Jake Rowell

Jake Rowell (born April 15, 1975) is an Citizenship of the American independent director & creative director best known for his work on Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Superman Returns and The Animatrix during his various tenures at Activision|Activision/Infinity Ward, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and DreamWorks Animation.
Jake Rowell is an Citizenship of the American independent director & creative director that is best known for his illustrations, visual effects and animation art. He is best known for his work on Call of Duty, Final Fantasy|Final Fantasy, Astro Boy (film)|Astro Boy, Superman Returns and The Animatrix.
===PC Games (1996-2000):===
In 1996, Rowell began his professional career in video games as a Lead Artist for Microsoft Games, working on both Microsoft Golf 98 and Microsoft Golf 99. Soon after, Rowell joined SquareSoft as a CG Designer creating environment art for the video game Final Fantasy IX.
===Film and Animation (2000-2010):===
Rowell moved into film and animation, working on modeling, texturing and shading of props and environments for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. After working for Square SquareSoft from 1998-2002, Rowell worked as a Character Artist on The Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris. 
From 2002-2004, Rowell was Lead Artist for Shark Tale at DreamWorks Animation, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2004 Academy Awards. The same year, Rowell helped on the films Monster House (uncredited) and Bewitched as a Modeling Lead until 2005.
In 2005, as Lead for the film Superman Returns, Rowell oversaw the sculpture and look-development of both the digital Man of Steel and Lois Lane, which included the modeling, texturing, and facial and body blend shapes. He also supervised shot lighting for many of the primary visual effects shots. The film was subsequently nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 2007 Academy Awards, and was honored the Scientific Engineering Academy Award in 2010 for the “development and application of technologies designed to help achieve the goal of photoreal digital actors.”
===Console Games (2010-2015):===
After a decade in film, Rowell returned to video games to help craft the iconic characters and cinematics for the hit franchise, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Ghosts. While at Activision / Infinity Ward, Rowell served as the Cinematic Director and Art Lead from 2010-2015. His work on Call of Duty: Ghosts won Excellence in Production Design from the Art Directors Guild and Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game at the Visual Effects Society Awards in 2014.
===Virtual Reality (2015-2020):===
In 2015, Rowell joined Wevr, an interactive software studio offering real-time 3D interactive experiences and spatial apps. At Wevr, Rowell has held various roles, including Director, Executive Producer, and Art Director on several VR projects.
Rowell directed Wevr’s theBlu, which won Best Educational Experience and Most Transportive Experience at the 2015 and 2016 Proto Awards, as well as the Best of Sundance in 2016.
His work in the new medium helped inspire film director Jon Favreau to create his own VR project, Gnomes and Goblins, with Jake as the Director & Executive Producer. The Gnomes and Goblins Preview won Best Overall Experience at the 2017 Cinequest awards, and was later nominated for Technological Advancements at the 2017 Emmy’s. 
==Notable works==
Year 	Title 	Type 	Role
2020 	Gnomes & Goblins 	Video Game	Art Director
2017 	The Blu: Whale Encounter 	Video Game	Art Director
2013 	Call of Duty: Ghosts 	Video Game	Art Director (Co-Director - Cinematics), Art Lead
2011 	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 	Video Game	Senior Artist
2010 	The RRF in New Recruit 	Video 	Art Director
2010 	Astro Boy vs. The Junkyard Pirates 	Video 	Art Director
2009 	Astro Boy 	 	
Art Director, Title Designer: Main Title Sequence	 	 	
2007 	Beowulf 	 	
Digital Character Consultant (uncredited) 	 	 	
2006 	Superman Returns 	 	
Lead Development Artist 	 	 	
2006 	Monster House 	 	
Modeling Artist (uncredited) 	 	 	
2005 	Bewitched 	 	
Modeler: SPI 	 	 	
2004 	Shark Tale 	 	
Lead Look Development Artist 	 	 	
2003 	The Matrix Revolutions 	 	
Visual Effects 	 	 	
2003 	The Matrix Reloaded 	 	
Visual Effects 	 	 	
2003 	The Animatrix 	Video 	Digital Character Artist
2003 	The Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris	Video 	Digital Character Artist
2001 	Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within 	 	
Digital Artist 	 	 	
2000 	Final Fantasy IX 	Video Game	CG Designer
Year	Nominated work 	Category 	Result	Association
2004	Sharktale 	Best Animated Feature 	 	2004 Academy Awards
2007	Superman Returns 	Best Visual Effects 	 	2007 Academy Awards
2010	Superman Returns 	Scientific Engineering Academy Award 	 	2010 Academy Awards
2012	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	Best Action Game 	 	66th British Academy Film Awards|BAFTAs 2012
2013	Call of Duty: Ghosts 	Best Trailer 	 	Key Art Awards
2013	Call of Duty: Ghosts 	Best Shooter 	 	Spike Video Game Awards
2014	Call of Duty: Ghosts 	Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game	 	Visual Effects Society Awards 2014
2014	Call of Duty: Ghosts 	Excellence in Production Design Award 	 	Art Directors Guild 2014
2015	theBlu 	Best Educational Experience 	 	2015 Proto Awards
2016	theBlu 	Most Transportive Experience 	 	2016 Proto Awards
2016	theBlu 	Best of Sundance 	 	Sundance Film Festival
2017	Gnomes and Goblins Preview 	Technological Advancements 	 	Emmy’s 2017
2017	Gnomes and Goblins Preview 	Best Overall Experience 	 	2017 Cinequest
2020	theBlu: Deep Rescue 	Best Location Based Experience 	 	VR Awards 2020
2020	Gnomes and Goblins 	Best VR Immersive Story 
Best VR Immersive User Experience 
Best VR Immersive Work	 	Venice Film Festival|Venice International Film Festival 2020
 
Category:1975 births
Category:Living people
Category:American film producers
Category:Online games
Category:American people