Dave is an Emmy-nominated animation producer, an award-winning animation director, a children's book illustrator, and Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Fizzy's Lunch Lab. Dave runs CloudKid's day-to-day business and oversees all things creative, providing story and art direction for projects. Once in a while he even gets to doodle (even if it's only during meetings). Prior to CloudKid, Dave's clients included Penguin, Hasbro Toys, American Greetings, and WGBH, and in 2008 Al Gore featured Dave's Award-winning PSA The Sky is Falling at the TED Conference. Dave is an identical twin, a skilled dog-walker, and a big fan of 80's soft rock. He also considers himself the luckiest man at CloudKid-he once won a Toyota Prius!
Bike-rider, seltzer drinker and cribbage master, Matt is an award-winning designer and interactive engineer specializing in connected and new media for children. As a Senior Designer at the Disney Online Studios, Matt worked on such high-profile projects as MickeyMouse.com, Disney.com and the World Of Cars Online. He also created an innovative suite of tools for artists and engineers, co-created a Flash-3D pipeline, and was the recipient of the Disney Inventor Award. At CloudKid, Matt oversees the technology side of everything we do. He is Web Director of Fizzy's Lunch Lab, and he proudly claims that he hasn't worn blue jeans since 6th grade.
When he isn't climbing, reading graphic novels, or fixing flat tires on his bike, Mike is our Animation Director specializing in flash animation, storyboarding, and character design. Mike was CloudKid's first hire, bringing in his vast knowledge of character animation and production. He has over eight years of animation production experience with clients such as Cartoon Network, PBS, and Discovery Kids, and he was Animation Supervisor on the Emmy award-winning WordGirl. Mike oversees the animation staff to ensure that CloudKid's animation is always top-notch, and he's also an avid gamer, staying on top of what's hot in the indie game market. He says he used to play the saxophone.
A graduate from MassArt, Kendra is the bridge between the artists and the techies. Multi-talented and super-organized, she makes sure everything on the technology side is working, designs our game architecture, and ensures the art looks great once the games are built. Kendra also brings a strong knowledge of design and typography, illustration, and storytelling to the CloudKid team. In addition to her creative role, Kendra manages the CloudKid HQ, making sure the studio is in tip-top shape. She dislikes odd numbers and the space on your windshield the wipers can't reach. And she still can't believe she gets paid to create and play games.
CloudKid's resident Jersey Girl, Allie produces CloudKid projects like it's her job. Happy-go-lucky, crazy-organized, and able to juggle a dozen things at once, Allie ensures our projects are on time and under budget. She also works with clients to ensure their CloudKid experience is a flawless one. Allie is a recent graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she earned her Ed. M. in Technology, Innovation and Education. She has worked at Sesame Street, Disney's Johnny and the Sprites, and the BBC's CBeebies. When Allie was in third grade, she decided to become a vegetarian because she “didn't want to eat things with faces anymore.” She stands by that credo to this day.
A native of Rockport, Maine, Andrew is a programmer who loves to stay busy. He graduated from Champlain College, where he majored in Electronic Game Programming and whetted his creative appetite on a variety of game projects. He's a big fan of fantasy/sci-fi, ultimate Frisbee and building snow forts. He also plays the trumpet and has worked in a seaweed factory. At CloudKid, he looks forward to defeating challenging tasks while making awesome games, and his favorite part of the job is making things work (and fixing them when they don't).
In high school, Kim was voted "Most Likely To Create A Video Game" and, wouldn't you know it, they were right! Kim brims with digital skills, everything from storyboarding to animation design to game concepting. She's fast, she's funny, she's a joy to work with, and she's CloudKid's go-to for pumping out awesome concepts for game screens, character design and environment sketches. Kim graduated from the Art Institute of Boston with a concentration in animation. She is an avid gamer (has beaten every Rock Band game on Expert) and has designed and created games for the iPhone and Flash platforms.
Joe is a creative chameleon, shifting from storyboards to animation to design and back, blending into his environment to confuse predators. He graduated with a degree in illustration from the Art Institute of Boston, and later studied animation and design at Lorenzo de'Medici in Florence. Before CloudKid, Joe was the Storyboard Supervisor on WordGirl, and his past clients include Staples, Constant Contact, and the Boston Public Health Commission. Joe owns nine coffee-making devices and can totally shred all of the solos in “November Rain”. He likes space, travel, and space travel, in that order.
Eric has a passion for games, puzzles, and interactive media. A graduate of MassArt with a focus on digital multimedia, Eric is a jack-of-all-digital-media-trades who has come to CloudKid to work on programming for interactive projects. With experience in graphic design, web development, animation, and audio and video production, he takes on whatever needs to get done. He likes puppies, kittens and sunshine, but dislikes jellyfish, cucumbers and shoes. Go figure.
A screenwriter and copywriter by trade, Adam is called upon when CloudKid just needs someone to put it all into words. Whether it's web copy, development writing, even the occasional staff bio, Adam loves taking all of CloudKid's wonderfully outrageous creative energy and translating it into the English language. Adam has written webisodes for Fizzy's Lunch Lab, and has a couple feature screenplays he really thinks you should read. He lives in Los Angeles, eats a lot of rice, and hopes to vacation on the moon someday.
Talented beyond her years, Heather serves as our junior graphic designer, creating everything from icons to game interfaces to website promos (and everything in between). Always looking to help however she can, Heather is constantly learning, improving her skills, and pushing her craft. When she's not designing, she looks up videos of toucans. Heather dislikes bananas, centipedes and soggy things. On the positive side, she loves Pokemon and the color teal.
James Melloni is a recent graduate from Massachusetts College of Art + Design with a focus in film and video where he earn Academic Distinction. After working in retail and learning a quote from Oscar Wilde (life's too important to be taken seriously) James knew that he was ready to be a writer, and now his unique sense of humor is being put to good use at CloudKid. Whenever they have a script to write or just need someone to laugh at, they look to James. When he is not writing or watching an absurd amount of television, you can find him cruising the streets of Boston on his Razor scooter.
John is an art addict who takes the business of being silly very seriously. John started in the art business at a young age, and graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in animation. He paid some dues as a big-box video game animator, and is now much happier to be at CloudKid, where he does a bit of everything, like compositing, storyboarding, background art, and animation. When he's not making art at work, John likes to make art at home, and play with his dog.
It's not easy being an animation juggernaut. Kurt's utility belt of animation experience makes him well-versed in anything animated-related. While attending Massachusetts College of Art and Design, he produced many films in which he explored most animation media and techniques. Kurt has worked for a handful of studios around Boston, including Soup2Nuts where he animated on the show WordGirl. Though animation is his passion, he also enjoys shredding on the guitar.
