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Damiano De Cataldo

Lead 3D Vehicle Artist

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About me

A little bit about myself and my journey in the amazing world of videogames:
I live in Barcelona, Spain and I’m currently working at Gameplay Galaxy as Art Director.
Throughout my career, I have evolved from an Artist to a Team Leader and now to an Art Director, constantly expanding my skill set to meet the dynamic demands of the game industry.
I learned all the necessary skills to deliver my work successfully and with great quality.
My journey at Gameloft was a testament to this growth, where my dedication and passion for art and technology led me to successfully lead the vehicle art team for one of the company's flagship IPs, Asphalt9 and Disney Speedstom.
In this role, I not only honed my artistic vision but also developed robust leadership and project management skills, overseeing a diverse team of talented artists.
The transition to Art Director at Gameplay Galaxy marked a significant step in my professional development. In this role, I undertook the challenging task of restructuring the entire art department, encompassing Concept art team, 3D Character team, 3D Environment team, UI/UX team, VFX, Marketing Art, Tech Art, Animation and 3D Vehicle Art teams.
My technical expertise as a 3D artist enabled me to go beyond traditional art direction. I actively participated in technical decision-making processes, contributing to both the aesthetic and functional aspects of game features, ensuring an optimal blend of visual appeal and gameplay functionality.
One of my notable accomplishments in this role was hiring the right new talents and direct them, which significantly enhanced the game's visual quality and user experience, contributing to its commercial success.

Softwares

Autodesk Maya

3D Studio Max

Mudbox

zBrush

Autodesk Alias

 

Marmoset

Keyshot

Unreal Engine 4

Unity 5

 

Substance suite

Quixel DDo

Xnormal

Mari

Photoshop

 

Nuke

Adobe Premiere

Adobe After Effects

Matchmover

 

Work experience
Gameplay Galaxy - Art Director

Full Remote     May 2023 – current position

2010 - present

Restructuring the entire art department, encompassing Concept art team, 3D Character team, 3D Environment team, UI/UX team, VFX, Marketing Art, Tech Art, Animation and 3D Vehicle Art teams.

Improved all workflows and empowered team members to suggest ideas and solutions to share and discuss on.

Decisions and Direction ownership, concepts creation, feature suggestion and direction.

Gameloft - Lead Vehicle Artist

Barcelona, Spain     September 2018 – May 2023

Leading the vehicle team group, composed by 3 artists plus me. Responsable for production planning on all its aspects, from internal models production to oursourcing, licensing and comunication between internal teams (programming, 2D, prodcution)

Gameloft - Principal Vehicle Artist

Barcelona, Spain     January 2018 – August 2018

Managing the vehicle team group. Outsourcing and licensing responsabilities.

Responsable for models quality and functionality in the game.

 

Gameloft - Vehicle Artist

Barcelona, Spain     June 2014 – December 2016

Modeling and texturing vehicle for Asphalt 8, the racing videogame for mobile phones. 

 

Milestone - Vehicle Artist

Milano, Italy     Mar 2013 – Jun 2014

All things needed to create a veichle and make it works inside the game.

Projects:
- MotoGP
- WRC 4
- MXGP

Maga Animation Studio - Junior TD

​Monza, Italy     Jul 2012 – Dec 2012

Maya modeling and rigging, cloth and particles dynamics, comp with Nuke and After effects.
- TV series: "Acqua in Bocca" (modeling and rigging)
- Short movie "Birgale" (Lighitng, dynamics)
- Music clip "La paura" by Gran Tursimo Veloce. (Match moving and compositing with Nuke)
- App Game "Gormiti" (3D model optimization for mobile and rigging)
- Advertising for "Italo treno" (Modeling)

Spadaconcept - Lead 3D modeler, Designer

​Torino, Italy     Jan 2010 – May 2012

Design for car industry adn Surface modeling with Alias Surface Studio
- E mobility project (Xenova Terryman)
- Codatronca (Modeling and refine of the current car model)
- Codatronca Barchetta (Modeling of the new car and design of mechanical parts with Ercole Spada)

Alstom - Junior Designer

​Paris, France     Sep 2009 – Nov 2009

Styling and design of new concepts for railway transportation.
- Livery design for High Speed train
- Styling and design for a new railway transport (Project insert in the "presentation book" for Niece

F&F studio - Junior Designer, CAS modeler

Torino, Italy     Jan 2009 – Aug 2009

Design, styling and modeling for transportation concepts such as cars and boats.

Skills

Team Leading

Problem solving

Modeling

Drawing

Vehicle design

UVs

Texturing

Python programming

 

Languages

Italian (mother tongue)

English

Spanish

French

Catalan

Artists I like

Fabiano Di Liso

Lead 3D artist

Mauro Fanelli

Conept artist

2010 - present

Pininfarina - 3D CAS modeler

Cambiano, Italy     Aug 2008 – Oct 2008

3D Surface modeler with Alias Automotive Studio.
- Project B0, the electric car between Pininfarina and Bollorè.

Education
Virtual Reality And Multimedia Park

​Torino, Italy     Sep 2010 – Jun 2012

VFX oriented school.
Maya, Nuke, Mudbox for movie production.
Modeling, rigging and dynamics, compositing and After FX.

Istituto Europeo Di Design (IED)

​Torino, Italy     Sep 2006 – Jun 2009

Diploma in CAR DESIGN. 3 years studying concept design for transportation and automotive. Thesis Project done with Aston Martin.

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