail is intentional and made with care in order to immerse the player by adding to the atmosphere and story. After realizing my passion, I quickly began learning skills and software so that I can contribute to this incredible craft in the future. I now have industry-level proficiency in Zbrush, Autodesk Maya, Houdini, Substance Painter, Photoshop, and I have a growing knowledge of Python scripting and the innovative Unreal Engine 5.
Lukas Baker
Animator, Layout Artist, Illustrator, Texture Artist, Unreal R&D Lookdev
I grew up in a house full of artists which was great because I love to draw. Growing up I spent most of my time either watching cartoons or playing video games. While everyone else focused on story and gameplay I found myself admiring the backgrounds and animation. Later, I completed a degree in Network Administration and shortly after I served for five years in the U.S. Army. Still, I kept up with artwork and started illustrating book covers. Animation was always interesting to me but I knew I needed an education to pursue it. I enjoy all aspects of the 3D pipeline but I specialize in charater animation, concept art, modeling, and texturing. I'm fluent in Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine 5, Substance Painter, and Photoshop. I am a 3D Character Animator and all I want to do is to inspire a new generation.
Rae Downey
Animator, Layout Artist, Texture Artist
Looking at my work, you would have never guessed I opened Maya for the first time less than 2 years ago. Want to see my work and get to know me? Visit my website to learn more!
Ryann Ren
Tech Artist, Lead Props & Env Modeler, Texture Artist, Lighting Artist, Unreal R&D Lookdev
My name is Ryann Ren and I have been pursuing art since the age of five. Currently, I am a senior animation student at Savannah College of Art and Design. As a 3D artist, my focus is primarily on modeling, particularly 3D environment creation. I am an avid fan of anime and video games, with a keen interest in environment design as it serves as a crucial element in conveying the concept of a world. Whenever I come across a well-designed environment, I make it a point to capture an image and add it to my digital library for future reference. I am also intrigued by texture and have a fascination for understanding the natural elements that contribute to their creation. Interestingly, my passion for modeling extends beyond my professional work, as it has become a hobby that I enjoy pursuing even in my leisure time.
Siddarth Prabhakar
Animator, Layout Artist, Texture Artist
Hi my name is Siddarth Prabhakar I am currently a student at Savannah College of Art and Design studying 3D character Animation. I love to inspire other with my animations and work with others to create inspiring stories. What I love the most about Animation is the fact we can never stop learning we only get better and better. I hope to inspire others who witness my journey.
Yinzhi Su
Animator, Layout Artist, Illustrator, Character Modeler, Texture Artist
Making animation is a creative process that brings virtual characters to life and turns non-realistic worlds into reality. As an animator, I enjoy incorporating the emotions of characters into their body language and expressions, and I am dedicated to conveying subtle emotions. I still have a long way to go, but I am committed to exploring further. I also enjoy creating electronic illustrations, storytelling, and concept designs.I enjoy the moments of inspiration, I always try to maintain my enthusiasm and imagination throughout the entire process.
Zoey Chen
Tech Artist, Lead Character & Environment Modeler, Props Modeler, Texture Artist, Character FX, Lighting Artist, Unreal R&D Lookdev
As an environment artist with a passion for world building, I strive to create visually stunning and immersive environments that transport audiences to other worlds. With a keen attention to detail and scene composition, I aim to captivate and inspire viewers with my creations. I enjoy the challenge of designing interconnected ecosystems, landscapes, and characters to form a cohesive world. Through my proficiency in various software programs, including Maya, Houdini, Marvelous Designer, Unreal Engine, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, and Zbrush, I am able to bring my digital creations to life. Furthermore, my familiarity with effects in Houdini enables me to enhance the storytelling aspect of my work. I also appreciate the ability of environment art to recreate historical environments digitally, and to share them with the world.
Lauryn Vania Kurniawan
Music Composer
Hi my name is Lauryn Vania Kurniawan, and I am a film composer based in San Francisco. I believe music is a very strange yet most effective way to deliver stories and messages. It is the only one common language that brings people together, no matter how different they are despite everything else. I was a classically trained pianist from the age of 5 and was trained as a professional piano performer until I decided to be a film composer when I was 14, because I was inspired by John Williams' Star Wars score. I have composed for many short animated films, one of them being the Emmy-CTA nominated animated series Kaghati. I also use music to communicate and share my Indonesian culture as well as different cultures around the world, because I love it when people can not only enjoy, but also learn something new from my music. I especially enjoy mixing the Western art classical music style with other world cultures, and one of the events that I did this was producing and composing my own concert which became to be the first Indonesian Gamelan concert in Hong Kong. I hope to make more of those concerts in the future. My main DAWis Logic Pro X, and Pro Tools. A side passion of mine is video editing and producing because I love movies so much, and I am always curious about understanding the filmmaking process from beginning to end. I hope to inspire people through my music.
Mark Otim
Lead Sound Designer
I am the Lead sound designer and I want to be able to create an immersive story that will display the use of sound in story to immerse and create a world full of life. (Or in this case the lack there of)
Caleb Green
Creature Sound Designer, Foley Artist
Sound Designer/ Foley Artist. I will be performing Foley, and creating specific sounds such as the monster's scream, and helping out with any other sound design needs. I am a mixing engineer by day and a hip-hop producer by night, I have a deep passion for immersive sound and will do whatever it takes to bring the audience into the world we have created!
Bryan Munnings
ADR Recordist, Editor
It is my job replicate anything to do with human vocal cords within a controlled studio recording situation, directing actors in the best way I see fit to bring out the emotions we are looking to portray in "The Dead Sea". I myself am an engineer of everything recording. My main field is Location Sound Mixing for film productions but I am also well versed in recording studio techniques and re-recording mixing techniques. I hope that I can bring everything I have to the table for this project and make something special.
Jay Garcia
Sound Mixer
Hi my name is Jay Garcia and I'm a senior sound design major. I've had the pleasure of studying here at SCAD recording and producing some really fun and unique sounds. I'm so grateful to have had the luxury of partaking in every post sound position so to now be able to bring it all together in a mix is really exciting. My personal interests in sound are mixing and engineering, so essentially anything that gets me in the studio. Bringing this project to life through immersive sound, specifically Atmos, is a blessing for me and I can't wait!
Alwyn Tay
Sound Designer
Re-Recording Mixer, Sound Editor, Dialog Editor, and SCAD Alum. Currently based in Singapore working at Mocha Chai Laboratories, Southeast Asia's first certified Dolby Atmos mix stage, as a Junior Sound Designer. Since graduation I have had my hands - and ears - on multiple big budget projects ranging from TV series's to feature length films - stereo to immersive surround sound Dolby Atmos. Due to my schedule, I only worked on The Dead Sea during its pre-production phase. With that said, I am immensely proud of the work Mark, Bryan, and Caleb have done; taking what I left for them and bringing it to the next level.
Perren Wilson
Lead Concept Artist
Hi! Im Perren, an Illustrator and Concept Artist who is about to go back to college to further my education with a second degree in game design! I work mainly in photoshop and procreate but i am also well versed in other programs like Illustrator and Clip Studio Paint, all of which I use to make a variety of Illustrations as well as to create props, characters and environments. One of my main passions is developing visuals for entertainment especially that in the horror genre. My main inspiration and what made me want to pursue a career in Art is the game Bloodborne, a dark eldritch horror game set in victorian London. I am also inspired by a variety of horror films as well as the latent horror of the world that we live in, such as the depths of the ocean, which is why when Skai and Rebecca asked me to be the Lead Concept Artist for their film I was so excited. While working and helping to manage a team was new to me I gained invaluable experience and knowledge on the work that goes into making an incredible film like what we have made. I'm incredibly grateful to have worked with all of these talented artists and being able to see them come together and all work from the ground up on the characters and environments has been such an amazing and rewarding experience.
Johnathan Herrbold
Creature Concept Artist
I am a concept artist with a passion for art, games, film, and creative collaboration; and am interested in a career as a cocnept artist working in the AAA games industry. During my time studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design I have had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, ranging from films to games, as a concept artist. For these projects I was responsible for creating, preliminary work, such as: thumbnails and color comps, with feedback from the directors, producers, and lead concept artists until coming to a final rendered design and a turnaround sheet for the 3D artists to reference. While working on these projects I not only gained my now strong love for collaborative work, but also gained a strong understanding of the creative pipeline and how to best create work for the production team to easily use and reference.
Shuhan Yang
Props & Environment Concept Artist
Hello! I am a 2D artist that's been in game/animation projects from a variety of styles from pixel art to cartoon to realism. For our film I was responsible for designing the submarine, ocean trench environments and all the posters. I love being part of a creative group to help visualize for a great entertainment experience. Aside from illustration and concept art, I am also a UI artist and a 3d beginner. Please check out my portfolio website and I would love to hear from you!
Jason Arifin
Props & Environment Concept Artist
Hello! I am an illustrator and motion designer focused on advertising and marketing. I love to paint traditionally with gouache and refine them digitally using photoshop. I represent food, my culture, and pop culture in my artworks. I have also been enjoying animating my illustrations to make my work more immersive. I love collaborating and ideating with inspiring creative teams so I was glad to work with the Dead Sea team. I wish the Dead Sea team for the best.
Markus Caparoon
Props & Environment Concept Artist
I am a professional Illustrator and concept artist focused on creating environments, props, and characters for video games with an investment in storytelling details and making designs for clear, functional gameplay. I create my concepts using both photoshop and traditional media and flesh them out in 3D using Zbrush and Maya to better communicate those ideas in an efficient and compelling way. I'm really excited about working with teams to create and flesh out new worlds. I'm currently learning how to create game ready props and environments from concept to finish for unreal engine.
Carissa Terra Nacol
Props & Environment Concept Artist
I'm Carissa, sometimes Terra, and I make illustrations and character art for visual development. I'm inspired by ecology, fantasy, and storytelling with character vs. the self. I enjoy quick sketching and running thorugh ideas to discover how to find believability in the broad terms of fantasy and human conflict. I'm a determined researcher who enjoys to find the small details. I mainly work 2D; Adobe Creative Cloud and Clip Studio Paint being my main programs. I also have experience video editing with Sony Vegas, animating in Procreate, and doing basic environment sculpting in Blender. I am building skills to work as a professional character artist and sell illustrations. In my free time from my museum day job, I sell personal merchandise and fanart at conventions as a fan of animation and comics in general!
Goh Kai Wen
Props & Environment Concept Artist
Hi, my name is Kai Wen. I'm a 3D Animator with a strong passion in illustration. I love Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Mecha, which I feel is reflected in the work I do. As I've always been interested in multiple mediums of art, my knowledge extends to 3D animation, digital sculpting, rigging, compositing and illustration. Before The Dead Sea project, I've only ever done a handful of environment and prop concepts. As an artist that loves the challenge of pushing myself out of my comfort zone, the environment and prop works I've done really pushed me to grow as an artist. Being part of this taught me a lot about the concept and ideation process within a group environment. I enjoy the process of collaborative work and seeing the culmination of everybody's efforts combined!
Chung Wei Jin
Graphic Designer
Hello I'm Jin! A Senior UX Designer with a minor in graphics design and a passion for games industry. I pair my love for games with my interaction design skills to create fun & engaging experiences that delight. I appreciate being in nourishing and collaborative workplaces, with other driven team members. Being able to help work on the branding for The Dead Sea was a wonderful experience because I love coming up with interesting concepts and playing around with typography. Wishing The Dead Sea all the best, can't wait to 'sea' the final product.
Elysia Lim
Graphic Designer
Hello I'm Elysia! A junior graphic designer who truly has a passion for graphic design in all its many forms. I do everything from logos to ads and packaging to photography. Being able to help with the branding for The Dead Sea was a great experience, ever since then I have slowly been working on more and more branding projects and expanding my design repertoire. Hopefully my name would be seen in more places from here on out. Wishing The Dead Sea great success thank you for involving me in this project!
Eris Lim
Lead Storyboard Artist
Storytelling is at the heart of everything I do, and is the very core of what I am as an artist. I find beauty in the world around me, but I am also intrigued by pain and conflict. I frequently ask myself, if I were to create a world of my own, what will I fill it with? What are the stories my characters would tell, and how do they change the world, or allow the world to change them? As a professional comic artist, I have brought these worldbuilding desires and storytelling ideas to form, illustrating and writing a creature compendium, currently on its second edition. I also have a comic series, Esper Nova, released on Tapas and Webtoon with a monthly release. In my free time, I love to explore fashion, run D&D with my friends, play video games, spend hours obssessing over lore and theory videos, and dance ballet. My biggest dream is to be officially serialised, so that I can have others relate to and be seen through the stories I tell. I want to leave this world knowing that my stories have impacted them in some meaningful way.
Gab K De Jesus
Storyboard Artist
My illustrations clash the fantastical with reality, to make everyday ideas exciting. As a software developer turned illustrator, I create art and graphic works that dance between aesthetic and business goals.
Kathryn Taylor
Storyboard Artist
I am storyboard artist who loves action, and works to help take a director's vision to the fullest. My professional experience is in live action commercial storytelling, and I aim to continue working on projects that challenge me to engage viewers in exciting ways. Ever since I was little I would constantly daydream, and create elaborate stories and action sequences in my head. But I could never quite put together the words to describe what I saw so clearly. Learning to draw with purpose at SCAD, to draw well, quickly, and with clarity, allows me to instantly convey these things to anyone. It is my biggest sense of achievement. My favorite genres are horror, adventure, and action comedies. Working on the Dead Sea with so many talented creators inspired me to keep making boards, and I can't wait to see where everyone's skills will take them.
Abbey Paradis
Storyboard Artist
I am a storyteller who wants to express my enthusiasm as a fan and creator. It is my goal to bring something for people to enjoy through my artwork. I am primarily a comic artist and illustrator with a specilization as a colorist, letterer, and cover artist. My most favorite topics to explore are realms of high fantasy, natural history, and ancient history. I have additional experience as a storyboard artist and scientific illustrator.
Jordan Rodriguez
Storyboard Artist
I'm a comic and storyboard artist who loves storytelling. I've always had a passion for Superheroes, and developing characters and world building. I also have a love for film and animation and find inspiration in both to enhance my art. The visual medium has always influeced me and allowed me to be expressive and creative through action and drama. I hope one day to create my own stories that influence and inspire other artists with the same goal.
Jacob Kozak
Storyboard Artist
My name is Jake Kozak and i am currently a junior at SCAD. I specialize in illustration of all styles, but am familier with sequential art and storyboarding. My illustration background grants me a unique view when storyboarding and allows me to express my love if sharing stories with the world and collaborating with others to make their goals a reality.
Grace Zhang
Storyboard Artist
My name is Grace Zhang, and I'm a junior in Illustration. I'm passionate about working in the animation industry and being apart of amazing stories. I love character design and am passionate about all aspects of visual development. My specialty lies in digital painting, rendering and character illustration. I love seeing the amazing possibilities of world building, character design and the wonder we all hold, especially as artists.
Davis Hardy
Compositor, Simulation Artist
Hello, my name is Davis Hardy and I'm a VFX artist. Currently, I've enjoyed assembling shots for various animated films at SCAD. Outside of the animation department, I'm learning how to make realitic effects simulations. I've also been exploring how I can use ML in the compositing process. Outside of work, I enjoy cross country skiing and going for long walks.
Samantha Ames
Creature Modeler
Hey I'm Sam. I was a Visual Effects major at SCAD with a focus on modeling and look dev for characters and creatures. Now I work as a 3D Medical Animator. I do a whole range of things from prepping models for 3D printing, Animating Surgical techniques, and producing models and textures for marketing and education. I still love creating stories and art with my friends in my free time or playing sports and being outside. I'm definitely a hustler so I find a way to do art and make money all the time. I love painting and stepping away from the computer on occasion to remember the way I started.
Connor Bushoven
Character Modeler
Hey there! I’m Connor. I'm a 3D modeller and texture artist currently working at MPC Montreal. My experience includes character and environment asset creation in Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, and Marvelous Designer across a variety of workflows and pipelines. Outside of work, I'm always working to improve my skills and expand my portfolio. In my free time I'm a voiceover artist for online productions including podcasts, animated series, and shorts. I love every part of the animation and vfx pipelines, and enjoy working with other creative people.
Val Thomas
Props Modeler
Marissa Tso
Props Modeler
Hey, I am Marissa Tso. I am a 3D artist specializing in CG Lighting and Compositing. I am also a foodie and a lover of cats. My interests in art and technology have led me to pursue multiple mediums, from 3D modeling, sculpting, texturing, and lighting -- to graphic design and drawing. I am familiar with software such as AutoDesk Maya, Foundry Nuke, Substance Painter, and Zbrush. My curiosity keeps me learning and problem-solving. I am a perfectionist who takes every detail seriously and strives for the best.
XJ Xie
Environment Modeler
Tyler DiNinno
Voice Actor for Bahri/Wrath
Hello there! I'm Tyler DiNinno, an actor/voice actor and Performing Arts student at SCAD. I've trained in voice acting with the Stella Adler School of Acting and Abacus Entertainment, and have played a wide variety of voice roles. I've even had a small voice part in the Oscar-winning documentary, Navalny. I've been acting since I was in 4th grade and since then, my love of media like animation and video games roped me into voice over. To me, there is something incredibly special about voice acting, as you get to play around with roles that you'd never be able to do in real life, while still being able to capture the truth and reality of the character's situation no matter how absurd or fantastical it is. When I'm not acting, I enjoy playing games, writing, and GM-ing for my friends in TTRPGs. It helps to flex my creative muscles and get inspiration for things to try in my own acting and other creative works.
Bella Falcone
Voice Actor for Catherine