CONTACT
As a part of San Francisco's design community since 1995, PXLFORGE has built a reputation not only for stunning professional digital artistry at competitive prices, but also for exceptional customer service and effective web consulting. We design for a variety of media, having produced professional quality interactive international web sites and business presentations, flash animations, banners, magazines, catalogs, logos, templates, business cards, 3D illustration, high profile DVD interface designs and even 3D product prototype designs for 5 series of PALz, a manufactured collectible toy line based on modern cult classic television shows.
PXLFORGE builds our www3 compliant websites to be search engine friendly, simple to update and easy to navigate. Let us help you get your own company, idea, product or service online immediately or just give your current site a redesign.
BIO / RESUME
Sean Brennan is a Digital Artisan with roots in Print Design. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Boston University he began a long trek westward. After getting his feet wet in an agency position in Cleveland and working as an Art Director for Omaha Magazine, Sean packed up his studio and moved to the Bay Area to get into web design, establishing PXLFORGE in 1995.
Sean’s creative vision and eye for detail coupled with a strong background in both print and web design make him a strong candidate for anyone who is looking for an artist with talent, experience and technical knowledge.
In 2006, completion of a Bachelor of Science degree at the AICA-SF added a number of important software proficiencies to his already vast repetoire.
SOFTWARE PROFICIENCIES: Maya, Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, Dreamweaver, Poser, Director, FreeHand, QuarkXPress, MS Word, and Powerpoint.
WEB DESIGN
This gallery contains screenshot images of websites created with Dreamweaver, Flash, Imageready, Photoshop and Illustrator.
Click any of the thumbnails to the left to view a larger version with details regarding the project, client, and software used in creation of the final product. All of the websites depicted within this gallery have been designed and engineered by Sean Brennan for PXLFORGE.
Clicking on the slideshow tab above will display all the screenshot images in this gallery in a convenient slideshow format. The show can easily be paused, rewound or fast forawarded using the arrow buttons.
The websites shown in this gallery have beeen created over a 10 year period and not all sites are still online. Whenever possible, live links to the sites have been provided. Simply click on the descriptive text to launch the site in a new window.
TOY DESIGN
While studying Maya and 3D Studio Max as part of AICA-SF's Game Art and Design Curriculum, Sean Brennan contacted Ken Lilly, Director of Product Development at Palisades Toys in Baltimore to interview him about the toy industry. By the end of the conversation, Ken had hired PXLFORGE to design the body and stylizations for a new line of block figure toys called PALz. The toys were based on character likenesses and accessories from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.
The block figure market boomed post year 2000 with toy lines like Kubricks, Mez-Itz, Minimates and finally PALz based on everything from 4-color superhero comic books and cult classic sci-fi films to gritty thrillers like Silence of the Lambs.
Sean created over 75 different 3D prototypes that were sculpted by factoris in China and released as Buffy the Vampire Slayer PALz waves 1 and 2 and X-Files PALz waves 1 and 2. Conceptual art for a third wave of Buffy PALZ was completed and production was started, but Palisades went out of business in 2005.
3D DESIGN
This gallery contains 3D rendered images of objects and scenes created with Maya, 3D Studio Max, Strata Pro Studio, Poser, Illustrator and Photoshop.
The age of 3D rendering allows for previously unparalleled of realism in digital illustration. Raytracing can bring style and sophistication to any media. Whether your project is destined for the internet or print, 3D will take it to a new level.
Click any of the thumbnails to the left to view a larger version with details regarding the project, client, and software used in creation of the final image. All rendered images, as well as the objects and textures depicted within are created by Sean Brennan for PXLFORGE.
An additional gallery showing a slideshow of a variety of types of 3D objects that were prepared for the Unreal engine, as well as the unwrapped textures used to create them can be found by clicking in this area.
PRINT DESIGN
pxlforge is a full service design firm. We can design everything from your website and signage to the smallest details such as Business cards or Postcards. We can create brand new corporate identity materials or design whatever you need while matching prexisting visual guidelines.
Although most of our work is for digital platforms, pxlforge has been designing for print media for over 15 years. Before moving to San Francisco in 1994, Sean Brennan was the art director for Omaha Magazine, where he also did design work for the Omaha's Opera, Ballet, Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, KPTM (local FOX affiliate) and the State of Nebraska. the logo Sean designed for Omaha Magazine in 1993 is still in use today.
Whether you need a 200 page corporate catalog, a 5x9 postcard mailer or anything in-between, pxlforge will create an elegant solution to your design problem that takes your target demographic, corporate identity and budget into consideration.
ILLUSTRATION
As a practicing illustrator for over10 years, Sean Brennan can create images in a variety of styles. Although his work generally starts out with graphite on paper, it is then inked and colored using colored pencils and / or design markers. Finally the artwork is digitally scanned and further manipulated in Photoshop and or Illustrator to add additional special effects and textures.
Sean Brennan's illustration has been seen in corporate presentations, independent comic books, business cards, magazines, DVD interfaces, online and even in the form of collectible toys based on cult classic TV shows.
A series of stylized facial illustrations created by PXLFORGE can be seen in the TOY DESIGN gallery above the 3D rendered prototype turnarounds of Palisades Toys PALz. These were based on likenesses of actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the X-Files. Over 70 sets of hand drawn facial and body texture illustrations were created during the 2 year lifespan of the PALz line.
DVD DESIGN
In 1996, PXLFORGE began working with Angry Monkey, a growing graphic design firm specializing in DVD interface design. He worked with them until the company went out of business in 2000.
During this time, Sean Brennan worked first as a production artist (on Blade and the Corruptor), taking master photoshop documents and creating all necessary screens. He soon moved up to the role of a junior designer (contributing to the actual design for the DVD interfaces for both Pleasantville and Detroit Rock City). Finally, he took on the roles of art director and lead designer, personally creating all layouts and design elements for the collage inspired DVD interface for Boiler Room (the last DVD that Angry Monkey produced before moving their business away from DVDs.
After 2000, PXLFORGE continued working as a production artist with Company Wide Shut on DVD interfaces for The Twin peaks First Season Box Set, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (both the 2 disc and extended 4 disc sets).
website and all illustrations and design within are created by
Sean W. Brennan
|
PXLFORGE