Education
B.F.A. in Media Arts & Animation, Spring 2012
Magna Cum Laude
The Art Institute of Washington
Arlington, VA
Continuing Education
Character Animation Program, Spring 2021
Animation Mentor
Online school
Professional Experience
University Libraries, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA
Creative Services Coordinator, Lecturer | December 2017 - Present
Graphic Design Specialist, Staff | June 2016 - December 2017
Responsible for taking creative projects from inception through delivery by creating original, on-brand graphics and creative packages using the Adobe Suite, illustrations, photographs, and physical media.
Other responsibilities include: consulting on University Libraries projects, creating environmental graphics, developing best practices and training documentation, and managing the Libraries’ digital signage system.
Freelance
March 2012 - November 2018
Served over 50 clients from around the world across a wide variety of businesses and nonprofit organizations by consistently delivering high quality multimedia, design systems, and guidance on creative goals.
Intelivate, Tampa, Florida (Remote)
Director of Experience | January 2015 - June 2016
Responsible for leading the expansion of the company’s brand and designing the print and motion graphics for management-coaching materials.
Other responsibilities included: creating a design toolbox and coaching other employees on how to use it to create social media content
Control Writer, Palm Springs, Florida (Remote)
Outside Creative Director | March 2013 - January 2014
Responsible for redesigning the user interface and contributing to the user experience on a suite of writing applications, much of which has remained though subsequent versions.
Other responsibilities included: designing the company and product’s brand, product packaging, and promotional materials.
FireSabre Consulting, Virtual
Creative Director | September 2011 - August 2013
Lead 3D Artist | July 2010 - September 2011
Responsible for directing a team of artists and programmers to develop immersive virtual worlds and for creating 3D models, storyboards, and concept artwork.
Other responsibilities included: working with our senior producer to develop schedules, budgets, and pipeline strategies, and pitch packages.
Clients included: Siemens and University of Michigan.
Involve Inc., Virtual (formerly Infinite Vision Media)
Lead 3D Artist | February 2006 - January 2010
Responsible for creating complex 3D artwork for virtual world destinations inside the platform Second Life using its proprietary modeling tools.
Clients included: NBC, General Electric, The Weather Channel, The US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dell, American Cancer Society, and Vivartia 7 Days.
Honors, Awards and Grants
Awards
Gold Circle of Excellence Award in Magazines on a Shoestring, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, June 2021
Library Faculty Award for Outstanding Service 2018, University Libraries at Virginia Tech, Feb 2019
Highest Achievement Award in Media Arts & Animation, The Art Institute of Washington, Spring 2012
Grants
Virtual Sculpture Garden
Virginia Tech, Institute of Creativity, Arts, and Technology Rapid Response Grant | May 2020
Amount awarded $4545
Purpose: To develop a web-based virtual reality gallery, in Unity VR, that dynamically places artwork submissions and automatically generates new gallery space as needed.
Awardees: Trevor Finney (Primary), Jonathan Bradley, Renee Alarid, Alice Rogers
My role: I closely collaborated with the other awardees on the design of the experience, unity development, ingest processes, and governance policies. Additionally I created concept art and 3D models for the gallery and planning documentation to keep us on track to hit the ambitious 3-month development goal.
Patents
Patent 11,205,458
“System and method for the collaborative creation of a final, automatically assembled movie”
Alexander Torres, Ian Tepoot, Trevor Finney
This patent was obtained to cover the novel system used in an upcoming video app. In collaboration with the other co-inventors I was responsible for designing the experience of the app as well as the systems described in the patent. I also created nearly all of the patent’s figures and contributed to the language used to distinguish our methods from other claims.
Scholarly and Creative Works
Presentations
Finney T, Bradley J, Rogers A, Alarid R. (2021, March)
The Virtual Sculpture Garden
Presentation at Institute for Creativity Arts and Technology Playdate, Virginia Tech
We presented on our Virtual Sculpture Garden project and the role the University Libraries at Virginia Tech has in helping to develop this growing technology. My role was to coordinate the team and lead the content for the presentation.
Finney T, Alarid R. (2021, March)
The Virtual Sculpture Garden
Presentation at the Virginia Tech Women’s Club
This club was founded in 1965 and has members from across the Virginia Tech community. Our presentation introduced basic concepts in 3D art, its history, and the role that the library can play in it. My role was to lead the content for the presentation and demonstrate 3D sculpting live.
Feerrar J, Finney T. (2020, November)
Learning from YouTube's Reaction Videos
Presentation at Northeast Media Literacy Conference, Media Education Lab, University of Rhode Island
Regional conference held virtually in 2020 for an international audience of over 300 attendees. We presented on the pedagogical implications of Youtube’s reaction video genre and led participants through discussing, practicing, and ideating ways to incorporate the lessons into their own teaching. Presenters participated equally.
Finney, T., Peoples, J., & Fuchs, F. (2013, February).
Virtual Basics: Inquiry-Based Learning, Virtual Worlds & the Common Core.
Presentation at the Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership Conference, Little Rock, Arkansas
Regional conference primarily held for K-12 senior administrators. Our team presented on using virtual world solutions to support flipped classroom education models. My role was to lead the content development.
Selected University Libraries Workshops
Finney, T. Introduction to After Effects (Feb 2020)
Invited internal training to teach my colleagues on the Teaching & Learning Engagement team the basics of video editing and motion graphics in After Effects.
Finney T., Margie C., Introduction to Digital Art for the Studio 72 living-learning community (Nov 2019)
In this workshop we introduced and led students at the Studio 72 living-learning community to digital art through the lens of photo manipulation and photo editing. Presenters participated equally.
Finney T. Digital Painting: Make a monster (Oct 2019)
In this hands-on workshop participants were guided through the process of brush making and digital painting in Adobe Photoshop to make their own unique, furry monster for halloween.
Finney, T. Introduction to Character Drawing at the University Libraries Game Night (Oct 2019)
In this hands-on workshop participants were led through a simplified drawing construction to draw a fantasy character from imagination.
Bradley J., Finney T., Studios Workshops: Basics of Web Design (Aug 2018 and Mar 2019.)
In this lecture-based workshop we walked participants through different types of websites, development approaches, and design considerations that go into creating a website. My role was to provide user experience and design expertise.
Finney, T. Building a memorable Brand. “Built With” event from the Entrepreneurship Club and the Apex Center for Entrepreneurs (April 2018)
This workshop was taught three times during the one-day event. Workshops focused on introducing key branding principles and had participants generate memorable brands from pulled paper-slip descriptors.
Finney, T. Open resources for beautiful designs. Networked Learning Initiatives (Now Professional Development Network), (Oct 2017)
In this workshop participants were led through finding and using open educational resources to create original designs for their classrooms and events.
Selected Creative Work and Publications
Art Director / Graphic Designer, IMAGINE: University Libraries at Virginia Tech Magazine (December 2021, May 2021, December 2020, May 2020)
Under the direction of Ann Brown, the Strategic Communications team at the University Libraries launched this magazine for the first time in early 2020. I was responsible for the overall art direction and the majority of the layouts, graphics, and photography. In addition, I also authored original infographic spreads and directed my student employees to create their own high-quality designs. The magazine is now mailed to approximately 7,000 alumni and donors.
Visual design, Framework for Digital Literacy at Virginia Tech (October 2016)
The Digital Literacy Framework was developed by Julia Feerrar as a way to understand the interlocking components of modern literacies. I translated her work into a graphical representation. Her original article, “Development of a framework for digital literacy", Reference Services Review, has been downloaded over 2,000 times and included and cited in numerous publications and presentations. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-01-2019-0002
Podcast co-host, Knights of the Light Table (2014-2016)
During the two years of its production, Pablo Leon and I produced 49, hour-long episodes that featured animation industry discussion, reviews, and interviews with rising animation artists. Podcast episodes have been downloaded a total of ~21,000 times. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/knights-of-the-light-table/id931349749?mt=2
Selected Episode: KOTLT 12: The Greatest Movie That Never Was. In this episode we examine the complex legacy of Richard Williams through a review of his unfinished film, “The Thief and the Cobbler”, its unofficial recut, “The Recobbled cut,” and its documentary, “Persistence of Vision.” We also interviewed the director of Persistence of Vision. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/kotlt-012-the-greatest-movie-that-never-was/id931349749?i=1000327445479&mt=2
Writing, Illustration, A ‘Comic’ Tale Showing How Fear of Imperfection Destroys Success and What to Do (2015)
This illustrated story of a man overcoming his fear of imperfection was used as a part of Intelivate’s leadership management training program. It has since been republished on the company’s website along with an accompanying article written by Ebony Clark. https://www.intelivate.com/life-strategy/overcoming-anxiety-fear-failure
Illustration, Sebastian Scouts and the Seven Wonders (December 2014)
Written by Ebony Clark, this 30 page children’s reader features a boy and his animal friends traveling the world looking for adventure. I was responsible for all illustrations, text layout, and cover artwork. ISBN13: 9780986335204. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23885389-sebastian-scouts-the-7-wonders
Science illustration, Illustration depicting biocell attached to CMOS integrated circuit. (January 2014)
First published in “Hybrid integrated biological-solid-state system powered with adenosine triphosphate,” by Jared M. Roseman et al. in Nature Communications (December 2015), this illustration depicted a novel process of powering microscopic electronics using biological processes. I worked closely with the author to properly represent the technology and biological cutaways. It has since gained an Altmetric score of 231, putting it in the top 5% of all articles scored by Altmetric. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10070
Professional & University Service
University Service
Exhibitor for Virginia Tech’s Science Festival (October 2020)
Together with Jonathan Bradley, I created five 3D sculptures illustrating the basics of 3D artwork as a part of our contribution to the 2020 VT Science Festival. We walked through the experience, located in the Virtual Sculpture Garden, in a presentation hosted by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology for a Virginia 5th grade science class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc5KTpWgqYI
Virtually hosted the Open (at the) Source event (April 2021 - May 2021)
Together with Jonathan Bradley, I created digital, 3D exhibit booths inside the Virtual Sculpture Garden for the four featured projects in the 2021 "Open (at the) Source" event from the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology.
Consultation on graphic identity (July 2019)
Provided a design and graphic identity consultation to Devon Johnson on the International Master Gardener Conference.
Consultation on digital signage (November 2019)
Provided a consultation and demonstration for Paul West from Virginia Tech’s IT Engagement on the content creation, management, and best practices of digital signage in Newman Library.
Mentorship
Student employee mentorship | Jan 2018 - Present | University Libraries at Virginia Tech
Creative direction on all assignments, demonstrations on new skills, and guidance on semester-long learning objectives
Graphic design assistant, Hayley Stout | Spring 2021 - Present (Campus InternEXP program Fall 2020 - Present)
Graphic design assistant, Juliette Good | Spring 2021 - Present (Campus InternEXP program Fall 2020 - Present)
Graphic design assistant, Chloe Molinos | Spring 2018 - Spring 2020
High school senior project mentor | February 2020 - April 2020 | Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools
Co-mentored two students on their senior animation projects along with Marty Walker, Animation Director at Bento Box Entertainment
Peer mentor | Spring 2020 and Summer 2020 | Animation Mentor
Provided two fellow students in a class below mine with weekly critiques, including frame-by-frame draw-overs and resource support
University Libraries Service and Committees
Lead, Signage and Environmental Graphics Working Group | September 2016 - Present
Member, Web Strategy Committee | October 2021 - Present
Member, Library Social Committee | July 2016 - Present
Chair, Library Council, University Libraries | July 2019 - June 2020
Member, Library Council, University Libraries | July 2018 - June 2019
Member, University Libraries Spaces and Branches Strategic Planning Subgroup | Aug 2019 - Oct 2019
Member, University Libraries Service Awards Committee | Aug 2019 - Jan 2020
Search Committees, University Libraries
Director, Inclusion, Diversity & Organizational Development | February 2021
Multimedia Producer | January 2021
Graphic Designer and Multimedia Producer January 2020
Digital Collections Librarian | June 2017
Digital Preservations Coordinator | June 2017
Instructional Designer for ePortfolio Initiatives | March 2017
Instructional Designer & Training Manager | January 2017
Emerging Pedagogies Strategist and Instructional Designer | September 2016
Service to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Consultation on generating more accessible PDFs using advanced InDesign tools | 2020 July | University of Texas - Arlington
Sketch-notetaker at the “amplifying the unheard” flipped symposium | 2020 January | University Libraries at Virginia Tech
Universal Design and Accessibility for VT Digital Newsletters Working Group | Spring 2019 | University Libraries at Virginia Tech
Created brand color-combination accessibility guide for Virginia Tech communicators | 2018 November | University Libraries at Virginia Tech