Gigacon Guests 2011

Robert Atkins

Robert Atkins has worked as a penciler, inker and colorist within the comic industry. His most recent work includes the penciling chores on IDW's relaunch fo GI JOE, X-men Forever, and the DC Universe online game. Robert has also penciled Amazing Spiderman, Ultimate Fantastic Four and The Savage She Hulk for Marvel comics. Other works include stories for the Heroes online comic for NBC, Legion of Superheroes for DC comics Snake Eyes: Declassified and Forgotten Realms for DDP.

He is also currently co-creating a series titled Elders of the Rune Stone with writer Quinn Johnson (TMNT, Scrapyard Detectives). Which is scheduled for release through APE ENTERTAINMENT soon!

Will Austin

William Austin is a Washington DC local, and an environmental artist of Bioware Mythic. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Washington in Rosslyn Virginia, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2007, having majored in Media Art and Animation. Currently, he works as the exclusive artist for Warhammer Online, which recently released their 2010 expansion, “The Verminous Horde”. William has been an employee of Electronic Arts since August of 2007. During his time with the company, he assisted with Warhammer’s launch as a lighting artist, and eventually was given the additional tasks of level design, environmental art, v-effects, and world art. After having gone from lighting artist to primary artist, William hopes that his experience will lead him toward more opportunities to expand upon the Warhammer universe, and his own creative portfolio.

Joe Benitez

Joe Benitez began his Comicbook career after being discovered at the San Diego Comicon in 1993 by Top Cow Productions.

He co-created Weapon Zero and Magdalena for Top Cow and took over for Marc Silvestri on fan favorite title The Darkness. In 2005 he worked on a Creator Owned book for Wildstorm titled Wraithborn. He went on to work at DC comics on various titles such as JLA, Detective Comics,Superman/Batman, Supergirl and Titans. In the summer of 2008 after Legendary Comicbook creator Michael Turner passed away Joe was asked by Aspen Comics if he would step in and finish up Mikes run on Soulfire. Since then he's been the cover artist for EA Iris, Dynamites Green Hornet and Kato . Currently Joe is writing and penciling his new creator owned book Lady Mechanika for Aspen Comics.

Thomas Davis

Thomas Davis attended The Art Institute of Washington D.C. and graduated in 2008, summa cum laude. While at AI, Thomas was enrolled in the Media Arts and Animation program. Finding enjoyment in all areas of the 3D production pipeline, he found himself donning the title of 3D generalist. One of his goals before graduating was to create, from start to finish, a minute and a half 3D animated short, and he did.

After collage, he was able to apply his understanding of multiple software packages and workflows in the e-learning field. He currently works for Carney Inc., a government contractor creating computer based training material for the military and other government clients. His duties include working with other digital artist, writers and programmers in order to create interactive lessons, serious games and video training demos.

Jennifer Dutton

Jennifer attended the Art Institute of Washington on full-scholarship, and graduated December 2009 with a BFA in Media Arts & Animation. She worked as a tutor at AIW for a year and a half, she was the Lead Artist at the indie video game developer Forever Interactive for two years, and freelanced with Spark Flow Studios for six months. Now she is an artist at WMS Gaming in Chicago, creating concepts, illustrations, and animations for high-end slot machine games. WMS Gaming has been ranked the #1 large company to work for in Chicago, by the Chicago Tribune.

Sam Ellis

Sam Ellis is currently working as Lead Illustrator/Character Designer on the FX animated project Archer. As a freelance illustrator and designer he has worked as a story artist, character designer, and illustrator for shows on [adult swim] and has provided artwork for several comic book companies.

Some of Sam's work can be seen at http://manofmissle.blogspot.com/

Emmanuel Fragelus

Emmanuel "Manny" Fragelus has worked with the most widely recognized animation studios in the U.S. throughout his career such as Sony, Disney, Technicolor, Paramount, the Gnomon Workshop and NcSoft. Now employed as a Lead 3-D artist with DreamWorks Feature Animation, he's been involved with many high-profile projects including Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 2, and How to Raise Your Dragon (2011). His career film credits include World of Tomorrow, Species 2, Flushed Away, Over the Hedge, and Kung Fu Panda. He's also a featured artist on video game titles such as Spyro the Dragon, Medal of Honor, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In addition Manny works as a Producer and founder of the Evolve CG animation conference and Job Fair. The Evolve CG animation conference is designed to help student transition from an academic environment to the rigors of securing a job as a professional artist. This conference brings a new exciting opportunity to learn insider tips of how to break into the business by learning from acclaimed experts in the industry. Including supervisors and recruiters from studios such as Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Digital Domain, Luma Pictures, Activison, EA and more. http://http://www.evolve3d.net/

Garette Johnson

Garette is a multi-faceted design studio that combines modern fashion with art and illustration. The Garette collection is a two part look, featuring draped knit dresses printed with original art work by the designer and lady-like leather pieces. A focus on construction detail and drape accentuate the figure. Contrast of the soft and structured reflects a modern woman's desire to be bold and feminine. Mutually inspired by fashion and the natural world; the illustration work delights in the absurd, ironic and beautiful poetry of the world around us. Garette collaborates with private and corporate clients alike to develop concept designs and illustrations for a multitude of commercial media.

Garette Johnson, the designer behind the studio, graduated in 2004 from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A. in fashion design and illustration. Upon graduation Garette accepted a position at Kay Unger New York, and has continued design work under labels such as Alberto Makali, and Magaschoni. The launch of her own collection Garette; is a culmination of her experience in commercial design and a desire to create artistic pieces for the individual.

Greg Johnston

Since his dream of being a professional athlete was crushed because he was just not good enough, Greg tried his hand at the competitive sport of creating ideas for some of the world’s biggest brands.

His travels have taken him from the West Coast to the East Coast with a beginning in the mailroom at Chiat/Day Los Angeles too long ago to pronounce publicly. You can find his work on YouTube, in quite a few awards shows and on his Mother’s fridge, which is a tough post and where space is limited.

At NMS, Greg leads the creative thinking and development for such clients as Chrysler, the NFLPA and a host of other really great clients.

Ben McSweeney

Ben McSweeney began as a magazine illustrator in 1995, and as an animator in 2000 for the Florida production house Humoring the Fates. Specializing in the creation of traditional animation using contemporary tools, they've produced numerous commercial and short subject works for a wide range of clients including Nike, Rooster Teeth, Mattel, Spike TV, Ubisoft, Sony and Curious Pictures.

He continues to reside in Tampa, Florida, working as the lead animator for Studio Fates, illustrating a graphic novel ("Joe is Japanese") and producing concept, cover and interior artwork for gaming and fiction publishers.

Brian Muelhaupt

A film graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2005, Brian Muelhaupt worked on sets for cable television and indie film productions before he started his career in animation on the [adult swim] series Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. He has since worked as an animator, 2D animation director, storyboard artist, and layout and production artist on several television series, studio feature films, commercials, pilots, and other projects. He lives in New York City and is currently working as a Character Designer for the Sesame Street Workshop.

Brian's sketchbook work can be seen at http://www.brianmuelhaupt.com

Maasa Kuwana Muelhaupt

Born in Yokohama Japan, Maasa Kuwana-Muelhaupt graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2005. She then started her career as an animator in New York City, and has since worked as a lead animator, layout artist, storyboard/animatic artist, graphic/web designer, character designer, character design technical supervisor, and as an animation director on several cable network productions and other projects. Currently working on shows such as Character Designer for Mad Magazine TV, Animator for The Electric Company, Sid the Science Kid and Director/Lead Storyboard Artist for an animated short.

Maasa's work can be found here http://doodle.azure-m.com/

Phil Noto

Born in 1971, Phil Noto grew up in Florida and attended the Ringling School of Art and Design. After college he began a career in animation at Walt Disney Feature Animation. During his 10 year career at Disney he worked on such films as Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, and Lilo and Stitch. In 2001, Phil started his comic career as the cover artist for DC Comics' Birds of Prey. Since then he has worked on numerous comic projects such as Beautiful Killer, Danger Girl, Jonah Hex, Superman/Supergirl : Maelstrom, Batgirl, Avengers : The Origin and Wolverine/ Jubilee along with a variety of covers for different publishers. He has had 4 solo painting shows ,been part of a number of group shows and is represented by Bold Hype Gallery in NYC. Phil currently resides in Orlando, Fl with his wife, Beth and their 2 kids, Kate and Fletcher.

Bakia Parker

I am currently the Lead 3D Artist and Co-Owner of Phusion Designs. I began my career 3 years ago as a 3D Artist at the Washington DC based non-profit organization SiTel, creating mass casualty incident training simulation games for the PC platform. In early 2010, I began working as a Freelance 3D Modeler for various clients and independent game studios such as Immersion Labs, and The International Children's Art Foundation (sponsored by Lego and Faber Castell). This led me to my current position at Phusion Designs.

My work is strongly influenced by my obvious obsession with anything sci-fi and mechanical. I take great pride in applying my understanding of real world machine functionality and look to my pieces. The end results are highly detailed production and real-time ready models. The life of an artist is a non-stop learning process filled with overcoming obstacles, challenges and meeting deadlines. If there is one thing the art world has taught me, it’s that “You never know what you are capable of unless you are pushed beyond your limits.”

My work can be seen at http://bakiaparker3d.com/

Humberto Ramos

Humberto is currently a comic book artist with many titles and companies under his belt. These companies include:
Milstone Media, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Event Comics, and Cliffhanger Productions

Titles that Humberto worked on include:
HARDWARE, STATIC, BLOOD SYNDICATE, WORLDS COLLIDE, STEEL ANNUAL “ELSEWORLDS”, SUPERBOY, IMPULSE, FLASH, SUPERMAN, X-NATION 2099, 22 Brides, ASH cynder and smoke. Crimson, Out There, PETER PARKER SDIPERMAN, SPECTACULAR SPIDERMAN, REVELATIONS, WOLVERINE, X-MEN, NEW X-MEN and RUNAWAYS.

In early 2008, accepts for the first time a character designer job, in order to accomplish that a moving to Paris is imperative, so for 3 months he works in the movie LA NUIT DES ENFANTS ROIS or in it’s english tittle THE PRODIGIES, schedule to be release worlwide in fall of 2010.

Sara Richard

Sara Richard graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2008 and is now a freelance sculptor and illustrator. She has done sculpting work for Hasbro toy lines such as Spider Man, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Marvel and GI Joe. Her illustrations have frequently been published in Prehistoric Times Magazine. Sara is planning on starting her first comic this winter as well as a children's book.

Sara's online portfolio can be found at http://www.SaraRichard.com

JB Samuel

Born in Jacksonville, Florida to a family of well established foodies, Mr Samuel’s life long fascination with culinary arts would be easily explained by the influences of his childhood. That, however, would only prove to be the start of a much more involved story. A story that involves piecing together art and science with wit and practicality until he became a known commodity in the DC restaurant scene.

The tutelage of Mr Samuel began in family kitchens as a child and continues to this day in his work with some of the best known chefs in the area. His company, Hoof, Line & Sinker, is a small scale custom purveyor of high-end agricultural/aquacultural products to local restaurants. Freshness and sustainability is foremost in every aspect of the company’s operation.

On the rare occasion that he is not driving from farm to farm or chef to chef, Mr Samuel likes to spend time playing guitars and writing very silly things with his wife, daughter and the family’s two dogs in their Alexandria home.

Meagan Samuel

Meagan Samuel is an accomplished senior graphic designer. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from James Madison University (2001) with an emphasis in Graphic Design, an implied concentration in photography and an Art History minor.

In 2010, Meagan opened 29M Designs, LLC, a design company which prides itself on upholding the highest customer relations, working to fulfill every clients needs with speed and accuracy. The firm’s main focus being customer relations and helping the client achieve their intended goal and more.

Previous to starting 29M Designs, LLC, Meagan worked for Brightline Media, a strategic communications and media consulting firm located in Old Alexandria. She joined Brightline in 2002 as a graphic designer and was promoted to head art director in 2005. Her passion for design and extensive fine arts training allowed her to be creative and confident in her work. She has a unique ability to take a preliminary design concept and shape it into a stylistic version of the client’s initial vision.

David Silva

David Silva worked as a full-time freelance designer for McFarlane toys for about eighteen months, and three years as a sculpture for McFarlane toys, David showed a particular interest in the animal inspired characters and became a major contributor to lines such as McFarlene's Dragons, warriors of the Zodiac, and other in-house lines.

Unfortunately, in 2008 many of McFarlane’s in-house fantasy lines were put on hold indefinitely and eventually cancelled. David felt it was time to move on and pursue his next goal- Hasbro. With the portfolio gained from McFarlane Toys, David earned a temporary sculpting term at Hasbro in Pawtucket, RI in the summer of ’08 and returned for another term in winter of ‘09. Then in early 2010, a new opportunity came along from NECA, (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) as an in-house sculptor. The New Jersey based NECA has been a good fit for David and he has spent the past year working on their various collector based toy lines including Predators, Terminator 2, Clash of the Titans, and Iron Maiden. David has also been creating his own line of resin model kits, focusing mainly on dinosaurs and prehistoric animals, since Oct. 2009 under Creative Beast Studio.

Brian Stelfreeze

Brian Stelfreeze has the distinction of painting over fifty consecutive BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT covers. His other covers for DC, Marvel, and various other publishers are beyond the ability for most people to count. He has, over the last few years, turned his attention to interiors, turning out books like MATADOR (with Devin Grayson), GUN CANDY, THE RIDE: DIE VALKYRIE!, and DOMINO. His work has been seen in numerous X-Men and Batman books, as well as the MIDNIGHTER. Soon, he'll be out there again with ANGELUS for Top Cow. Hey, don't hate the playa, hate the game.

Michael Vaillancourt

Mike worked as IT support for Wizards of the Coast in 1997. In addition to IT support he also provided graphic design expertise for the WotC retail store gaming LANs and designed custom computer gaming stations for the WotC concept store in Everett, WA. In 2000 he produced his first professional illustration work for the RPG line Brave New World.

Mike joined the US Navy in December of 2001. He rejoined the professional hobby games community in 2003 where he helped found the rapidly growing hobby game company WildFire llc. In 2007 he started working full time for WildFire as the lead Art Director, Graphic Designer, and Concept Artist. In 2009 he won best cover art for the core book of the award winning game line CthulhuTech. He went on to art direct the award winning RPG's "Shadowrun 20th Anniversary Edition" and "Eclipse Phase" shortly afterward. Mike has also contributed to several card and board games for Bucephalus Games In 2010, he provided illustrations for Microsofts 343 Studio in conjunction with Bungie on "Dr. Halseys Journal" for the collectors edition of "Halo : Reach". He is currently handling the visual development for the eagerly anticipated miniatures game line "CthulhuTech : The Shadow War".

Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams is a Multimedia Artist who graduated from the Art Institute of Washington in June of 2009. Having been working in html since 1999, she continued to work on her web design skills as well as other skills throughout school; from Character Design, Illustration, and Graphic Design. These skills proved useful when she began working at MTSI (Modern Technology Solutions, Inc); there she started as the Webmaster, defining the company’s online persona. While at the same company she continued to do illustration, graphic design, print design, web design and development, video production, and much more. Robyn also does freelance for herself and for Phusion Designs.

The two biggest influences in her life have been marine biology and the work of Walt Disney. These influences both manifest themselves in much of her illustration work and character designs. Her foremost output these days are illustrated works of hybrid creatures.

You can see some of Robyn’s work online at http://www.rewyndstudio.com.