ART DIRECTOR

Avatar and user interface direction for internal interactive fiction games.

ART DIRECTOR/ FOUNDER

Built + led art team for a AAA UE5 action RPG; style dev, roadmaps, pipelines, avatar system.

ART DIRECTION CONSULTANT

• GALLIUM STUDIOS – UI + branding/ style dev and leads mentoring for Will Wright’s Proxi project.
• WB GAMES – Art leadership at WB Boston focused on mentorship and accelerating team potential.
• REDEMPTION GAMES – UI concepts, style dev, storyboards, and art for a narrative puzzle title.
• GAME VISION – Style, UI, and content consultation for Asian game dev and animation clients.
• FACEBOOK GAMING – 2021 sponsored seminar on content best practices for western audiences.
• DAYBREAK GAMES – Reviving classic RPG on console. Style dev, mockups, key art direction, logo.
• THOUGHT PENNIES – Prototyping, style guides, branding for AAA UE4 and indie pixel art pitches.

STUDIO ART DIRECTOR

Storyscape was the high-bar HBO/ AMC/ FX-like play in interactive narrative gaming, lauded for its quality art, writing, and inclusive representation. Original shows aired alongside IPs like James Cameron’s TITANIC and The X-Files. I built the art style, art production pipelines, and art/ cine team. 

Developed a look focused on high-quality realistic character art and authentic clothing. Established pipelines for art creation, review, and implementation. Hired, trained, mentored, and managed artists and cinematic directors plus top freelancers/ outsource studios to create art for 10 shows in popular genres – period, romance, comedy, drama, horror, fantasy. Principal production designer for flagship shows. Designed and directed characters, likenesses, and locations plus all show key art and logos. Best practice and IP guides. Hands-on tech art, paintovers. Studio leadership/ management/ tactics.

STUDIO ART DIRECTOR | ART DIRECTOR

Art leadership in multi-/ single-project capacities. Grew art team with top talent from Blizzard, Bungie, ILM, EA, CCP, Weta, DreamWorks. Fostered a community noted for skill-sharing, camaraderie, and efficiency. Created style guides, pre-viz, concept art, hands-on with prototypes. Established hiring, mentoring, dev best practices. Worked closely with IP partners, establishing Kabam’s pedigree as a solid licensee. Art Leader in the latter day “Kabam RPG” studio specializing in action & strategy RPGs.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR, PUBLISHING

Creative consultation for 3rd-party publishing partners in China, Korea, Japan, Europe. My strike team of creative directors, editors, and translators handled all content culturalization, localization, and reskinning for western markets. Drove UI/UX best practices, reskins efforts, audio (sfx, score, VO) re-recording plus L10N/ editing/ writing, and creative (key art, branding/ logos, App Store copy, CI).

ART DIRECTOR | LEAD ARTIST

I grew the AD role away from hands-on art to directing several leads to overseeing multiple projects. Established and validated art styles, maintained quality and morale through effective critique and mentoring. Led tools dev for author-friendly pipelines, anticipated issues then pushed resolutions, built robust network of freelancers and vendors. Designed avatar systems for 3 games.

As Lead I wore many hats in this 9-person startup – did everything one could in art (concepts, models, UI, levels, lighting, VFX, rigs, animation, cinematics, &c.) plus marketing/ packaging/ site design, tech art (optimization, tools, physics, palettes), art production (hiring, tracking, scheduling, outsourcing).

SENIOR ENVIRONMENT ARTIST

Built, textured, lit campaign levels + multiplayer maps, and designed the protagonist for a Deus Ex product.

LEAD ARTIST | ARTIST | ANIMATOR

Led original projects that extended Accolade’s sports-centric portfolio into “core” action/ strategy genres. I exercised elevated autonomy over my teams and projects, with direct contact with the game press and use of cutting-edge SGI tech for some of the earliest lip-sync and 3D rendering in games. As a flexible generalist I created pixel/ painted/ 3D art, UI, concepts, cinematics, marketing materials.

To create ambitious and visually appealing RPGs and narrative games with good people.

Ken is a game industry art director and illustrator with 30 years of experience leading art teams and making game art, with proficiency in both creating original IP and servicing top brands across a variety of genres and styles. Ken is a highly technical and multi-talented, generalist “full stack” art director with extensive hands-on expertise in every stage of development from prototype through launch and live ops.

An expert at art pipelines and getting the most out of engines at any scale, Ken has shipped over three dozen titles on console, PC, mobile, and handheld. He has built multiple art teams and businesses from scratch and has decades of experience managing outsourcing and directing remote teams.

He is noted for his eye for detail, sense of style, actionable direction, and development savvy.

• Shipped award-winning games on most platforms – console, PC, handheld, web, mobile.
• Microsoft, EA, Sega, Disney, THQ, LucasArts, Eidos, Accolade, Kabam, 21st Century Fox, WB, Netflix.
• Long history servicing top IP – Star Wars, LotR + The Hobbit, Titanic, The X-Files, The Godfather, Conan, Hunger Games, The Sims, Disney's Tangled, Game of Thrones, Games Workshop, Beyoncé, and more.
• Flexible stylistic range – realistic, stylized, ‘core/ midcore, f/ sf/ horror, casual/ family/ edutainment.
• Wide genre experience – RPG, narrative, strategy, RTS, action, FPS, education.

• Strong traditional, technical, and 2D + 3D digital art skills.
• Strong vision plus sense of branding and style.
• Proven leader and mentor who keeps creative teams focused, motivated, and improving.
• Excellent cross-functional production skills, skillfully manages parallel projects/ priorities.
• Excellent outsourcing relationship, production management, and roadmapping capabilities.
• Proven track record of producing great art + content across multiple platforms and styles.
• XBOX, PlayStation, PC, Wii, DS, PSP, Dreamcast, SNES, Genesis, web, iOS, Android.

• 3D Studio MAX, Maya, Spine, Adobe suite, Substance suite.
• Unreal Engine 3/4/5, Unity, XCODE, Havok, Scaleform, PBR pipelines, custom engines.
• Basecamp, Trello, Miro, MS Project, Smartsheet, JIRA, P4V, Plastic, Sourcetree, Git.
• HTML, CSS, C, Perl, js, PHP, ActionScript, LUA, MaxScript.

BFA Illustration, 1994, Academy of Art College, San Francisco.

Figurative illustration with a focus on graphic storytelling.

Founder/ publisher @ Puppy Toss Comics Collective, 1992-1998, Berkeley.

Instructor in Sequential Art program, 1993 and 1994, Academy of Art, San Francisco.

Interests: motorcycles, horror, The Beatles, classic illustration, open world games, glitter, old bones.

Art direction and game art portfolio at https://kencapelli.com.

See for an extensive list of recommendations.

TITLE + EXPERIENCE SUMMARY

ART DIRECTOR

Netflix Stories – iOS/ Android, Netflix 

ART DIRECTOR

Unannounced AAA RPG – XSX/ PS5/ PC, unreleased/ in development

STUDIO ART DIRECTOR

Storyscape – iOS/ Android, FoxNext/ Disney – App Store 4.8★

STUDIO ART DIRECTOR | PROJECT ART DIRECTOR

Pocket Tactics (working title, tactical RPG prototype) – iOS/ Android, unpublished 

Star Wars: Uprising – iOS/ Android – App Store 4.9★, Editor's Choice Awards

Drakonsoul RPG – Web/ Facebook, unpublished

The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age – Web/ Facebook

The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth – iOS/ Android – $100m+ rev

Trojan War: Rage of Zeus – Web

Final Eden – Web – full reskin, <4 months

The Godfather: Five Families – Web/ Facebook

Edgeworld – Web/ Facebook

Dragons of Atlantis – Web/ Facebook

CREATIVE DIRECTOR, PUBLISHING

The Hunger Games: Panem Rising – iOS/ Android, Kabam

Lord of the Rings: Legends of Middle-earth – iOS/ Android, Kabam

Creature Academy – iOS/ Android, Netmarble

Metal Skies – iOS/ Android, WeMade

Divine Might – iOS/ Android, Gfan

Blades of Excalibur – web, JoyYou – full reskin

Ravenmarch – web, GameReign – full reskin

Wartune: Hall of Heroes – iOS/ Android, 7th Road/ Hoolai

Reign of Conquerors – iOS/ Android, Minoraxis

Runes of War – iOS/ Android, Pearl in Palm

ART DIRECTOR

BEYONCÉ: Star Power – XBOX 360 Kinect/ PS3 Move/ Wii, unpublished

Disney’s Tangled – Wii/ DS, Disney Interactive

The SIMS 3: Life Moments – Wii, EA – multiplayer aspect of console port

The SIMS 3 – Wii, EA – full technical evalulation for console ports

Drawn To Life: The Next Chapter – Wii, THQ

My AMAZING Story – XBOX 360, Microsoft Game Studios (1st party)  – unpublished

Booty Blocks – iPhone

Brain Quest: Grade 3&4 and Grade 5&6 – PSP, EA

Battle Of The Bands – Wii, THQ

Smarty Pants – Wii, EA

After Burner: Black Falcon – PSP, SEGA

Conan: Queen Of The Black Coast – PSP, THQ – unpublished

LEAD ARTIST

INFECTED – PSP, Majesco

Armed and Dangerous – XBOX/ PC, LucasArts – Award-winning

Giants: Citizen Kabuto – PC/ XBOX, Interplay – Multiple Award-winning

SENIOR ARTIST

Project: Snowblind (Deus Ex franchise) – PS2/ XBOX, Eidos

LEAD ARTIST

Slave Zero – Dreamcast, SEGA

Slave Zero – PC, Infogrames

Deadlock – PC – Editor’s Choice Award

ARTIST | ANIMATOR

Jack Nicklaus 5 – PC – ★★★★★ rating + Editor’s Choice Award

Hardball 6 – PC

Unnecessary Roughness 95 – PC/ Genesis

Hardball 4 – PC/ Genesis

Zero Tolerance – Genesis – first and only FPS on classic consoles