Stefan has always been fascinated by the intersection of technology and art. As a musician all his life much of his youth was spent in the proto modular world of guitar pedals and experimentation with “what if I plug this in here???” When he moved to the Bay area after getting an BA of Fine Art at Fresno State in 1989, he found himself well poised to take that experimental curiosity in the newly emerging world of Computer Graphics.
This led him to join the video game industry just as the dawn of Realtime 3D gaming was emerging on consoles like the 3DO and PlayStation 1. After 10 years working in many roles in the industry, he co-founded Liquid Development one of the first art production studios specifically formed to meet the content needs of the exploding video gaming industry. Liquid Development today is one of the most respected studios in the industry with credits including Halo 4-5-Infinite, the Borderlands series, Doom, Beatles Rock Band, Guitar Hero 2, Dragon Age, Batman Arkham Series, Fallout 3, Forza Horizons Series and many more.
Adding programming to his skill set, Stefan is now working on applying the fantastic ability of game engine technology to artistic purpose. Creating artistic experiences merging Sound, Animation, and Viewer Interaction. The DynaMandala, his first publicly exhibited project, premiered at the CETI Labs Constellation 2023 event. It is a Visual Modular synthesizer utilizing a custom midi controller created by CETI partners that allow visitors to Play the Art, and in fact “complete it” with their input.
Throughout his career, Stefan has always been excited to share his knowledge and enthusiasm for this emerging medium. Having spoken at the annual Game Developers Conference many times, Stefan is now remote professor teaching Intro to Game Development class at Columbia University Chicago. Teaching is an important way that Stefan increases his own understanding while helping artists to demystify the tech and enjoy the fantastic possibilities of Game Engine tech such as the Unreal Engine. He looks forward to continuing this effort at the CETI Lab.
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