Stephen Whalen

WhalenIllustration

Orange, CA, USA

Work Experience

Skechers

Senior Graphic Designer

• Create marketing designs across all divisions for global print and digital roll outs
• Produce Ads for major publications like the New York Times
• Create Window display designs for flagship stores in locations like Times Square NYC and Rome Italy
• Work with art Director and Media Mangers to produce updated packaging designs for kids, mens and women's shoes
July 2019 - September 2020 Manhattan Beach, California, United States

Aluminati Skateboards

Art Director

• Plan and execute multiple products including seasonal offerings, seasonal license Lines, and custom boards
• Organize the department creating standard project guidelines, templates & a file archiving system
• Communicate with Marketing team to organize yearly campaigns, photo-shoots, and all advertising assets from giveaways to digital campaigns
• Develop web stores tailored to our target market buying habits and the industry trends
• Meet with collaborators and vendors in order to create product bundles
• Redesign the brand identity to better suit a B2C online strategy that increased sales
• Managed other artists in order to complete seasonal product launches
• Research trends for future products, designs for boards, apparel ideas, marketing pushes, and a successful web store
• Create or direct any and all art for the company as well assist with 3 other related family businesses
• Pitched board designs, collaboration capsules, apparel designs, and accessory offerings
April 2017 - April 2019 Corona, California, United States

Freelance Graphic Designer

Graphic Designer

Created print & digital assets on a project by project basis for the following companies.
• Terris Barnes Walters
• Charlotte Russe
• Pinterest
• Google
• TaylorMade-Adidas Golf
• WSS / Eurostar, Inc
January 2015 - April 2017 California, United States

DC Shoes

Print Production Artist

- Create apparel linebooks for the US and international regions that DC shoes has a market presence.
- Assemble the linebooks using the layout templates from the Design department, beauty shots from the photo studio, as wells as CAD illustrations and product text from the Marketing department.
- Manage all of the digital assets to ensure that the project files are organized on the company server for other departments to access.
- Make all corrections and updates to the text and images a requested by the different merchandisers for each region
- Create final print ready files for press as well as a web compressed versions to be uploaded to Zmags or sent in email.
November 2011 - Present Huntington Beach, California, United States

Quiksilver

Print Production Artist, Graphic Designer

- Create POP designs for in-store displays as well as vinyl window clings, working within the design guidelines determined by the art directors for each different campaign as well as ensure the images are properly set up for output on large format printers.
- Arrange sections of the season’s catalogs using the new design templates, insert product information and images, review blue line proofs for changes, and make corrections, perform pre-press on the final set of files before uploading them to the printer’s server, and manage the assets and ensure they are archived properly on the servers.
- Set up the HR Manual for web viewing using the company’s Zmags account. Add navigation tabs and manage links.
- Design variouse posters for internal company events, specifically a T-shirt, Poster and Banner for their 2012 Earthday Event.
April 2011 - November 2011 Huntington Beach, California, United States

Happy Hour Card

Character Designer, Illustrator, Print Designer

- Created a new mascot character for the company, as well as five different versions in various costumes.
- Designed a media kit using my mascot and background illustrations. The Media Kit consisted of two different mailing envelopes, a folder, a trifold brochure, a poster and a 4 page pamphlet for mailing to clients.
- Worked directly with the Owner and Marketing Manager to coordinate all deadliness and revisions.
May 2011 - May 2011 Costa Mesa, California, United States

Education

Laguna College Of Art And Design

BFA in Illustration

September 2002 - May 2006 Laguna Beach, California, United States

Skills

Acrylic Painting, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Cartooning , Graphic Design, Illustration, Mac OSX, Motion Design, Oil Painting, Photo Manipulation, Print Production, Vector Traceing, Watercolor Painting, WordPress,