Rachel K Donnelly
rachelkristinadonnelly@gmail.com
Skills
- Leading lighting design to create a continuous look and vision while keeping scope attainable
- Creation of real-time lighting workflows to support scalability and ease of use with other departments
- Defining staffing needs then supervising, mentoring, and managing team and deliverables
- Workflow documentation and communication of guidelines between team and vendors
Tools
Engines: Unreal Engine, Radiant, Unity
Lighting & Shading: Maya, Mental Ray, Arnold, Renderman, Blender
Post: NukeX, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, Final Cut Pro
Project Management: Perforce, JIRA, Shotgrid, Asana
Experience
Evil Eye Pictures | Senior Lighting Artist| Remote | July 2023 - Present
Senior lighting artist for projects including Fortnite trailers and cinematics.
- Balanced aspects of gameplay, story, and cinematic quality through lighting within Unreal
The Walt Disney Company | Real-time Lighting Supervisor | Remote | October 2021-June 2023
Lead lighting artist for Big City Greens: Virtually Christmas, a holiday special episode on Disney Plus.
- Supervised and mentored a team of lighters to get broadcast quality renders from Unreal
- Developed lighting workflows to support linear story-telling in Unreal
Crystal Dynamics | Lighting Artist | Redwood City, CA | October 2020-September 2021
Cinematic lighting artist for Marvel’s Avengers post launch expansions.
- Melded cinematic with environment lighting for cohesive cutscenes
Infinity Ward | Associate Lighting Artist | San Francisco, CA | May 2019-October 2020
Lighting artist for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, single player, multiplayer, and Warzone.
- Utilized physically based lighting for route finding, enemy visibility, and emotional cues
Fable Studio | Lighting TD | San Francisco, CA | January-April 2019
Lighting TD for Wolves in the Walls - an interactive animated VR short based on the book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.
- Lit characters and environments through the lens of emotional storytelling
Baobab Studios | Lighting Artist | Redwood Shores, CA | April-June 2018
Lighting artist for Crow: The Legend - an animated short experienced as a VR interactive story.
- Used lighting keys to light and establish mood in opening and ending scenes
- Optimized lighting, sets, and timing to be performant in headset
Steel Wool Studios | Lighting Artist | Oakland, CA | August 2016-March 2018
Production artist focused on lighting and effects. Sole lighter for studio, working on a variety of PC and VR projects in Unity including:
- Warhammer Betrayal at Calth game for PC and VR - used government architectural lighting for historic buildings guide in combination with concept art to achieve sense of stylized realism
- Kennedy Space Center, educational 4D exhibit - Mars exploration simulator using NASA reference
- Bounce, a 50-level VR game - utilized Valve renderer for dynamic lighting in forward rendering
Outward Inc. | Internship San Jose, CA | May-August 2016
Production internship within the materials, shading and lighting team for product visualization. Shaded, rendered, and lit over 200 assets which were delivered to clients.
United States Air Force/NSA | Spanish Linguist | San Antonio, TX | 2006-2012
Lead quality controller and head of reporting team. Oversaw production of intelligence reports in fast-paced, high pressure environment. Worked in every mission position including translation and transcription in Spanish. Graduated Airman Leadership School to directly supervise Airmen.
Education
Ex’pression College for Digital Arts | Emeryville, CA | 2013-2016 Bachelor’s of Applied Science in Animation and Visual Effects
Defense Language Institute | Monterey, CA | 2007, 2011 Basic and Intermediate Spanish Certifications
Volunteerism
SF Animal Care and Control | San Francisco, CA | 2018-2019 - Provided care to cats and kittens and support to shelter staff. Assist with adoptions, lost cat searches, and education.
SIGGRAPH | Student Volunteer | Los Angeles, CA | 2015 and 2016
VR Village and Emerging Technologies exhibit assistant. Explained in layman's terms international scientific visual-focused projects. Guided attendees through VR experiences.
Youth Engagement, Advocacy, and Housing - YEAH! | Berkeley, CA | 2012-2017 - Provided overnight support to shelter staff, talked with guests and encouraged a harmonious shelter environment. Served dinner and ensured kitchen cleanliness.