Roger and I have been working in the Game Industry for over 20 years. When I moved to L.A. in the mid-’90s, Roger unknowingly replaced me at a company called NuFx Inc. which was a third-party game developer, mainly on Electronic Arts games.
Years later, Electronic Arts bought NuFX, and it became EA Chicago. I returned to Chicago to work with the many talented folks there—and finally met Roger too. We logged countless hours of working on games, foodie endeavors, ping-pong, Nerf-wars galore, and even walked through blizzards to get late-night mini-tacos while crunching on several productions.
Since then it has been years of working at various game studios until they closed or we moved on, building art teams for several studios like Robomodo, Synapse, Scientific Games, Iron Galaxy, and more. The story continues…
The bottom line—we are artists. We have lived as artists. We have grown as artists and now we are thriving Directors who can share our experiences with the next generation of artists.
Throughout our career journey, we have worked from Associate artists to Senior artists, to Leads, Directors, and even Freelancers too! We built and managed art production teams, and we have roles creating Concept and Character Art, Environment Art, UI/UX, Animation, and Motion Design—and vast experience hiring for these positions as well.
All of our experience was learned on the job from over 20 years of actually developing Games, Commercials, and Movies. We are grateful to have made a living with a career we love and have collaborated with the best talent on the planet.
Today’s aspiring artists are faced with a new challenge—oversaturated markets and learning platforms. Not to mention YouTube, and every college claiming to have some sort of “Game Development” curriculum. After years of teaching at them, we found them to have under-developed curriculums that leave students with little-to-no relevant skills to get the job they want and zero portfolio development.
How do you know what to do? How do you get to your dream job? The answer is more than a class, it is more than creating art. You need to have a plan of action and a direction before you go on your journey.
This is one of the main reasons why Chimirus was founded. Working through our own career journey made us realize that we can offer a different approach, a more personal learning experience—with the right information, the right network, and the right approach.
Chimirus is a source of inspiration, education, and community. We are firm believers in the professionals instructing the profession and we focus on the skills absolutely required for success in the game industry. We welcome you to join us on our journey so we can help you on yours!
Dave Pasciuto is the Founder of Chimirus, and has been working and teaching in the entertainment industry for over 25 years at several production studios such as Iron Galaxy, EA Chicago, Robomodo, Framestore, Leviathan, Dose Pictures, Gnomon, and more. Various clients include Disney, Warner Brothers, HBO, CBS, ABC, ESPN Sports, Real-D, Sony, Samsung, Activision, Zynga, and many more.
Roger Yuen has been working in the Game industry for over 20 years. He’s contributed to over 35 games, ranging from AAA console games to extremely popular mobile games. Roger has brought his skills as an artist and sparkling personality as a leader to well-established studios such as; Electronic Arts, Robomodo, Seven Lights, Flipside5, Scientific Games, Synapse Games, Kongregate, and most recently, Iron Galaxy Studios. His passions are to create, collaborate, motivate, and build great games.
We serve aspiring 2D and 3D Game Artists. We understand first-hand that being an artist and getting into games is challenging. Competition is fierce and often times we wonder if we are good enough, talented enough, or have what it takes to succeed.
We personally know that procrastination and motivation come from a lack of clarity and not having direction towards your goal. This is where we come in
We give you clear goals, clear direction, and motivation towards your dream. You are not alone. We are your coach and guide on your journey.
The name Chimirus (Kai’ meer’ us) is a nod to the “Chimera,” a three-headed beast from Greek folklore with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and the tail of a snake. Something legendary; existing only in one’s imagination. In this case, our “beast” represents today’s three core digital production needs: Design, 3D, and Animation. Yeah, we know it’s different because we are different.
The first part of the name, “Chi”—well, no surprises there. Chi-town is our hometown—the city we know and love: Chicago. The second half, “mirus” in Latin, means “to wonder ” or “marvel.” It is literally where the magic happens. Because isn’t that really what we as artists do? We create magic; that wonder…enter Chimirus.
Each Animal represents an aspect of our coaching approach and values at Chimirus.
The Lion represents Courage, Wisdom, Protection, and Royalty. We know it takes Courage to do what we do, that is why we share our Wisdom, Protect you from misinformation and irrelevant sources of artist truth, and treat you like Royalty when we work together.
The Goat symbolizes powerful Philosophy, Intelligence, and Order. We not only understand how to create game art—we have been doing it for over 20 years. Our ability to manage and organize the production of 2D and 3D art is our specialty—we manage your coaching projects the exact same way we do on the job.
The Snake exemplifies Healing, Transformation, and Life Changes—Mindset and Spiritual Guidance. As we grow as artists, so does our career challenges and our goals. It not only takes skill growth, but also takes routine, a positive mindset, and the power of belief to achieve your next-level!
