Art in Action

Augie Pagan is a freelance artist who enjoyed working in the video game industry for the past two decades.

Shortly after graduating from The Art Institute of Seattle, Augie was hired at a startup company called Humongous Entertainment. Augie’s strong background in traditional art played a key role in contributing to the look of many Humongous titles which included layout and background designs. Wanting to learn more about the video game industry and 3D world building, Augie started working at Suckerpunch Productions. He took on the role of 3D texture mapping and lighting game levels. for a total of four triple A titles for Sony and Nintendo including; Rocket: Robot on Wheels as well as all three of the Sly Cooper games for the PlayStation. After exploring a few freelance opportunities for various design studios and game companies such as Xeko Games, HER Interactive, and Riot Games, Augie was lured back into the studio environment. This time it would be in the mobile game market for Popcap’s main franchise, Plants vs Zombies 2. He was brought on board to head up the background team, creating layouts and background designs for the launch of the sequel. Since the games launch, Augie has been back freelancing as well as enjoying a fine art career in pop culture art shows and gallery exhibits in the U.S. and around the globe. He has exhibited works at Gallery 1988, The Hive, Gallery Nucleus, and Corey Helford Gallery to name a few.

Eric Pfeiffer is a concept artist and illustrator working for clients ranging in industries from film, games, comics and print with over 9 years of experience. Some clients include: Microsoft, Shep Films, Armed Mind (20th Century Fox, Ubisoft, Activision) Elevendy (Bethesda, Sony) ESPN, Wired, Popular Mechanics, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Boom! Studios, the Red Cross and more.

Dylan is a Concept Artist and Illustrator based out of Seattle, Washington. He’s spent the past 8 years working in the games, entertainment, and tech industries on various projects including Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, The Lord of the Rings, Wolfenstein, League of Legends, Mortal Kombat 11, and Microsoft Hololens. When not focused on client IP’s Dylan is hard at work on his first illustrated novel entitled ‘The Precipice‘.

Tim Peirson has been a makeup artist for over 35 years. His talents cover a wide range of skills from beauty to special effects and character makeup. He received his training in Fx and character work from Academy award winning makeup master, Dick Smith. Some of Tim’s credits include the movie “Frayed”, season 3 of JourneyQuest, season 5 of ZNation, Pearl Jam’s video “Life Wasted” and the film “Molder of Dreams”. He has worked with several notable celebrities including Neil Patrick Harris and Robbie Benson.

Currently he is the special makeup effects teacher for the Tint School of makeup and cosmetology in Seattle, and is a member of I.A.T.S.E 488. He can be seen around Washington and Oregon doing makeup demos at various conventions. Tim is a self taught sculptor with a reputation for detail in his lifelike sculptures. He owns Cast of Thousands Studio in Tacoma.

My name is Audre Schutte (aka ‘Charamath’) and I am an illustrator and creature concept artist based out of the Seattle, WA area. I live to create monsters, filling up sketchbook after sketchbook with them every year. My illustrations come from a strong love of story telling.

While I enjoy traditional mediums like pencil, watercolor and ink, I am also proficient in Photoshop. I combine Photoshop with my traditional sketching skills to quickly create multiple variant concepts and color roughs. I am also familiar with Zbrush and traditional sculpting. I often use clay or Zbrush to sculpt out some of my creations. I find it helpful for figuring out lighting and perspective whenever I get stuck.

I was born and raised in the Ukraine where one of my earliest memories was watching my father take photos of us and develop them in his self-made darkroom. Looking back, I realized he did this in a little tiny closet in our one-bedroom apartment.

Our family came to America when I was thirteen years old. Life was very difficult for a while. I never really knew what I wanted to do. Nothing seemed to be interesting to me. However, I really did like photography. So, I took a few courses in college. But I didn’t care for the dark room aspect. So, I quit.

Well, low and behold, then came along the digital camera! Without having to work within the confines of the dark room, I had total control over the creative process. Although I loved taking pictures! I always felt like they lacked something, I wanted them to be different from everyone else’s. So, I began learning Photoshop to help me take my photography to the next level. At first, I didn’t really care for it. Then, I started to get better. Within a short period of time my hunger for more knowledge and determination really kicked in. I became fueled by this new passion of mine! However, it wasn’t until I took an online lesson from Jake Olson did it really click! From that point forward my pictures were never the same.

Every one of my pictures are hand edited and my mood always reflects how they end up. Colors and tones all depend on how I feel that day. People mention how my pictures have a magical feel to them. I think my love of fairy tales and magical shows really reflect through.