UNLV Illustration Faculty-In-Residence

My name is Sheffield Abella and I am interested in the Illustrator Faculty-In-Residence position at UNLV.


I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at UNLV teaching the Illustration and Digital Illustration classes since Fall 2023.


I began teaching drawing and painting at The Art Institute of Las Vegas in (2004 – 2010). Taught design classes at UNLV (Adjunct 2014-2015). I went full-time in-house doing character design and illustration with a freelance client(2014-2017). I returned to teaching remotely for The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (2016-2019) and The Art Institute of Las Vegas on-site, 2019 up until the start of the pandemic.

 

Bachelors Fine Art – Art Center College of Design 1994 – Illustration

Masters Fine Art – Academy of Art University 2013 – Animation (focused more on digital painting and writing)

 

I come from a military family which is what brought me here to Las Vegas.


What follows below is a mix of images from my freelance assignments and the classes that I have taught as well as examples from my past students.


Click on the “+” to expand each section.

My primary philosophical goal behind teaching is to motivate students to discover their own unique visual voices, and to support them in amplifying who they already are as visual artists. Beyond teaching fundamental principles and techniques of visual development, I want to assist students to solve technical and conceptual problems in elegant and efficient ways. Facilitating my students’ development of confidence in their work is a priority for me. Honing their ability to negotiate the standard professional aspects of their careers, from properly valuing their worth and their time to recognizing when they need to navigate sensitive subjects, as they service their clients and art directors is vital.

I look forward to continuing to work with our students from diverse backgrounds. I share UNLV’s goal to provide a dynamic academic environment, celebrating the uniqueness of our students, faculty and staff, all while pushing forward the core values of open-mindedness, equity and inclusion while maintaining the highest level of respect for one another. I will do my best to ensure that all my students, regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities, or race, thrive in my classroom.    

Examples of my illustration work.

Below are Design Examples, logos, packaging, and branding.

Click here to link to my YouTube UNLV Channel.

 

Samples of current and past students’ work.

Sheffield Abella 

Artist | Designer

Objective

Remote Instructor

Education

Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA.
2013 Masters Fine Art in Animation, Visual Development Emphasis.

Art Center College of Design. Pasadena, California.
1994 Bachelors in Fine Art Visual Communication with an Emphasis in Illustration.

Experience

University of Nevada Las Vegas 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy. Las Vegas, NV 89154

Aug 2023 – Present. Visiting Assistant Professor | Jan 2014- Dec 2014.  Adjunct Professor.

Classes Taught:  Illustration, Digital Illustration, Digital Rendering, Ideation & Process, Graphic Design II

Business Sector:  Post Secondary Education.

The Art Institute of Las Vegas 2350 Corporate Circle Henderson, NV 89074-7737

2019 – 2020 | 2004 – 2010.  Instructor.

Classes Taught:  Life Drawing, Advanced Life Drawing, Character Design, Character Ideation, Color Theory, Illustration/Advanced Illustration, Observational Drawing and Digital Painting, Digital Imaging, Advanced Digital Imaging, Web Scripting, Drawing & Perspective, Digital/Web Portfolio.

Business Sector:  Post Secondary Education.

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online 1400 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

2016 – 2019.  Instructor.

Classes Taught: Life Drawing, Advanced Life Drawing, Character Design, Advanced Illustration for Production

Business Sector:  Post Secondary Education.

Kizzang LLC Las Vegas, NV

Oct 2014 – Mar 2017.  Illustrator/Designer (Senior Artist)

Main Responsibilities:  Illustration, Design, Identity/Branding. Produce graphics and illustration for various game symbols in a slot machine platform for using original assets or client supplied artwork.

Business Sector:  Freelance Illustration and Design.

Pixel Colada LLC Las Vegas, NV  89193

1996 – Present.  Owner/Illustrator/Designer

Main Responsibilities:  Illustration, Design, Identity/Branding, Web Design, Consulting. Partial List of Freelance Clients below.

Business Sector:  Freelance Illustration and Design.

 

helloNetwork.com, Inc. 3035 East Patrick Lane Suite 1. Las Vegas, Nevada 89120

1998 – 1999.  Art Director/Lead Visual Development.

Main Responsibilities:  Illustration, Design, Identity/Branding, Web Design, Consulting.

Business Sector:  Video Streaming.

 

Adrienne Weiss Corp. 737 N Michigan Avenue # 1580, Chicago, IL, 60611-5406

1995 – 1996.  Art Director/Lead Visual Development.

Main Responsibilities:  Worked on identity projects for Bank One Stadium, Country Star Restaurants, Warner Bros. Stores, and MCI/Washington Bullets Stadium. Illustration, logo design, taglines and various other identity concept work.

Business Sector:  Design Firm.

Cloud 9 Interactive. Santa Monica, CA

1995.  Production Artist.

Main Responsibilities:  Created scratch art and final art for “How to Draw the Marvel Way” as well as integrated assets. Designed actuators for “Wanna-Be a Dino Finder”.

Business Sector:  Design Firm.

Digital Skills

Software

Expert:  Photoshop, Corel Painter, openCanvas, ArtRage, Xara Designer Pro+,

Intermediate:  Flash,  Illustrator, Rebelle, After Effects Premier, WordPress, Joomla, Microsoft Design Expression, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Dreamweaver, Homesite, RapidPHP.

Working Knowledge:  Maya, 3dStudio Max, Silo, Lightwave, After Effects, Media Encoder, Particle Illusion, Zbrush, Sound Forge.

Platform/OS:  Windows/Mac. Cintiq/Wacom/Huion Tablets

Traditional Skills

Analog

Tradition mediums: Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache, Colored Pencil, Graphite, Charcoal.

Other skills

I am comfortable as a public speaker having taught illustration, design, and software applications to students for over twenty years. I have the ability to demonstrate digital techniques or techniques in traditional mediums while answering questions.

Refererences

References are available on request.

Air Force Reserve

AT&T

Ballys

Bill Maher

Caesars Palace

Circus Circus

Excalibur

Gillette

Hello Network

Konami Gaming

McGraw Hill

Michele Fiore Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem

Nokia

Phillips

Pontiac

Saturn

Toyota

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Venetian

Wells Fargo

Westwood Studios

Sheffield Abella 702.604.8800 Mobile sheffield.abella@unlv.edu