artofsamr - About/Resume

About Me:

I’m a lighting and compositing artist who loves bringing scenes to life with mood, color, and a bit of cinematic magic. At Rooster Teeth, I worked on RWBY and Genlock, helping shape the final look of shots through lighting and compositing pushing atmosphere, enhancing storytelling, and making sure every frame felt polished and alive.

Before that, I was a 3D artist for HEXBUG and VEX Robotics, creating product visuals that blended clean technical execution with a sense of fun and energy. I’ve also had the chance to work at a much larger scale, sculpting giant pumpkin installations for Great Pumpkin LumiNights at Dollywood—a hands-on, immersive experience that combined artistry, spectacle, and a little Halloween magic.

Outside of my professional work, I love illustration and photography. They’re creative spaces where I can experiment, explore new ideas, and stay inspired whether that’s sketching for fun or chasing great light through a camera lens.

Work Experience

Nuke Compositor & Lighting Artist

Rooster Teeth Productions

Austin, Texas\Remote

May 2020 - March 2023

Provided lighting and compositing for RWBY Volumes 8 & 9 utilizing Nuke, Maya, Max, Redshift, and Pencil.
Compositing and Lighting for RWBY x Justice League Part 1 & 2 films in partnership with Warner Brothers/ DC.
Worked on in-game cinematics for RWBY Arrowfell by WayForward.
Assisted with Look Development tasks to support various production teams.
Asset Setup
Set Lighting

Lighting Artist

Rooster Teeth Productions

Austin, Texas

July 2019 - January 2020

Lighting and rendering for RWBY Volume 7 using Maya, Max, Redshift, and Pencil.

Lighting Artist

Rooster Teeth Productions

Austin, Texas

July 2018 - April 2019

Delivered lighting and rendering for RWBY Volume 6 and Gen:Lock Season 1.
Contributed to Look Development tasks for RWBY including asset setup and environment lighting.

3D Generalist (Internship)

Innovation First International (Hexbug/Vex Robotics)

Greenville, Texas

August 2017 - March 2018

Produced lighting and rendering for product packaging, website animations, and promotional videos.
Collaborated with product designers to create precise and accurate renders.

Freelance 3D Modeler (Contract)

SRO Associates

Boerne, Texas

April 2017 - May 2017

Modeled large-scale pumpkin sculptures for Dollywood’s Great Pumpkin Luminights.
Created a sculpture of a prize-winning bull for the Texas State Fair.

3D Modeler (Arch-Viz) (Contract)

Spoons Designs

San Antonio, Texas

March 2016

Developed a 3D visualization and video for a residential neighborhood project by David Weekley Homes.
Worked with a team to accurately represent architectural plans and site conditions.

Education

University of the Incarnate Word

2016

BFA (Computer Graphic Arts)

Professional Development

Guest Speaker (Seminar)

The University of the Incarnate Word

Oct 15 2020

Presented a seminar on professional lighting and compositing workflows, detailing the production processes for my position at Rooster Teeth Productions, technical decision-making, and industry practices. Engaged with students on visual storytelling, pipeline, and real world problem solving in a production environment.

References From Linkedin

Austin Himes (Producer at Rooster Teeth)

"Sam is an absolute delight to work with and a very talented artist. I managed Sam across 2 feature films and 2 seasons of an episodic series, during which time Sam was a reliable team member who showed consistent drive and improvement project after project. On top of this I was always extremely impressed with Sam's positive attitude, which he brought to every project he's worked on. Any Studio would be fortunate to have Sam's passion, talent, and positivity improving their productions."

Mark Vearrier (Lighting Lead at Rooster Teeth)

"I worked with Sam on RWBY Season 6 when I was a lighting lead on the show. He came on board when we grew to handle RWBY as well as Rooster Teeth's new show Genlock. Sam came up to speed very quickly and was fantastic at producing high quality work as a shot lighter and some set lighting while adapting to our chaotic and ever changing pipelines. He has a great eye for lighting and is very technically adept, solving complicated setup issues and trouble shooting problems. Sam is a genuinely nice guy and worked/communicated well across multiple departments. I hope to have the opportunity to get him back as a full time artist here, or at least have a chance to work with him again on some other project in the future. Any company should consider themself lucky to have Sam as a part of their team."