Hi. I'm Mike. I make stuff out of pixels. Sometimes I paint with a Wacom pen, other times I write HTML code. Occasionally I draw cartoons and animate, too. I work as a website designer and front end developer, and I love the process of creative problem solving because it gives me an opportunity to create, invent and imagine.

Illustration and Photography

Illustrated logo design

Illustrated logo design for for The Grass Choppers, a local lawn-care service

Assorted cartoon illustrations

For MIAD coursework, 2002-2006

Bee-Pure Honey: product photography

Product basic product photography

Cartoon illustration

Illustrated cover art for a newsletter

The Go Plate: package concept

Illustrated packaging concept

Brew Magazine cover illustrations

Editorial illustrations for a brewing industry magazine

Logo and Identity Design

NerdDogs

Chosen logo (top) with other initial concepts.

Christine Harris Taylor

Logo design concepts

MediaOne

Logo design concepts for a large format printer and tradeshow display fabricator.

Twelve in a Row

Logo design concepts

Various logo design (2000-2007)

Various logo designs (2000-2007).

3D Graphics and Animation

Animated puzzle globe

Animated video teaser. Modeled in Autodesk Maya with NURBS, rendered in mental ray, animated using driven-key constraints.

Character illustration: The Therminator for IEA Radiators

The Therminator: a mascot character made from the radiator parts produced by client.

Pint glass 3D illustration

A photo-realistic illustration designed for use as an info graphic on internal communications pieces for a local brewer.

SilverLinings server enclosure and cooling system

Recreated the product using Autodesk Maya, for use in animation and marketing materials.

Cartoon for hard drive recycling service

Animated overview showing how to quickly recycle your old hard drive using an online service. Some disassembly required.

Manufacturing process animation

Technical overview of the process of plastic lamination. Autodesk Maya.

Galaxy File promo movie for the endodontic industry

If dentistry makes you cringe, you should skip this one. I really enjoy working with Maya, so, the modeling and animation in this project helped outweigh the 'cringe' factor for me.

Plastic Endo P-Tip Surgical product illustration

Photo-realistic render of prototype products. Ad deadlines don't wait for manufacturing.

Website Design and Development

DataNoMore.com

Designed the logo and overall look and feel of the site; wrote all HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP code; created all Flash animation (delivered as m4v). Built this in Dreamweaver (though I prefer editing code by hand in TextMate). I also integrated the 3rd party checkout service. View site »

StansFootwear.com

Built this site in Wordpress. Created a custom Wordpress theme, wrote all HTML, CSS and PHP. Used jQuery to create the homepage banner rotation. View site »

Cross Creek Partners

Designed the overall look and feel. Wrote all HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript and Flash animation. PHP detects iOS and replaces all Flash content with static JPGs. View site »

Energy Savings Calculator

Flash-based mini-app displays energy savings at various server configurations and power settings. Created graphics, UI and code (ActionScript 2.0)

SilverLinings Website

Designed and coded this product launch site, including interactive Flash videos and technical illustrations, 3D animated intro sequence and JavaScript photo galleries. View site »

KrauseFuneralHomes.com

Created the introduction video. Wrote all HTML, CSS and PHP code. Built the site in ModX, with additional PHP/MySQL code for administration of the obituary records. View site »

SmartFed.com

Collaborative educational site built in Drupal 6. SmartFed.com allowed registered instructors to collaborate and post course content, then test and score students on the course material. Unfortunately the site has been taken offline for reasons unrelated to the business.

Nautical Silks

Designed and developed a Flash-based application allowing users to build a completely customizable product, integrated with Google Checkout, and presented in XHTML/CSS code. View site »

Grasch Foods

Designed and coded this site, including a custom-built CMS for managing daily specials and photo galleries, and server-side iPhone detection for mobile-optimized content and display. View site »

Harmony Outdoor Living

Designed and coded this site, including Flash intro. Built a MySQL product database and CMS for large product collections and related photos, specs and contractor documentation (password protected).

Graphic Design

Website Design & Development • 3D Modeling • Digital Animation •
Logo & Identity Design • Illustration & Graphics • Creative Problem-solving

Web Development

PHP • MySQL • XHTML • CSS • XML • WordPress •
ModX • Drupal • Javascript • jQuery • ActionScript 2 • etc.

Software Expertise

Photoshop • Illustrator • Dreamweaver • TextMate (code editor) •
Autodesk Maya • 3DS Max • Adobe Edge • Flash • etc.