Christy Sawyer
Artist, Designer & Letterer
Work Experience
DC Comics - Production Administrator
October 2017 - present
Burbank, CA
- Production & tracking of interiors for original graphic novels & DC collected editions using Monday dot com.
- Coordinating with outside vendors for assigned projects.
- Working with Editorial, Design, Legal, Advertising & Printers to achieve all required approvals in order to maintain quality standards and schedules.
- Logging and routing color proofs to and from Editorial.
- Quality checking proofs and applying corrections from Editorial.
- Creating final print-ready 4-color PDFs
- Overseeing their delivery and successful approval with print vendors using InSite and other similar file transfer methods.
- Art & color retouching
- Lettering corrections & editing
DC Comics - Production Coordinator
July 2017 - October 2017
Burbank, CA
- Production & tracking of interiors for DC collected editions.
- Maintaining quality standards and schedules for each book.
- Logging and routing color proofs to and from Editorial.
- Quality checking proofs and applying corrections from Editorial.
- Creating final print-ready PDFs
- Overseeing their delivery and successful approval with print vendors using InSite.
- Art retouching & lettering corrections
Minted - Designer / Design Support Team / Production Artist
February 2017 - May 2017
Seasonal Design Lead
October 2016 - February 2017
Design Associate / Production Artist
October 2015 - October 2016
Oakland, CA
- Creating and editing design file templates using Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign at a rapid pace with high accuracy
- Proofing orders to ensure accuracy and providing quality control assessment for our products
- Editing and color correcting photos for optimal printing quality
- Creating print-ready files
- Corresponding with customers regarding their customization instructions
- Creating and quality-checking extensive wedding suites including menus, rsvps, programs, and mini-books
- Managing a team of seasonal employees
- Creating custom artwork when needed (iconography, illustrations, watercolor & more)
Freelance Letterer
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
October 2011 - present
- Comic lettering
- Manga graphic novel lettering
- Light retouching (for manga projects)
- Preparing books for print publication
- Lettering motion comics using Illustrator & proprietary software for Madefire.
- Clients include Random House (Kodansha USA), Dark Horse, Zenescope, Madefire, Wowmax, Oni Press & others - please see Credits section for individual titles.
Freelance Graphic Designer / Game Artist
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
July 2011 - August 2012, April 2014 - October 2015
-Concept art for proposals & pre-production
-Creation of 2D art using Illustrator, Photoshop & Flash for a variety of platforms including iOS, Android, HTML5 & Sifteo Cubes
-UI art and design for mobile platforms
-Marketing materials using Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign, including trade show banners, flyers, booklets, signs, social media assets, and more.
-A/B testing of banner ads & typography choices
12 Gigs - UI Designer / Art Manager
San Francisco, CA
September 2013 - April 2014
- Direct supervision of 4 off-site freelance artists
- Finding new talent to add to the art team & guiding them through the hiring process
- Giving daily artistic critique/feedback to artists with a variety of skill levels
- Schedule creation & management
- Logo art & design for mobile casino games & puzzle games
- Marketing materials including banners, ads, and illustrations for websites.
- A/B testing of banner ads
Sifteo - Game Artist (Contract)
San Francisco, CA
February 2013 - July 2013
-Concept art for proposals & pre-production
-Creation of 2D art (both pixel & vector) using Illustrator, Photoshop & Flash
-Logo art & design
-Marketing materials including print materials, flyers, stickers, & original illustration for web.
Voltage Entertainment USA - Graphic Designer / Game Artist
San Francisco, CA
September 2012 - February 2013
- Creation of 2D art using Illustrator and Photoshop for games on Android & iOS.
- Concept art for pre-production
- Marketing materials
- Marketing copy
Self Employed - Freelance Game Artist
San Francisco, CA
September 2011 - September 2012
- Creation of 2D art using Illustrator and Photoshop for a variety of platforms.
- Concept art for proposals & pre-production
- Marketing materials
Powerhead Games - Lead Artist
New York, NY
April 2005 - June 2011
- Overseeing general art direction within licensor and publisher guidelines & expectations
- Creation of UI from menu flow diagrams to polish using Illustrator and Photoshop
- Creation of 2-D art (original illustration & from source art) using Illustrator and Photoshop
- Graphics optimization for Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, iPhone, Windows Phone 7 and PC
- Menu creation w/use of Powerhead Games' Menu Tool
- Concept art for proposals & pre-production
- Level design for Winx Club QftC: GBA
- Print design for industry event material
- Experience working in the Agile management system
- Worked with publishers Ubisoft, Konami, Disney, Microsoft & more
Self Employed - Freelance Artist
New York, NY
November 2002 - April 2005
- Design & creation of web pages
- Web graphics creation & editing
- Original illustration
- Logo design
Croog Inc – 2D & 3D Artist
New York, NY
May 2003 - July 2004
- Inkworks & Maya texturing
- Character sketches, environment sketches
- Assorted 2-D drawing
- ToonBoom Studio coloring
- Print & layout design for promo books & magazines
- Website design
GURL.com & Seventeen.com - Design Internship
New York, NY
June 2002 - September 2002
- Design & creation of page layouts for gURL.com
- Web graphics creation & editing
- Photo retouching
- Photo manipulation w/illustration
Bantu.com - Design Internship
Washington D.C.
June 1999 - October 1999
- Produced web graphics for corporate website
- Designed web interfaces for Bantu Instant Messenger
- Created graphics for Bantu Instant Messenger & co-brands
Education
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 2001
BFA, Major: Art w/specialization in Electronic Time Based Media & equivalent to a minor in Art History
Skills and Abilities
-Many years of adapting to new mobile platforms, shipping over a dozen games, including 7 with 4+ star reviews on Amazon.com
-Over 3 years experience lettering comics & doing pre-press for major publishers
-Comprehensive knowledge of mobile and handheld game production processes
-A passion for typography, from lettering comics to high-end stationery to UI design for games & apps
-Project scheduling and milestone management within a team
-Extensive experience working with licensed materials and matching commercial art styles
-Experience managing a team of offsite freelance artists