About & Resume – Jennifer A. Reuter Illustration

About & Resume


Jennifer A. Reuter (or just Jen works too) is your local Melbourne-based strident gremlin, who's jiving through the animation and games scene with 5-6 years experience as an illustrator, concept and storyboard artist. But telling stories, and drawing them as comics, is where the real action happens; monstrous romances, wondrous grit, and hope barring sharp teeth.

I moved to Australia from Germany as a kid (I'm half-Polish too), and studied Communication Design at RMIT. With experience in event-facilitation, freelancing and working for various studios, I collaborated and communicated with teams ranging from startups to established studios. Please see my resume below for more details.

For projects (and hearts) looking for visual innovation with a love of combining the unexpected, I bring sincerity and my grungy zeal. And a dorky sense of humour. That’s compulsory!


The rest of the time, I try to look cool rollerblading, and not-so-cool spinning puns during tabletop roleplaying weekends. I will gush over psychology and story dynamics before halting mid-walk, gawking at a moth I just spotted on the pavement.


Resume


Jobs & Experience


  • Concept Artist - Lost Again Games
    2021 Feb-Jun
    Produced game character, environment concept and production art.

  • Ads Storyboard Artist - ZAC Creative
    2020 Jun-Aug
    Storyboarding for Perth-based advertising animation studio.

  • Concept Artist - I Love You Tokyo
    2019 Nov - 2020 Feb
    Character and environment concept art for game, used later for 'Video World'.

  • Logo Design - Boss Battle
    2020 Jan
    Text and graphical logo design for board game.

  • Mid-weight Background Artist - Studio Moshi
    2017 Oct - 2018 Jan
    Illustrated backgrounds for an in-house animation production.

  • Volunteer Facilitator - Melbourne International Games Week Events
    2017 & 2018 Nov
    Facilitator for Games Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) and a customer service for Ysbryd and Fellow Traveller at games convention PAX.



Key Skills

  • Concept Artist - Lost Again Games
    2021 Feb-Jun
    Produced game character, environment concept and production art.

  • Ads Storyboard Artist - ZAC Creative
    2020 Jun-Aug
    Storyboarding for Perth-based advertising animation studio.

  • Concept Artist - I Love You Tokyo
    2019 Nov - 2020 Feb
    Character and environment concept art for game, used later for 'Video World'.

  • Logo Design - Boss Battle
    2020 Jan
    Text and graphical logo design for board game.

  • Mid-weight Background Artist - Studio Moshi
    2017 Oct - 2018 Jan
    Illustrated backgrounds for an in-house animation production.

  • Volunteer Facilitator - Melbourne International Games Week Events
    2017 & 2018 Nov
    Facilitator for Games Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) and a customer service for Ysbryd and Fellow Traveller at games convention PAX.

Collaboration

  • Effective collaborator and style synchronization with team, matching a streamlined finish with five background artists over 3 months for an animation production, resulting in 90 illustrations each.
  • Responsive to feedback, text or video, altering concept art for character designs with a Netherlands-based studio over Discord, completing 4 character sheets.
  • Flexible communication with 3 years experience coordinating shifts and responsibilities in event volunteer crews, ranging from 10 to 60 members, servicing hundreds of patrons.
  • Excellent negotiation and communication skills, having prospected and cold-called over 60 business clients as a freelancer.

Art & Design

  • Created practical designs for use across skill departments, like character and environment sheets, paint-overs, adhering to technical restrictions and solving level design issues for a game. 3D artists referenced from the drawings effectively, producing clear silhouette models.
  • Attentive to detail and research, referencing historical 1920s Art Nouveau styles, fashion and architecture for character and background designs in a mystery game, using moodboards of photography and non-art inspiration sources.
  • Strong draftsmanship experience with over 40 completed illustrations and projects across styles and media for 5 years; marketing art and assets, comic art, music videos, storyboards and concept art.
  • Clear graphic design methodology, with bachelor’s study completed in the field and designing a tabletop game rulebook, with positive feedback on ease of legibility.

Technical literacy

  • Broad knowledge of creative software and a fast learner, using Photoshop, Krita, InDesign, Blender and After Effects (see more below), and traditional media like graphite, fineliner, markers, coloured pencils and acrylics.
  • Coding aptitude from developing portfolio website using Jekyll template with custom web coding and javascript.

Publications & Projects


  • ROCK ME NOW - Zine Illustration
    2021
    Original illustration contribution for a charity zine (donated to Black Creatives in Sacramento), involving grunge-rock characters drawn by multiple illustrators.
  • Katabatic - Comic
    2021
    Online self-published, and free-to-read, 124-page fantasy adventure graphic novella.
  • Orunge - Game
    2019
    Collaboration with writer Jessica Moore on a story-board-style branching cute narrative game built in Twine.
  • Snap - Comic
    2018
    Online and self-published issue, 9-page action comic.

Tools

Krita (preferred)

Affinity Design (preferred)

Affinity Publisher

InDesign

Photoshop

After Effects

Illustrator

CSS + HTML

Slack

Github



Education

  • Painting Drama - Chris Oatley Academy
    2020
    Online illustration short course.
  • New Enterprise Incentive Scheme - Kangan Institute
    2019
    Business building short course.
  • Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) - RMIT
    2015
    Graphic and communication design course.


Talks

  • Concept art online workshop - Wyndham Tech School
    2020 Nov
    A workshop about the concept art process, involving high school students with theme suggestion prompts.
  • "Go Swish" - Charlie Red
    2019 Oct
    15-minute presentation for a Melbourne digital art collective about line-art improvement.
  • "Self Insert Here" - Freeplay
    2019 Apr
    Hour-long online talk for an independent games festival, about artists using personas.
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