William Balzer
Game Artist at Fire Hose Games- Claim this Profile
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Topline Score
Bio
Nathan Choi
Working with Bill really makes my job much easier and extremely satisfying. He is the most talented concept artist I've worked with. He has always accomplished all the goals with an out-standing quality and managed to drive his creativity to hit all milestones and deadlines.Besides being a great painter, he´s very open minded to new ideas and strategies and always knows how to act as a team leader.I would not hesitate at any given moment to work with him again.
Hosun Lee
We were fortunate to have an artist as creative and expressive as Bill. On City of Heroes, Bill was the lead who came up with the designs for most of our best-selling costumes, as well as popular characters in the game. His expertise went beyond character design, though, as Bill also provided the art direction for many of the environments in City of Heroes, including most of the new zones within the past year. Bill was always patient with me, helping me to better understand his artistic vision for City of Heroes, and taking the time to give me the guidance and help I needed to find even better ways to visually demonstrate the awesomeness in City of Heroes. As an artist, leader, and team mate, Bill Balzer is truly a paragon.
Nathan Choi
Working with Bill really makes my job much easier and extremely satisfying. He is the most talented concept artist I've worked with. He has always accomplished all the goals with an out-standing quality and managed to drive his creativity to hit all milestones and deadlines.Besides being a great painter, he´s very open minded to new ideas and strategies and always knows how to act as a team leader.I would not hesitate at any given moment to work with him again.
Hosun Lee
We were fortunate to have an artist as creative and expressive as Bill. On City of Heroes, Bill was the lead who came up with the designs for most of our best-selling costumes, as well as popular characters in the game. His expertise went beyond character design, though, as Bill also provided the art direction for many of the environments in City of Heroes, including most of the new zones within the past year. Bill was always patient with me, helping me to better understand his artistic vision for City of Heroes, and taking the time to give me the guidance and help I needed to find even better ways to visually demonstrate the awesomeness in City of Heroes. As an artist, leader, and team mate, Bill Balzer is truly a paragon.
Nathan Choi
Working with Bill really makes my job much easier and extremely satisfying. He is the most talented concept artist I've worked with. He has always accomplished all the goals with an out-standing quality and managed to drive his creativity to hit all milestones and deadlines.Besides being a great painter, he´s very open minded to new ideas and strategies and always knows how to act as a team leader.I would not hesitate at any given moment to work with him again.
Hosun Lee
We were fortunate to have an artist as creative and expressive as Bill. On City of Heroes, Bill was the lead who came up with the designs for most of our best-selling costumes, as well as popular characters in the game. His expertise went beyond character design, though, as Bill also provided the art direction for many of the environments in City of Heroes, including most of the new zones within the past year. Bill was always patient with me, helping me to better understand his artistic vision for City of Heroes, and taking the time to give me the guidance and help I needed to find even better ways to visually demonstrate the awesomeness in City of Heroes. As an artist, leader, and team mate, Bill Balzer is truly a paragon.
Nathan Choi
Working with Bill really makes my job much easier and extremely satisfying. He is the most talented concept artist I've worked with. He has always accomplished all the goals with an out-standing quality and managed to drive his creativity to hit all milestones and deadlines.Besides being a great painter, he´s very open minded to new ideas and strategies and always knows how to act as a team leader.I would not hesitate at any given moment to work with him again.
Hosun Lee
We were fortunate to have an artist as creative and expressive as Bill. On City of Heroes, Bill was the lead who came up with the designs for most of our best-selling costumes, as well as popular characters in the game. His expertise went beyond character design, though, as Bill also provided the art direction for many of the environments in City of Heroes, including most of the new zones within the past year. Bill was always patient with me, helping me to better understand his artistic vision for City of Heroes, and taking the time to give me the guidance and help I needed to find even better ways to visually demonstrate the awesomeness in City of Heroes. As an artist, leader, and team mate, Bill Balzer is truly a paragon.
Experience
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Fire Hose Games
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United States
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Computer Games
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1 - 100 Employee
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Game Artist
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Sep 2017 - Present
*Creating key art and graphic designs templates for pitch decks. *Developing game prototypes. *Creation of UI/ UX mock ups and art assets. *Art Direction and style guide creation. *Visual development art and storyboards. *Creating key art and graphic designs templates for pitch decks. *Developing game prototypes. *Creation of UI/ UX mock ups and art assets. *Art Direction and style guide creation. *Visual development art and storyboards.
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Storm8
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United States
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Computer Games
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1 - 100 Employee
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Lead 2D Artist
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Oct 2016 - Sep 2017
* Establishing the quality bar and insuring other artists were able to achieve their targets.* Creation of promotional images to be used on the iOS App Store.* Designing style guides for outsourcing.*Developing and maintaining 2D pipelines for artists to follow.
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Senior 2D artist
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Jan 2013 - Oct 2016
*Responsible for creating art assets for a variety of games across a wide range of art styles, assets created range from detailed environments for Mystery Crimes, to stylized backgrounds in Diamond Quest!, along with match three puzzle pieces, obstacles, and characters.*Creation of App Store icons and promotional art.*Designing style guides.*Developing pipelines for artists to follow.*Providing feedback and guidance for artists.*Oversight of outsourcing art. Show less
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Paragon Studios
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Computer Games
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1 - 100 Employee
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Senior Artist
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Mar 2011 - Aug 2012
*Responsible for producing concept designs for creatures, characters, environments and props. *Supervising and providing art direction for environment art, 2D assets, character art, animation and VFX on the City of Heroes team.*Oversaw promotional content from the marketing department, mainly videos featuring new zone content, screenshot capturing, and costume creation.*Worked with producers and lead designers to choose upcoming costume packs for the Paragon Market.*Mentoring and guidance for other artists.*Created key/marketing artwork that was used for City of Heroes image branding. Show less
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Concept Artist
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Dec 2008 - Mar 2011
*Created 2D in-game assets including badges, icons, character power-ups and loading screens.*Producing concept art for villain groups, signature structures, buildings, costume sets and creatures.*Co-designed the City of Heroes “Going Rogue” logo.*Creation and implementation of UI designs and assets.*Created Textures used for environmental models and visual effects.
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Contract Artist
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Oct 2005 - Jun 2008
*A small team project where I was responsible for most of the art in-game. *I was responsible for the creation of a wide array of enemies, weapon sets, environments, icons, user interface art that had to be executed rapidly. *A small team project where I was responsible for most of the art in-game. *I was responsible for the creation of a wide array of enemies, weapon sets, environments, icons, user interface art that had to be executed rapidly.
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Education
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1998 - 2002
Savannah College of Art and Design
B.F.A., Sequential Art -
2004 - 2004
School of Visual Arts
3DS Max Continuing Education
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