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Animation and Visual Effects Artist
Matthew R.

5.0 (337 ratings)

1,216 hours tutoring

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Hourly Rate: $45
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About Matthew

Bio

I have worked as an adjunct professor at Drexel University for four years. I primarily teach introductory and advanced modeling, texturing, and rendering in Autodesk Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter. At Drexel I also occasionally teach compositing for film using the Foundry's Nuke. If you want a structured lesson plan, or just some casual freeform help, I'd be happy to help.

Starting as a media intern in Seacrest Studios at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia I learned how great it...

I have worked as an adjunct professor at Drexel University for four years. I primarily teach introductory and advanced modeling, texturing, and rendering in Autodesk Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter. At Drexel I also occasionally teach compositing for film using the Foundry's Nuke. If you want a structured lesson plan, or just some casual freeform help, I'd be happy to help.

Starting as a media intern in Seacrest Studios at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia I learned how great it can be to be part of a multifaceted and diverse media team, and my education at Drexel University gave me the skills to excel at my craft and create the best possible final product. I have learned from industry professionals like former Industrial Light and Magic visual effects supervisor for Men In Black, The Mummy(1999), and I, Robot John Andrew Berton Jr. and, former Nickelodeon and Weta employee Jeremy Fernsler. I'm an expert with much of the Adobe Suite, using it to edit, composite, illustrate, create CG textures, and animate in both 2D and 3D. Autodesk Maya stands as my 3D animation program of choice. I have spent thousands of hours learning the ins and outs of simulation systems, animating, modeling, rigging, and rendering from Maya in multiple engines including Redshift, Renderman, Vray, and Arnold. I'm also experienced modeling and sculpting in Modo and ZBrush. Nuke has been my compositing program of choice for over five years, and I am familiar using its 2D and 3D systems, as well as combining CG elements with live action footage. Then when all is said and done I prefer to color correct and edit in DaVinci Resolve.

I'm also a hobbyist with using Houdini, and on the production I worked on most recently I got a lot of experience compositing using Blackmagic's Fusion. The production was a 25 minute long 3D animated children's TV pilot, which I co-managed.

I can do almost anything with a digital image.

Contact me with anything no matter how simple or complicated. I'm friendly and I'm great with music too.

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Education

Drexel University
Animation and Visual Effects

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Approved Subjects

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

As an animation and visual effects artist I've used Photoshop for compositing, as well as editing photography, and of course for texture painting, layout, and the creation of 2D assets for animation and games. I'm also a traditionally trained artist and illustrator and have brought those skills into Photoshop for digital sketching and painting.
Animation

Animation

As a media intern in Seacrest Studios at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia I learned how great it can be to be part of a multifaceted and diverse media team, and my education at Drexel University gave me the skills to excel at my craft and create the best possible final product. I have learned from industry professionals like former Industrial Light and Magic visual effects supervisor for Men In Black, The Mummy(1999), and I, Robot John Andrew Berton Jr. and, former Nickelodeon employee Jeremy Fernsler. During this time the Adobe Suite became like a second language to me as I used it to edit, composite, illustrate, create CG textures, and animate in both its 2D and 3D systems. Autodesk Maya stands as my 3D animation program of choice. I have spent thousands of hours learning the ins and outs of simulation systems, animating, modeling, rigging, and rendering from Maya in multiple engines including Renderman, Vray, Mental Ray, and Arnold. Though I prefer to model in Modo and ZBrush. Nuke has been my compositing program of choice for over three years, and I am familiar using its 2D and 3D systems, as well as combining CG elements with live action footage. Then when all is said and done I prefer to color correct in DaVinci Resolve and edit in Adobe Premiere.
Autodesk Maya

Autodesk Maya

I have been working as an adjunct professor at Drexel University teaching 3D modeling, texturing, and rendering in Maya for 3 years now. I have been modeling, animating, rigging, lighting, and building shaders in Autodesk Maya for over 7 years. At Drexel University it was the core piece of software used in the animation program, and nearly all of our work was done in it. I have experience simulating particles, fluids, and hair in Maya. I am experienced in building custom shaders and procedural creation of environments. I, along with the rest of the Lobsters are Weird team, have created a short film in Maya, Honu, which was shown in film festivals in the U.S. and Romania. I am also experienced rendering in several engines including Arnold, Renderman, Vray, and Mental Ray. I have used the program professionally to make models and animations for the game Onsen Master developed by Waking Oni Games. I've made models and textures, as well as cloth and particle simulations for an upcoming documentary. For my product design and orthodontist clients, I've made fluid simulations, compound rigs, and all sorts of animations, production for which have included building complex shaders and ultra HD stereoscopic rendering. At this point I have spent thousands of hours using the program in a full production pipeline. I also have experience using it in unison with Houdini, ZBrush, Mudbox, and Nuke.
Drawing

Drawing

As an animator I need to know the proportions and anatomy of the human body as well as animals, and how to translate them technical drawings and cartoons. I have been drawing for over 10 years and have taken courses in high school, then at Drexel University in technical drawing techniques. I have taken university level figure drawing, objects drawing, design, and comic book drawing courses. Now as a professional I have created a television show at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia teaching children how to draw, as well as creating designs and logos for bands in the Philadelphia area. I also did the majority of the concept drawings for my short film, which is now in film festivals internationally.
Film

Film

While my degree has caused me to specialize in post production, I'm quite adept at all aspects of film making. I am currently Director of Photography on a web series called Worlds Apart. I do the majority of filming for the web series, and decide things like shot angles, lenses, and what method should be used for filming. I also have my own short film Honu currently touring in film festivals internationally. I have written several screenplays including one that would become a half hour short film. I have also gained thousands of hours of studio experience both producing television for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and for my own visual effects shoots. I have edited things professionally such as video interviews for Executive Leaders Radio, which broadcasts nationally. I have also taken courses at Drexel University in color grading, and audio post production which I apply professionally on the Worlds Apart web series. While at the Drexel I also spent hundreds of hours studying films as part of various courses, involving writing several academic papers on film. In general I have viewed thousands of films giving myself a large library to pull inspiration from.
Graphic Design

Graphic Design

At Drexel University I excelled in several graphic design courses including typography, and web design. Then as a professional I have made logos and layouts for bands, as well as corporate motion graphics, and logos for the TV station Galaxy 51 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I have also taken courses in color theory which I apply to every animation project that I do as a professionally animation and visual effects artist. I also partly designed the branding for my short film.
Music History

Music History

As a DJ and Music Librarian at WKDU Philadelphia I have immersed myself in tens of thousands of albums in order to make the best show possible. From doing this I have gained a near encyclopedic knowledge of Punk, Classic Rock, Jazz, Ska, Reggae, Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, and more. I have also taken music history courses at Drexel University with a focus primarily on music of the 20th century. I have read several scholastic text books on the history of the art, people, and landmark music of my favorite genres. Besides that I consume music documentaries on a near constant basis, with all of this giving me a wide variety of source material to pull from.
Painting

Painting

While my professional career has led me towards the path of digital painting, in particular realistic digital matte paintings for film, putting brush to canvas has always been a passion of mine. I have been painting for over 10 years and really honed the majority of my skills in high school where I was enrolled in my school's AP art program due to my painting prowess. In the past I started my own charity where I painted murals in local communities, which included two on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, and one 12x20 foot mural in Edgarton Christian Academy in Newfield, NJ. I have also had my work featured in local art galleries. I am experienced in a wide variety of techniques and mediums. While I most often paint in either oils or acrylics, I am also experienced in tempera, watercolors, pastels, ink, as well as mixed medium. I have done realistic renderings, as well as garish and wild graphic pieces.
Photography

Photography

I am currently Director of Photography on the Worlds Apart web series. While getting my Bachelor of Science in Animation and Visual Effects at Drexel University I took photography and photo editing courses. I have often been the "witness camera," taking pictures professionally for visual effects shoots. I have also been a photographer for Seacrest Studios, a television studio within the Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia. I have experience taking photos and videos with a variety of cameras, most often DSLR's made by Nikon or Canon. I have experience with film and digital cameras. Photography has also been a hobby of mine since I was only eight years old.
Video Production

Video Production

While my degree has caused me to specialize in post production, I'm quite adept at all aspects of film making. I am currently Director of Photography on a web series called Worlds Apart. I do the majority of filming for the web series, and decide things like shot angles, lenses, and what method should be used for filming. I also have my own short film currently touring in film festivals internationally. I have also gained thousands of hours of studio experience both producing television for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and for my own visual effects shoots. I have edited things professionally such as video interviews for Executive Leaders Radio, which broadcasts nationally. I have also taken courses at Drexel University in color grading, and audio post production which I apply professionally on the Worlds Apart web series.
Adobe Illustrator
Algebra 1
Algebra 2
Matthew R.'s Photo

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Ratings and Reviews

Rating

5.0 (337 ratings)
5 star
(330)
4 star
(6)
3 star
(0)
2 star
(1)
1 star
(0)

Reviews

Autodesk Maya

Matthew is very knowledgeable about maneuvering in Maya and was very helpful in removing much of the mystery of the software. He was very patient and able to explain away my mistakes

Mark, 2 lessons with Matthew

Super helpful

Told me to not give up even if I feel useless using auto desk maya. And to keep going no matter what. It really was helpful having him explain it to me and being patient.

Jonathan , 1 lesson with Matthew

Great response time

Very helpful and detailed. He knows Maya inside out. Highly recommended. Super responsive. Great tutor. Recommend him for sure. Super helpful. He is very good

Mike, 7 lessons with Matthew

Very helpful!

Now I have tangible and practical info that I can put to use right away so I’m that much closer to editing and uploading my first YouTube video.

Alex, 2 lessons with Matthew

Knowledgeable and patient

Matthew is very responsive and listens keenly to ideas and provides solutions. I’ve worked with him more than once and he has impressed me everytime. I will continue to work with him

Yolande, 9 lessons with Matthew

Great Editing Tutor

I am starting to learn video editing. We met for an hour the first time. Mathew walked me through some of the basics. He was patient and knew his stuff. Definitely give him a call.

Ben, 1 lesson with Matthew

Totally helpful

So glad I found Matthew on Wyzant. Not only did he completely solve the problem I was having tracking a mask on Davinci Fusion. He gave me a better understanding of the issue I was having so that in similar kinds of compositions, I won't run into these kinds of alpha channel issues. Really knowledgeable guy.

Andrew Michael, 1 lesson with Matthew

Inspirational teacher!

His guidance is detailed, clear and illustrative. It is really helpful for anyone who wants to pursue drawing as a career. I want my daughter to learn with him more!

Savvy, 4 lessons with Matthew

My Daughter Wants to Continue Her Lesson Regularly

I would like to introduce my daughter to digital art as she likes drawing. Matt suggested us to have Photoshop. First i don't think she is gonna like it as one time she was introduced to it and she seemed not interested. I was surprise she seemed excited to continue the lesson after she had the first lesson with Matt. I believe the way you taught something affects the decision weather somebody willing to pursue the lesson or not.

Ayi, 23 lessons with Matthew

Helpful, patient, knowledgeable, experienced

I downloaded a Turbosquid Maya Model and needed help integrating it with another one. Matthew showed me how to edit meshes, pose models, alter animations, set up rendering environment, and export video.

Robb, 2 lessons with Matthew
Hourly Rate: $45
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