Art & Design Student/Faculty Collaboration Inquiry

[jkunz]

Dear BYU CocoaHeads,

I am brand new to this group so I’ll introduce myself briefly. I’m a
new Assistant Professor of Illustration in the Department of Visual
Arts. Up until this year, I worked in the game development industry
for over a decade, most recently as a Senior 3D Artist on the World of
Warcraft team at Blizzard Entertainment. It was a great experience,
but BYU is one of the few places I would rather be.

In the game development world I’m primarily a Concept and Texture
Artist, but I also do some 3D modeling and animation. For example, I
created most of the non-procedural skies and a large proportion of the
new terrain textures in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and
Cataclysm. I also worked on the upcoming expansion, Mists of Pandaria.

Now that I’m here at BYU, I'm interested in collaborating with
students and faculty on creative projects including iOS apps. I have
never worked on a mobile app before, but I recently created a proposal
that has received tentative seed funding in the form of an exploratory
grant––pending a few questions we still need to answer. The idea is
essentially an intuitive, game-like course in practical Color Theory
for iPad, iPhone, and possibly web. It’s intended for Art & Design
students, but it would also be useful for professionals and hobbyists
working in a variety of creative disciplines––basically anyone who
wants to learn more about color in a kinesthetic, interactive way.

So I need to start assembling a team, brainstorming together, and
developing a project plan and a tech demo. The team needs student iOS
engineers not just for coding, but also for input regarding design,
user experience, and other content. You would be an integral part of
the team.

What’s in it for you? If you have any interest in color theory, the
physics of light, educational games, or collaborating with Art &
Design students, this might be a project you could participate in for
both pay and college credit (through a faculty mentorship). How much
pay? I don’t know yet, but I believe the better our tech demo is, the
more funding we can get. In other words, this isn’t a job posting––at
least not yet. I’m just trying to gauge interest.

I can tell you more about it if you would like. I can even send you my
project proposal. I plan to attend the CocoaHeads meeting tonight, so
maybe some of us can meet up there. If you would rather contact me, I
would be happy to meet with you sometime to discuss the project. Heck,
I’ll even buy you lunch if you want to sit down and talk it over. My
email address is mail [at] justinkunz [dot] com. You can see some of
my paintings at www.justinkunz.com (caution––site is in need of a
major overhaul!), and some of my WoW concept artwork is posted at the
following links:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/artwork/wow-mop?keywords=&view#/wowx4-artwork-03
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/artwork/wow-mop?keywords=&view#/wowx4-artwork-04
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/artwork/wow-mop?keywords=&view#/wowx4-artwork-05
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/artwork/wow-mop?keywords=&view#/wowx4-artwork-06
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/media/artwork/wow-mop?keywords=&view#/wowx4-artwork-33

Also, if you like "analog" (a.k.a. traditional) art, you can see some
of my oil paintings currently on exhibit at the Springville Museum of
Art, the Church Museum of History and Art, and Waterhouse Gallery in
Santa Barbara, California. The DVA will be hanging a few of my pieces
in the office on the 5th floor of the HFAC next week, so feel free to
stop by sometime when you get a chance. My office is F-523.

Thank you,

Justin Kunz