About me

I am Michaela Blanchfield, a virtual artist and game designer living in Dublin, Ireland. I am driven to hone my craft, master the tools of my trade, work towards the cutting-edge and succeed at ever-more ambitious personal projects. I have a keen interest in pursuing and creating 3D assets that are visually beautiful. I am a firm believer that ensuring the quality of both of these technical and visual elements of a project will result in a happier team and an awesome product overall. I like to be challenged, make my contribution and consistently improve my skills. I have always had a passion for the artistic and visual aspect of game development, and I always strive to bring originality into my work.

Aside from my work, I enjoy experiencing the world, whether that is knitting and felt crafting cute things, crafting miniature houses with cardboard, recording memorable dreams/nightmares into my diary, sewing miniature clothing and contemplating the very meaning of my existence in this seemingly infinite universe. I find that there is so much interesting stuff in the world and I am always looking for ways to learn new things.

Education

Bachelor of Arts in Game Design (1st Class Honours)

Technological University of Dublin, 2018 – 2022

  1. Developed a fast-paced single-player ‘bullet-hell’ shooter game called Ventilate for my final year project. I was the primary 3D artist and secondary 2D artist in a team of five. I was responsible for creating the logo, all the environmental assets and a portion of the game's UI sprites. Download Ventilate on Steam.
  2. Developed an online educational farming game called Farmyard Architect for AgriKids.ie in 2021. I was the primary 2D and 3D artist in a team of five, where I was responsible for creating all the environmental assets and in-game character models. Play Farmyard Architect online here.
  3. Recreated a short cinematic scene from Netflix’s Castlevania (2017) into 3D using the Unity3D engine in 2021 as an individual project. Evironmental asset meshes and Dracula himself were modelled via Sketchup and Adobe 3ds Max. This assignment received a grade of 81%.
  4. Modelled an isometric room interior which conveys environmental storytelling based on the fictional video-game character Aiden Pearce from Watch_Dogs (2014), which received a grade of 85%. It is available for viewing on my Sketchfab profile.
  5. Awarded the 1916 Bursary Fund scholarship (2019-2022).

Software Development with Games Design (Level 5)

Greenhills Community College, 2017 – 2018

Learned the basics of software architecture, web authoring, app development, C# and Java programming. Achieved seven out of eight Distinctions.

Software Experience

3D Graphics: Sketchup, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Mudbox, Blender and Substance Painter.
Game Engines: Unity3D and Unreal Engine.
Operating Systems: Proficient with Windows. Familiar with Ubuntu and macOS.
Photo Editing: Adobe Photoshop and GIMP.
Miscellaneous: GitHub, Arduino, Android Studio and Panda3D.
Typing speed of approximately 80 words per minute.

Skills & Interests

Skills: Creativity, artistic interest, attention to detail, visual thinking.
Interests: Drawing, painting, computerized 3D modelling, gaming.

Contact me