about jenn

Since an early age I was a huge fan of animation art and filled many sketchbooks with drawings of my favorite cartoon characters. My grandmother was also an amazing painter and I would spend hours admiring her work. Of course, her visual expression was fine art while I preferred drawing cartoons, but that’s not the point here. Having so much inspiration around me, I knew that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up!

So, I went to a specialized tech school, The Art Institute of Philadelphia, to learn animation. After four years, two internships and an offensive amount of student loans, I graduated in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in computer animation & media arts! Graduating college of course didn’t give me a first class ticket to my dream job so I worked on establishing myself as a contract Flash artist / animator, taking on projects from local ad agencies, gaining experience and making contacts. I worked as an Interactive Designer, designing websites, cd-roms and interactive media in Philadelphia for a few years an opportunity came up to work on an animated show with Camp Chaos Entertainment called; VH1’s ILLustrated! In 2004, I took an in-house position with Mattel Online and moved across the country to Los Angeles. There I learned the many ways to incorporate sparkles & pink into my work! After two years I was promoted to Supervisor of Creative Development and led a small team of amazing designers and illustrators for websites like PollyPocket.com, TeenTrends.com, PixelChix.com, EverythingGirl.com and Barbie Girls.com. In 2008, I left Mattel Online to lead the creative direction of a new casual game development company called
Jet Morgan Games (our official website is coming soon!)

professional experience
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifercutler

interests & tid bits
- My favorite animated shows include; The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad, South Park, Metalocolipse, Ren & Stimpy, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Power Puff Girls, Samari Jack, Dexter’s Lab & Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends
- Brands like Rainbow Bright, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears & Lisa Frank were huge inspirations to me growing up, along with Looney Tunes & a plethora of Disney movies
- I love world traveling and being outdoors in general! I’m also an amateur bird watcher ;)
- I primarily work in Flash & Photoshop using my secret weapon, the lovely Wacom Cintiq! If you’re a digital artist, it’s the best tool ever!

contact
jenn@jennifermegara.com

archives
My old website has some of my first projects in 2002 along with my senior thesis interactive portfolio; www.jennifermegara.com