Credited Titles
Supreme
Commander-PC / Gears
of War-PC / Destroy
All Humans-Path of the Furon-XBox 360
Family - Hello, my name is Shawn O’Donnell. I am 33 years old and I have a lovely wife Laura that I have been with for 15 years. I am also a father of a wonderful 7 year old girl Natasha. I live in Bothell, WA, and I have been in Washington now for about 16 years. Drawing has been an old school favorite thing to do and I have been doing it since I was just a little kid. Ever since technology has grown and has been changing the way art is seen, it has really grabbed my attention. I couldn’t wait to the day that I would have the chance to learn how to make my drawings come to life in a way that I could never have done before. That day has come and art for me has never been the same.
School - I started out as a kid with a dream, to an artist looking for work while finishing out my last 2 years at the Art Institute to get my BFA Degree in Game Art and Design. I have gone to a few different schools to build my experience up for the industry and have found that there is so much more to art then just an idea. I started out at Shoreline Community College taking some Engineering and Architecture classes. Then I got a 2 year degree at (PCDI) Professional Career Development Institute (Now known as Ashworth University) in Web and Graphic Design, and then move onto (BC) Bellevue College for a year building my knowledge in 2D animation and storyboards. From there I stepped it up a notch and went to ITT Technical Institute for a year in their Multimedia and Game Design Degree and finally I found my home at the Art Institute working towards me BFA in Game Art and Design. Between the different schools I have put in almost 6 years in and have learned both the technical side and visual side to art.
Work - The first game job that I had was with VMC Game Labs as a Tester and Test Lead. I have the pleasure of testing the XBox 360 console on both the hardware and software side. It was a neat experience since I had the opportunity to work with many different mediums and games titles. I went from VMC to (GPG) Gas Powered Games, where I had the chance to work on one of their newer releases as a QA/ Tester, Supreme Commander. As the project came to an end, my time there was up. I had found myself a new home as a contract employee for (MGS) Microsoft Game Studios through Excell Data. While working at MGS I worked on a ported title from console to PC called Gears of War as a QA/ Tester. The game project came to an end and a 100 days break was required based on a contractor’s agreement, so it was time to move on. I went to work for Sandblast games on a short term contract as a game tester on their new game at the time Destroy All Humans - Path of the Furon. Since finishing up my contract there I have decided to push my career as an artist. I am continuing my education at the Art Institute of Seattle, while doing freelance artwork and side projects to continue developing my skills and build experience in the field.