Daniel Rutkowski

About Daniel Rutkowski

With over 20 years of experience working within the 3D design community, I’ve worked to design, recruit, and manage the skillsets of talented teams creating imaginative experiences that support brand stories through live-marketing, and have a wide breadth of design capabilities that include live-event and tradeshow design, exhibit and museum development, and developed of interactive storytelling engagements and games using Unreal Engine 4. Working professionally in design, as well as stepping in to act as an interactive developer on projects requiring unique interactive engagements, has offered a massive variety of work with diverse companies ranging from Microsoft, Sony, Google, FIAT, NVidia, T-Mobile, Warner Brothers and Mazda. The goal has always been to create memorable moments that increased revenue and brand visibility for each client, and ensure measurable ROI through clever, unique design. It has also led to adding new clientele worth a combined value of over 14 million dollars for companies I\'ve been fortunate enough to contribute and manage design teams for. This was in part due to early exploration of integrating real-time rendering engines as a process improvement to the team of roughly eight direct-reports while acting as Creative Director. The introduction of both Maya and Unreal Engine has enhanced ideation, concept development, integration with internal teams including engineering and marketing, and offered the design team a new tool-set for enhanced workflows delivering revisions in significantly shorter time frames with more vivid results. Prototyping new methods of using emerging presentation methods including VR and AR to tell stories and better illustrate concepts to clients in an understandable, human method as well. I was also honored to act as Design Manager for the Milwaukee office for ASTOUND, tasked with building a talented creative crew for the live-events-focused group. Finally, I\'ve been heavily involved with developing an entrepreneurial venture, founding a game development studio for Milwaukee\'s creative landscape. The creation of the studio has led to participating in MKE Tech Hub\'s Fall 2020 incubator program, helping to ensure the studio becomes a viable venture, with titles releasing in 2021, and 2022. These initial game titles are being developed with a small team of talented designers from the Milwaukee area, working to create a premier experience focused on amazing, engaging storytelling and a signature style, with the intent of supporting the local creative community with opportunities.

Experience

1. Founder Owner

   Sirenum Digital Llc

   Aug 2010 — Present

   Founded and led development for Sirenum Digital LLC, an ID@XBOX participant studio, dedicated to delivering memorable storytelling game experiences with unique visual styles.• Guided the creation of two titles over 7 years, engaging in various aspects of development such as level design, character development, concept art, story writing, technical art, creative management, and cloud integration.• Ventured into entrepreneurship, gaining substantial experience in project management, fundraising, design strategy, and the creation of a premier interactive development studio in Milwaukee.• The studio aims to support local creative talent, bringing Milwaukee-made gaming titles to the wider audience, and offering contract work for local creatives.• Led the studio through the Milwaukee Tech Hub\'s Fall incubator program \"FOR-M,\" building business development and project management skills, and documenting the framework for building a successful studio focused on audience engagement.• Developed comprehensive marketing and social media engagement strategies to promote the studio and its projects.• Preparing for engagement with publishers and investment groups for funding and showcasing vertical slices of the expected game experiences.

Education

• Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

  Bachelor of Fine Arts

  2001 — 2005

• Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

  2001 — 2005

Skills

• Concept Generation
• 3d
• Illustration
• Sketching
• Rapid Prototyping
• Industrial Design
• Computer Animation
• Exhibit Design
• Concept Development
• Illustrator
• Sketchbook Pro
• 3d Studio Max
• Maya
• Design Strategy
• Drawing
• 3d Rendering
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Solidworks
• Model Making
• Experience Design
• Graphics
• Packaging
• User Experience
• Mudbox
• Interaction Design
• Product Design
• Design Thinking
• After Effects
• Motion Graphics
• Photoshop
• Concept Design
• Rendering
• 3d Modeling
• Autodesk Maya
• Creative Direction
• User-Centered Design
• Autodesk Mudbox
• Zbrush
• Design Management
• Graphic Design