I'm an animation, illustration and design specialist with a robust professional background. I craft expressive visuals across animation, illustration and design projects, from concept to production, and I value clear communication and teamwork to deliver high-quality results. I thrive in collaborative environments and enjoy bringing complex ideas to life through compelling visuals. I bring a disciplined work ethic, strong organizational skills, and hands-on experience with Unity, Maya, Toon Boom Harmony, and the Adobe Creative Suite to every project, from independent graphic novels to game development and QA workflows.…

Mel Allen

I'm an animation, illustration and design specialist with a robust professional background. I craft expressive visuals across animation, illustration and design projects, from concept to production, and I value clear communication and teamwork to deliver high-quality results. I thrive in collaborative environments and enjoy bringing complex ideas to life through compelling visuals. I bring a disciplined work ethic, strong organizational skills, and hands-on experience with Unity, Maya, Toon Boom Harmony, and the Adobe Creative Suite to every project, from independent graphic novels to game development and QA workflows.…

Available to hire

I’m an animation, illustration and design specialist with a robust professional background. I craft expressive visuals across animation, illustration and design projects, from concept to production, and I value clear communication and teamwork to deliver high-quality results. I thrive in collaborative environments and enjoy bringing complex ideas to life through compelling visuals.

I bring a disciplined work ethic, strong organizational skills, and hands-on experience with Unity, Maya, Toon Boom Harmony, and the Adobe Creative Suite to every project, from independent graphic novels to game development and QA workflows.

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Skills

Experience Level

Work Experience

Illustrator/Comic Book Creator at Self Employed
January 1, 2017 - Present
Currently creating, crowdfunding and distributing a science fiction graphic novel - https://igg.me/at/NSV1. In pre-production on a mobile gaming project using Unity, ToonBoom Harmony, Photoshop and After Effects.
Capture Artist & Director In-Training (Freelance) at Dark Burn Creative/Trailer Park
January 1, 2024 - Present
Creating memorable gameplay moments using Dark Burn Creative's proprietary technology.
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at Glu Mobile
January 1, 2017 - October 1, 2025
Governing the testing of new weekly content releases; logging and tracking errors using Jira. Handling test case management in Testrail. Set up simulations using SQL and Python. Utilized programs such as Charles, MongoVue, SumoLogic and Splunk to investigate and help solve user reported errors.
Junior Animator/Test Engineer (Call of Duty: Black Ops2) at Activision/Treyarch
January 1, 2012 - October 1, 2025
Executed Main Menu character animation in Maya. Polished motion capture animation in Motion Builder. Direction of Mo-Cap actors for incidental scenes at the dedicated Activision Mo-Cap studio. Captured game footage video to pinpoint corrections needed in character animation. Governed export of animation data to the game. Organized and compiled a helpful vignette library for animation assets.
Animator and Character Designer at Atomic3d.com
January 1, 2003 - October 1, 2025
Animated characters using Atomic3d's in-house software, Atomic3d Animator. Created character designs and helped developed the first streaming 3D shows on the internet.
Illustrator/Comic Book Creator at Self Employed
January 1, 2017 - Present
Currently creating, crowdfunding and distributing a science fiction graphic novel via crowdfunding campaign (https://igg.me/at/NSV1). In pre-production on a mobile gaming project using Unity, Toon Boom Harmony, Photoshop and After Effects; responsibilities include concept art, layout design, sequential storytelling and preparing assets for production and distribution.
Capture Artist & Director In-Training (Freelance) at Dark Burn Creative/Trailer Park
January 1, 2024 - Present
Creating memorable gameplay moments using Dark Burn Creative's proprietary technology; capturing a wide range of game genres and platforms including MMOs, shooters, consoles, PC, mobile and VR.
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at Glu Mobile
January 1, 2017 - October 1, 2025
Governing the testing of new weekly content releases; logging and tracking errors using Jira; handling test case management in Testrail; setting up simulations using SQL and Python; utilizing tools such as Charles, MongoVue, SumoLogic and Splunk to investigate and help resolve user-reported issues.
Junior Animator/Test Engineer (Call of Duty: Black Ops2) at Activision/Treyarch
January 1, 2012 - October 1, 2025
Executed Main Menu character animation in Maya; polished motion capture animation in Motion Builder; directed Mo-Cap actors for incidental scenes at the Activision Mo-Cap studio; captured game footage to pinpoint corrections; governed export of animation data and organized a vignette library of animation assets.
Animator and Character Designer at Atomic3d.com
January 1, 2003 - October 1, 2025
Animated characters using Atomic3d's in-house software; created character designs and contributed to early streaming 3D shows on the internet.

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design at Loyola Marymount University
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025
Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design at Loyola Marymount University
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025
Certification in Advanced Character Animation using Maya at Animation Mentor
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025
Film and Television Storyboarding Workshop at Storyboard Guru
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025

Qualifications

Storyboard Guru – Film and Television Storyboarding Workshop
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025
Animation Mentor – Certification in Advanced Character Animation using Maya
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025
Storyboard Guru – Film and Television Storyboarding Workshop
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025
Certification in Advanced Character Animation using Maya
January 11, 2030 - October 1, 2025

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Gaming, Software & Internet, Professional Services

Skills

Experience Level