Gary Daugherty

Born: San Diego, CA

 

I have always had a passion for video games.  My first console game was Pong, yes I'm that old.  Once I got my Atari 2600 I was hooked for life.  I started programming my own text adventures on my Commodore 64 in Basic.  That's when I realized I didn't just want to play the games I wanted to make them. 

 

Many years passed and I wasn't sure how to get started.  I took a lot of programming classes when I went to UCSD but it wasn't until I started taking classes at Art Institute that I really felt I was making progress.  Because of all of my progamming background I leaned toward VFX.

 

My portfolio caught the eye of a developer and he gave my reel to the VFX team on Everquest II. It was a perfect match, I took to the proprietary tools very quickly and within a year was the sole VFX artist for the next 7 expansions.

 

My work on Everquest II lead to an over 3 year stint with Activision/Blizzard working on Skylanders and Call of Duty which catapulted me into the AAA realm. Now I am ready for the next chapter and hope to be back at work pursuing my passion for making great VFX either in a permanent or contract role.