Frank Vitale

Frank Vitale started to study astronomy for two years at the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff Arizona, as he found it very interesting and because it seemed like a fun way to get his first two years rolling and to decide exactly where he want to go with his schooling. He ended up with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communications with an emphasis in Graphic Design in 1990. Between 1990 and 1994 he worked for several different companies including SmartzVideo Publishing, Studio Optix, Consumer Marketing Network and The Image Makers.

In 1994 he moved to San Diego to work for Presto Studios, where he was brought on to help primarily with texture and surface development on Buried in Time, and additionally he designed a great deal of the advertising material for the title (he also appeared in the “Cheese Girl commercial” in the game). Later on he was the Lead Texture and Interface Artist for Gundam 0079 and Art Director (which included Lead Texture and Interface Artist) for Legacy of Time.

He left Presto Studios in July 1997 for a position in the film industry at a company called Banned From The Ranch. While at BFTR he worked on Titanic, Deep Rising, Jungle Book II, Dr. Dolittle, a Nissan Commercial, several full page ads for Cinefex magazine and several other projects including MTV and Metal Fighter. When BFTR closed its doors, he moved back from LA to his hometown Phoenix and set up a home studio. In 1999 he was shortly editor of Mastering 3d Graphics magazine, and in in the same year he became partner at Interactive Film and Music.

Over the years Vitale has been writing for various trade magazines internationally and contributed to several books including the Photoshop Wow! book series. In 2003 he was Instructor at Phoenix College for the spring semester (Modeling for 3d Animation). Writing and teaching continues to be his passion.

Vitale works as free lance designer with as main areas digital illustration, animation, game development, visual effects and motion graphics.