Jeff Godfrey
Video Game Art Director
Summary
Seasoned game industry veteran. Skilled team leader with a good sense of aesthetics (and humor), adept at directing internal and external teams, improving pipelines, outsourcing art and problem solving. Creative and talented character artist with strong modeling and texturing skills. Always pushing the envelope to make the best graphics possible. Worked on over 45 games with well over 30 million units sold.
Work Experience
Mass Media Games – 2K – Senior 3D Artist
2017 – 2024
Most of my work at Mass Media was being a jack of all trades, optimizing FX, meshes and materials to run faster. On Carnival Games I created the models and textures for several 3D games, including an awesome bowling game, working closely with the programmers. We worked in Unreal Engine and tracked our work with Jira.
Carnival Games
Unreleased Carnival World
New Tales from the Borderlands
LEGO Drive
Unannounced LEGO game
Unannounced Shooter
Unreleased 4K Civilization Game
WayForward – Art Director
2015 – 2017
Art directed 2D mobile games. Used YouTrack to track Agile Development scheduling and hit weekly deliveries for post launch updates. Directed internal and external artists using Trello and implemented the art in Unity.
Unreleased 2D Bible Game
LeapFrog Academy
Disney’s Descendants
Freelance – Digital Artist and Consultant
2013 – 2017
Modeled and textured characters and props in ZBrush and Max for various clients as well as consulted with them on best practices and pipelines for development.
WayForward
2nd Screen Society
Alliance Studios
3D6 Games
2K Sports – Art Director
2013
Evaluated schedules and work bids. Art directed outsource artists and researched next gen tech for the WWE wrestling game. Dealt with photogrammetry, morph targets and motion capture.
WWE 2K14
THQ – Art Director
2008 – 2013
Art directed the likeness and anatomy for 300 models a year for the WWE and UFC fighting games. Evaluated schedules and bids from outsource vendors and mentored an internal review team of artists. Streamlined the pipeline and developed new techniques for matching likeness.
WWE ’13
UFC Undisputed 3
WWE ’12
UFC Trainer
WWE Allstars
Smackdown VS. Raw 2011
UFC 2010 Undisputed
Smackdown VS. Raw 2010
UFC 2009 Undisputed
Mass Media – Senior Character Artist / Art Director
2008
I was hired to make creatures for an underwater shooter, but was immediately outsourced to the corporate office to art directed wrestler likenesses.
Deep Six
UFC 2009 Undisputed
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania
Midway – Senior Character Artist
2005 – 2008
Created characters and creatures for multiple Midway projects and studios.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
TNA:IMPACT!
The Wheelman
Mortal Kombat: Fire and Ice
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Left Field Productions – Art Director / Co-Founder
1994 – 2004
As one of the founders of the studio I wore multiple hats. In addition to art directing as many as 25 artists I also created characters, environments, and animations. I created schedules, mentored artists, and helped run the studio.
MTX Mototrax
Backyard Football
Excitebike 64
NBA Courtside 2
NBA Courtside
Slam ‘N Jam
Malibu Interactive – Computer Artist
1991 – 1994
Created a range of characters, environments, and vehicles. I mentored junior artists and helped with scheduling.
Battletech
Boxing’s Greatest Heavyweight
Cliffhanger
Batman Returns
David Robinson Basketball
Evander Holyfield Boxing
ABC Wide World of Sports Boxing
Cinemaware – Computer Artist
1988-1991
Created and animated a vast range of character sprites learning proprietary software on the go. Designed tiled based level systems.
Enemy Within
Deathbringer
Roller Babes
TV Sports Hockey
TV Sports Baseball
TV Sports Football
Wings
Lords of the Rising Sun
Antheads: It Came From the Desert
It Came From the Desert
Rocket Ranger
Software
Zbrush / 3D Studio Max / Photoshop / Flash / Maya / Mudbox / Alienbrain / Unreal Editor / 3D-Coat / Unity / Trello / YouTrack / Jira / Unreal Engine 5 / Miro
Platforms
PS5 / Xbox X / PS4 / Xbox One / iPhone / iPad / Mobile / F2P / Social / Tablet / Smartphone / Android / iOS / Google / PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii / PS2 / PSP / Xbox / GameCube / N64 / 3DO / Saturn / PlayStation / Genesis / SNES / Sega CD / PC / TurboGrafix-16 / Amiga
Education
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Bachelor of Science Degree in GRAPHIC DESIGN with an ILLUSTRATION concentration
Recommendations
“as an art director, he has high standards, a great eye and is a clear communicator”
“talented and hard-working, and brings a deft, tangible excellence to his position”
“most impressive character artists I have ever had the privilege to work with”
“he will raise the standard of character art quality on any project he is involved with”
“great attention to detail and his knowledge allows him to tackle any challenge”
“talks the talk, and walks the walk”