Here is a sample of my illustration work.
//Quick Tour 2022
Introduction
My name is Sheffield Abella and I am a freelance illustrator and designer. I produce artwork and designs for various clients. I also taught drawing and painting at The Art Institute of Las Vegas, UNLV, and AI Pittsburgh on and off starting in 2004 up until the pandemic. I come from a military family which is what brought me here to Las Vegas.
I have a passion for the human figure, so naturally, my work is mostly about people, characters and likenesses. I really enjoy working in most traditional media, my favorites being oil painting and a combination of watercolor and gouache, but most of my commercial work is now done digitally, using programs such as Photoshop and Painter for my bitmap work and Designer Pro+ for my vector work. This enables easy changes and quick turnarounds, as well as delivery over the internet.
Most of my full-time jobs have been in-house doing web design and branding. I taught drawing and digital painting classes at the Art Institute of Las Vegas, University of Las Vegas and Art Institute of Pittsburgh from 2004 up till the start of the pandemic. This environment enabled me to stay sharp with the latest technology and software as well as help students find their own visual voices.
I graduated with an MFA in Animation/Visual Development from Academy of Art University in 2013.
I enjoy stick fighting, woodworking and building computers from the ground up. I like putting all the parts of the machine together myself, including the system that I am using to write this.
Feel free to ask me anything.
What follows below is a mix of images from my freelance assignments and the classes that I have taught.
Professional Illustration
Design
Samples of my design work
Drawings and Sketches
I break it down to line, value and color, for both my clients and my students.
In Class Live Models
Work done in class from a live model. Click to see full size.
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
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
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.
University of Nevada Las Vegas 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy. Las Vegas, NV 89154
Jan 2014- Dec 2014. Adjunct Professor.
Classes Taught: Digital REndering, Ideation & Process, Graphic Design II
Business Sector: Post Secondary Education.
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 upon request.
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: Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, openCanvas, ArtRage, Xara Design Pro,
Intermediate: Flash, Illustrator, Premier, Silo, WordPress, Joomla, Microsoft Design Expression, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Dreamweaver, Homesite, RapidPHP.
Working Knowledge: Maya, 3dStudio Max, Silo, Lightwave, After Effects, Particle Illusion, Zbrush, Sound Forge,
Platform/OS: Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows XP 64 bit, Mac OS X. Cintiq/Wacom/Nostromo/3D Connexion.
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 seven years. I have the ability to demonstrate digital techniques or techniques in traditional mediums while answering questions.
Refererences
References are available on request.
Contact
I can be reached at 702.604.8800.
References available upon request.