Todd Kesterson

Senior Instructor / Media Visualization Specialist at Oregon State University

1. •Years Known: 2003-Present
   

2. •Relation: I worked directly with and under Todd on the Story Pouch animated short film.  Todd was the Professor at the University of Oregon who introduced me to 3D Computer Graphics.
   

3. •Website: Story Pouch
   

4. •Phone: 1-541-737-9934
   

5. •E-Mail: kesterson@oregonstate.edu
   

Recommendation:  “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with Jonathon Banks over the past eight years, first as a student at the University of Oregon, and most recently as a professional modeling, lighting and texture artist on an independent animation project that I directed at Oregon State University.  During my years of teaching I’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of students at two major universities. Jonathon is one of a handful of students who demonstrated the level of commitment, curiosity, creativity and professionalism necessary to succeed as an artist and designer in the 3D animation and gaming fields.  

In addition to his skills, Jonathon has a level of commitment and loyalty that I have rarely experienced. He worked for several years as a volunteer on the Story Pouch animation project and gave literally hundreds of hours of his time to help bring this vision to life. He was a cornerstone of the production team. It was pleasure to hire Jonathon back as a professional artist to bring the project to completion. Without his help and the help of a few other extremely committed students (all now working professionally) this animation project would not have been completed.

Working with Jonathon was and is a real pleasure. He is confident in his abilities while also being very personable and receptive to the needs of a director or client. If I had the finances to produce another animation project Jonathon would be at the top of my list of professional artists to employ. Anyone who hires Jonathon on a creative project will be fortunate to have his involvement. I give him my highest recommendation and would be happy to discuss his qualifications with anyone interested in working with him.”

Craig Neering

Artist at Sony Computer Entertainment

Environment Team Lead/Senior Artist at Idol Minds

1. •Years Known: 2006-Present
   

2. •Relation: I worked directly with and under Craig at Idol Minds.
   

3. •Website: Portfolio
   

4. •Phone: 1-720-810-0030
   

5. •E-Mail: craigneering@yahoo.com
   

Don Creger

Environment Artist at Insomniac Games

1. •Years Known: 2007-Present
   

2. •Relation: Industry Colleague
   

3. •Website: Polytropolis
   

4. •Phone: Available upon request
   

5. •E-Mail: Available upon request
   

Recommendation:  “Jonathon is a solid Environment Artist with a keen eye to detail.  His art should easily speak for itself but what’s behind the work is quite impressive.  Jonathon is extremely knowledgeable of the game industry as a whole.  Games are his passion and because of this he spends a lot of time analyzing and researching what makes games enjoyable and fun.  Not only does this obviously help out with his art but it also gives him a higher understanding of what it takes to make a great game.  He is always looking to improve his knowledge base and to take his art to the next level.  I high recommend Jonathon to any employer looking for a dedicated, hard working, and talented employee.”

Stan Shambaugh

Systems/Network Administrator at Telltale Games

1. •Years Known: 2009-Present
   

2. •Relation: Industry Colleague
   

3. •Phone: 1-858-663-9113
   

4. •E-Mail: sshambaugh@gmail.com
   

Recommendation:  Coming Soon

Recommendation:  Coming Soon

Derek Sakai

Art Director at Telltale Games

1. •Years Known: 2009-Present
   

2. •Relation: I work directly with and under Derek at Telltale Games
   

3. •Phone: Available upon request
   

4. •E-Mail: Available upon request
   

Recommendation:  “I have had the pleasure of working with Jonathon over the last year and a half on various projects.  His contributions were directly responsible for delivering high quality games on extremely aggressive schedules.  Jonathon has helped Telltale to meet its studio goals with his unique knack for creative problem solving and focused hard work. As the project manager for a development team on such an aggressive schedule, I found it was extremely helpful that Jonathon was almost completely self managed and self motivated. By laying out high level goals with Jonathon I felt very comfortable that the task would be done correctly and at an extremely high level of quality.  Jonathon was also pivotal in establishing and refining our art pipeline and he continually pushed the quality bar beyond my expectations. Additionally I have been impressed with the range of art styles Jonathon is capable of delivering. Jonathon has worked with me on projects that range from stylized to realistic, and it always exciting to see how he is able to transform a piece of concept into a final game asset. I look forward to working with Jonathon on many more games in the future and see what kinds of awesome art he will create.”

Matt Hansen

Producer at Telltale Games

1. •Years Known: 2009-Present
   

2. •Relation: Matt is one of my Producers at Telltale Games
   

3. •Phone: 1-818-486-9134
   

4. •E-Mail: mhansen.email@gmail.com
   

Recommendation:  “I had an opportunity to work with Jonathon for a couple years when he first got into the video games industry as an Environment Artist.  His fun spirit and passion is rivaled by few which allows him to work hard and excel at something he truly loves.  One of the things I appreciated was that his energy is contagious and can bring liveliness to any team he is a part of.  Jonathon is a good communicator and talented artist with a full range of skills needed to get the job done.  I recommend Jonathon as a highly motivated artist who will continually strive to refine what he is working on until its the best it can be.”