Vu is a passionate and self-driven Visual Development Artist specializing in designing narrative-driven environments, characters, and props. He has 15 years of experience and a proven track record of delivering mood paintings, cinematic key-arts, backgrounds, and high-quality art assets for games. Some shipped titles include: Out of Time, Redacted, The Callisto Protocol, Empires & Allies, and The Sims: Medieval. He looks forward to collaborating closely with art directors, fellow artists, and cross-disciplinary teams while producing the next hit titles.

You can contact him at vumai128@yahoo.com

E X P E R I E N C E


MARKETING ARTIST August 2025 - January 2026

Manticore Games - San Mateo, CA

  • Worked with marketing managers and specialists to come up with ideas and creatives that promote and drive sales for roguelike game Out of Time.

  • Created key arts, illustrations, and graphic design assets to be used on social media platforms, game streaming services, advertising banners, and other digital marketing campaigns.

  • Art contents and assets were thoughtfully created and optimized to target web, mobile devices, and print.


SENIOR CONCEPT ARTIST April 2021 - March 2025

Striking Distance Studios - San Ramon, CA

  • Supported the art director and production team in establishing visual language, shape language, and tonal direction for upcoming project pitches. This included creating high-vision key arts, paint-overs, and call-out sheets.

  • Designed environment concept arts, characters, and props to guide the 3D, lighting, and FX teams throughout production of The Callisto Protocol and Redacted.

  • Designed art banners for Callisto Protocol: Helix Station, an audio series from the The Callisto Protocol universe.

  • Maintained and organized Miro boards, reference libraries, and production folders to ensure teams were aligned on the latest concepts and visual targets.


SENIOR CONCEPT ARTIST June 2020 - April 2021

Machine Zone (Applovin), Palo Alto, CA

  • Partnered closely with art director, leads, and production to redesign and update the backgrounds and city maps for Final Fantasy XV: New Empire and Final Fantasy XV: War of EOS. These are 2D assets that were repainted with higher level of fidelity; more details, visual interests, and story-telling elements. 

  • Designed buildings and architectures for Final Fantasy XV: New Empire, while staying within the constraints and footprints given by environment artists.


SENIOR MARKETING ARTIST January 2019 - June 2020

Machine Zone (Applovin) - Palo Alto, CA 

  • Worked with marketing art directors and product marketing managers to develop splash arts, key arts, and app store arts for mobile title Crystalborne: Heroes of Fate.

  • Supported cinematic team with matte paintings, mood pieces, and storyboards for video spots. These were delivered to outsourcing managers to be sent out to external vendors to generate CGI commercials.


SENIOR CONCEPT ARTIST August 2015 - October 2018

Disney Interactive - San Jose, CA

  • Helped art director and creative director research and define the look and feel of an unannounced Star Wars game title. Responsibilities include creating style guide, previs artwork, visual targets, and key art.

  • Worked with 3D art leads to create lighting studies by painting over proxy environment models.

  • Participated in regular art reviews, incorporating iterative feedback from art directors and creative leadership. This involved translating Lucasfilm’s feedback from meetings into actionable items for the team, in order keep the art pipeline on brand, and true to the Star Wars universe.


CONCEPT ARTIST June 2014 - August 2015

Zynga - San Francisco, CA

  • Assisted art directors in establishing the visual language of various military factions for mobile title Empires & Allies. This included figuring out color palettes, iconographies, and flags that represent each of the groups in the game.

  • Created concepts of architectures, building upgrades, vehicles, and units. All visual stages of upgrade for these assets had to be designed to fit within the required footprints on the game map.


CONCEPT ARTIST August 2013 - May 2014

Disney Interactive - Palo Alto, CA

  • Illustrated battle scenes for an unannounced Star Wars mobile game title. All arts must be vetted and approved by Lucasfilm’s branding team in order to stay true to the franchise’s universe and timeline.

  • Painted backgrounds and environments to be used as in-game assets. These background paintings were done with the highest level of polish and rendering, as they were intended to appear in the game.


CONCEPT ARTIST March 2011 - July 2013

Kabam - San Francisco, CA

  • Painted backgrounds and mood pieces for various mobile and Facebook games (Global Warfare, Dark District). These arts served as loading screens, and as various banners for the games’ app stores and websites.

  • Designed vehicles, architecture, and props from thumbnail to final renderings. Developed upgrade progressions with visual lineups to communicate their evolution.


CONCEPT ARTIST May 2010 - March 2011

Electronic Arts - Redwood City, CA

  • Designed props, objects, and environments for PC title The Sims: Medieval.

  • Illustrated graphic novel-style cutscenes and narrative sequences, aligning with the lead artist’s inking style for visual consistency.

SHIPPED GAMES

Out of Time, REDACTED, The Callisto Protocol: Final Transmission, The Callisto Protocol, Crystalborne: Heroes of Fate, Final Fantasy XV: War of EOS, Final Fantasy XV: New Empire, Empires & Allies, Dark District, Global Warfare, The Sims: Medieval

E D U C A T I O N

BFA ANIMATION/ILLUSTRATION (August 2003 - May 2010)

San Jose State University - San Jose, CA

P R O F E S S I O N A L  SKILLS

  • Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Maya, Cinema 4D, Unreal Engine

  • Fluency in English & Vietnamese

  • Traditional mediums such as oil, acrylic, and watercolor. Some group shows include:

Delicious (07/05/2018 - 07/27/2018). Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

CA: Landscapes & Still-life (08/16/2019) - 09/23/2019. The Arsenal, San Jose, CA

Tiny & Huge (11/07/2019 - 12/23/2019). Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Urban & Rural (04/22/2021 - 05/17/2021). Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

City Streets (07/16/2023 - 07/24/2023). Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

City Streets (05/02/2024 - 05/20/2024). Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Before the Light Changes (06/07/2025 - 06/29/2025). Parts Peculiar, San Francisco, CA