Resumé

About John W. Sheldon

John W. Sheldon is an illustrator and multimedia designer living and working in the Pittsburgh area. He designs clean, simple communications and informational graphics, and creates illustrations using both traditional and digital media. John loves finding fresh new solutions to old problems, and being interrupted by one of his pet cats.

Contact John for a quote.

Skills

John W. Sheldon has developed a large number of abilities useful to a multimedia designer over the years. These include skills and practice in the following areas:

Design & Production Software

  • Adobe Creative Suite, including:
    • Photoshop & Lightroom
    • Illustrator
    • InDesign
    • Dreamweaver
    • Premiere
    • After Effects
  • Avid Media Composer
  • AutoDesk AutoCAD
  • Axure
  • Microsoft Office, including:
    • Word
    • Excel
    • Powerpoint

Personal Skills

  • Multimedia Illustration
  • Document Layout & Design
  • Interface Design & Testing
  • Photography & Lighting
  • HTML, CSS, & jQuery
  • Technical Writing
  • Public Speaking

Education

John W. Sheldon has pursued education and additional sources of skill at every opportunity.

M.S. in Media Arts and Technology - Duquesne University

GPA 3.95, graduated in May 2016

B.S. in Graphic Design - Art Institute of Pittsburgh

GPA 3.8, graduated in December 2013

A.S. in Art - Community College of Allegheny County

GPA 3.6, graduated in May 2009

Broadcast Journalism Qualifications - Defense Information School

Graduated in December 2005

Experience

John W. Sheldon has worked in a number of roles over the years, and his breadth of experience helps him tackle a wide variety of challenges.

Freelance Production & Design

Work for a variety of clients, including:

  • Video Production and Technical Illustration for Bully Pulpit Games
  • Brand design for Platonic Solids
  • Illustrations for Marc LaSpada's Paramount RPG

Senior Digital Publication Specialist - SAE International

January 2012 to Present, responsibilities & accomplishments include:

  • Created an internal site to allow employees to search the corporate taxonomy
  • Provided updated templates and batch scripts to enable automated publishing of 3rd-party documents, resulting in significant cost and time savings
  • Manage & troubleshoot XML to InDesign publishing workflow
  • Lay out technical papers, including difficult papers passed over by other publication specialists
  • Provide technical assistance and training to publication specialists

Technical Illustrator - HEBCO, Inc.

March 2010 to January 2012, responsibilities & accomplishments include:

  • Completed high-volume document scanning project ahead of schedule
  • Helped to manage a database of technical illustrations
  • Reproduced technical images and illustrations in a variety of programs
  • Provided training to other Technical Illustrators on new features of Adobe Creative Suite programs

Broadcast Journalist - U.S. Army Reserve

April 2005 to June 2011, responsibilities & accomplishments include:

  • Served as Senior Editor for AFN-Iraq, where:
    • Produced & edited over 100 episodes of a daily, 10-minute newscast called Freedom Journal Iraq
    • Created the short-form 1-minute news update product Iraqi Freedom Minute
    • Travelled independently to produce multiple news and feature packages for the Pentagon channel and Armed Forces Network
    • Produced the Multi-National Force's year-in-review video for 2006
    • Awarded the Joint Service Commendation medal for exemplary quality of work in conjunction with other forces
  • Trained other broadcast journalists on editing and design, including superior-ranked personnel
  • Provided basic Adobe Illustrator training at a unit level

Testimonials

"When I needed a t-shirt design for a local convention, I had a strong visual idea but zero experience in art direction. John was able to decipher my instructions, suggest improvements, communicate reliably, respond to changes, and deliver a striking and popular design on schedule."

Jeff Johnston, Nunchcon

"John has saved the day for us on several occasions, taking on video editing projects at a moment's notice and producing excellent work. He has an instinct for what we need, and is able to quickly and patiently work through our feedback to give us more than we hoped for. We'll definitely be working with him again!"

Steve Segedy, Bully Pulpit Games

"Working with John was great. He incorporated my ideas with his own style in timely fashion. I'll be using the results for many years."

Stras Acimovic, Platonic Solids