​                                                 Michael Baran

 Seattle, WA
 Mike.baranarts@gmail. com    


ExperienceBig Fish Games, Seattle, WA / Senior Animator                         November 2006 – September 2020

• Collaborated with art leads and developers when optimizing art assets within game engine.
• Rigging and animating characters in Maya and implemented in Unity.
• Hand drawn animated environmental effects including fire, smoke, water and explosions.
• Animated on Mystery Case Files, Drawn series, Fetch, and Panda Pandamonium for iOS and Android.

Hyperspace XR, Seattle, WA / Freelance Character Animator                     November 2017 – December 2018

• Rig and animate characters for interactive virtual reality experience built in Unity for a Pacific Science Center exhibit.
• Created animation pipeline for production

 
Amaze Entertainment, Kirkland, WA  / Character Animator                                        2005 – 2006

• Character animation for Eragon on the Sony PSP platform

 
Humongous Entertainment , Bothell, WA / Animator                                                   1997 – 2004

• Hand drawn animation on PC games for Backyard Sports franchise, Freddi Fish and Putt Putt adventure games.

 
Toonz Animation, Auckland, New Zealand / Inbetweener                                                      1995 – 1996

• Clean up and in-between drawings for Timon and Pumbaa television series

 
Education and TrainingColumbia College Chicago, Bachelor of Art in Film, Concentration in Animation
Pixar Story and Animation Masterclass (2010)
Animation Professional Trainer Workshop, with Jean Denis Haas (2010)
Keith Lango Animation Workshop

Skills

• Proficient in Maya, Good understanding of acting
• Staging and timing, understanding of classical animation principals
• Basic rigging and skinning
• Stop motion
• Eye for detail and continuity
• Photoshop
• After Effects
• Unity
• Good communication
• Teamwork
• Time & resource management
• Problem solving and troubleshooting skills