Vu is a passionate and self-driven illustrator from San Francisco. He has 15 years of experience with a proven track record of delivering high quality art assets for console and mobile games. Shipped titles include: [Redacted], The Callisto Protocol, Final Fantasy XV: War for Eos, Empires & Allies, and The Sims: Medieval. He is looking forward to grow, collaborate with, and be inspired by other artists and developers while creating the next hit title. You can contact him at vumai128@yahoo.com

E X P E R I E N C E


SENIOR CONCEPT ARTIST (April 2021 - March 2025)

Striking Distance Studios - San Ramon, CA 

  • Designed environments, characters, and props for The Callisto Protocol and [REDACTED]. 

  • Created 2D arts that were checked into Unreal Engine. These include graphic design assets such as posters and commercial signage for Callisto, as well as illustrations of rival characters in [REDACTED].

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

  • Worked closely with game designers to create key arts for various project pitches. Turn-around times of these were 3-5 days per piece, and they were used in weekly presentations to sell game ideas to studio executives.

  • Supported art director and production team in finding the art styles and shape languages for upcoming projects. This included creating original arts, as well as putting together Miro and Pureref boards of reference materials that represent the visual directions of these projects.

SENIOR CONCEPT ARTIST (June 2020 - April 2021)

Machine Zone (Applovin), Palo Alto, CA

  • Worked with art director and producers 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.

  • Compiled style guides with high-level previs, visual targets, and key arts during preproduction.

  • Synced with 3D art leads to produce lighting studies for environments by doing paintovers on proxy levels.

  • Translated Lucasfilm’s feedback from weekly review cycles into actionable items. Assigned these actionable items to fellow artists to be completed by the next meeting with Lucasfilm. This was regularly practiced in order to 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 includes 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, architectures, and props from thumbnail stage to finished renderings. Figured out solutions for how the different stages of upgrade could evolve, and sketched out lineups to visually convey this progression.


CONCEPT ARTIST (May 2010 - March 2011)

Electronic Arts - Redwood City, CA

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

  • Created graphic novel style illustrations for the game’s cutscenes and narrative sequences. Worked with the lead artist to align with his inking style, and to retain visual consistencies.

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, Maya, Cinema 4D, Unreal Engine

  • Fluency in English & Vietnamese

  • Traditional mediums such as oil and acrylic. 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