Native to the Italian town of Aversa and based within England’s Reading, Antonio d’Amore infuses Higher Eclectic Ground’s roster of professional, freelance art talent with more than a decade’s worth of multimedia and graphic design experience this month; as a digital artist affiliated to the Network, he’ll now be seen offering a plethora of services in the realms of 2D and 3D design towards the development of independent video games via the same.
Building upon a childhood anchored in the fascination for comic-book, cartoon-fuelled storytelling, the now 37-year old has rendered for himself a career that stands immersed in the creation of illustrations, character designs, assets/props, environments, storyboards as well as animations on a regular, if not daily, basis.
Fluent in the 2D and 3D aspects of both, although admittedly less experienced in the latter, much of this skill-set has been provided towards the production of eLearning applications, serious games, animations, music videos and numerous other small-jobs for various Italian companies on a freelance and full-time basis.
Deciding to fully employ his expertise in the field of video game entertainment in the year of 2016 however, the Italian moved to Reading, United Kingdom where he continues to further a career in game design. Operating as a remote freelancer therein, d’Amore prides himself in being able to carry out tasks in both digital and traditional pen/pencil based media as need be.
Much of his digital workflow is based in the use of Adobe’s Creative Suite; ‘A confident user of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate CC/Flash, After Effects and Premiere, I can start tasks in Photoshop, finish them off on Animate CC, or just the opposite — it depends of the kind of job.’ he states in the case of 2D media.
‘I mostly use Photoshop for drafts, digital illustrations and for retouching/compositing. Animate CC on the other hand plays various roles — from character designs, environments, props and sprite sheets, (both cutout and frame by frame), to multimedia designs, user interface designs and animations.‘
With Illustrator used for vector art forms, d’Amore is further working on integrating Spine 2D into his pipeline for sprite animations. 3D Modelling meanwhile bases itself in his use of Autodesk Maya or Cinema 4D, the latter of which is also employed in motion design.
Furthermore while associated textures have involved the use of Adobe CS, he’s gradually begun transitioning towards the use of Substance Painter/Designer for the same. And as if that simply wasn’t enough, he continues to work on building a familiarity with the Unity and Unreal Engines while being an enthusiastic ZBrush user.
‘All my rates are flexible, negotiable and subject to project size; revenue share agreements are also considered depending on a project’s goals and likelihood of being finished in the near future.’ declares d’Amore. A team-player by nature, he naturally seeks to incorporate periodic checks, discussions and exchanges of feedback with his clients during the tenure of an assigned job.
Post attaining a degree in Multimedia and Graphic Design at the Consorzio Editoriale Fridericiana in 2000, followed by a study in Illustration & Animation at the Scuola Italiana di Comix in Naples thereafter, d’Amore moved to the city of Rome to employ his newfound qualifications up until 2016 — following a brief period of employment at Aversa based communication agency, Mau.
‘I was so lucky to work at Mau; the owners are some of the most creative people I’ve ever met and I learned a lot from them.’ he recalls.
While in Rome, d’Amore would go on to work at establishments such as that of Pragma (Multimedia Designer & Flash Animator, 2006), XCorsi, StaffMedia, Pubbliedi (Illustrator & Flash Animator, 2007-2008), Biogroup (Illustrator, Character Designer, 2D Animator, 3D modeller and Animator, 2008-2009) and Media Engineering (Senior Designer & Art Director, 2009-2016), even nurturing a freelance career in the years between 2002 and 2005.
‘I’ve truly dedicated myself to my passion for everything related to visual communication; I love to tell stories, aiming to immerse people in them by making them interactive and emotionally-driven through my designs.’ he writes.
While his year in Reading has already involved a brief stint at Nomad Games as a beta-tester and a quick yet intense period at UrbanVoyage as a 2D artist, d’Amore is also currently involved in the re-styling of Android poker game JokerManiac, and the development Italian upcoming casual/puzzle/platformer Tiro al Rosone.
As the artist now looks to documenting his progress with regards to both on his sub-forum on Higher Eclectic Ground, clients, enthusiasts and independent developers of games wishing to reach out to d’Amore with their feedback, job/commission requests and other queries may do so by creating a thread within the same forum.
An in-depth look at his professional services, portfolio of work and relevant references meanwhile, will continue to remain documented on his Higher Eclectic Space.
