If
Andy Schlossberg could ice skate and hit a puck with precision,
he would be an excellent hockey player. Instead, he devotes his
time to Flash and Director development for animation, games, and
websites.
Born
in a small mining town called Pittsburgh, Andy recollects, "My
earliest memories are fuzzy until I was about three or four, then
there was this black lab, I broke my leg, and I discovered drawing."
Andy's first experience with computers and art was in high school
using Corel Draw. His real education began with the Visual Arts
Program at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. There he studied
every medium he could get his hands on from film, photography,
and video to illustration, animation, and even some programming
languages. The breadth of his studies allowed Andy to better understand
the programs and tools he used in his major, computer graphics.
After four years of college and all the snow he could handle,
Andy fled the cold, cloudy Northeast for the sunny skies of Los
Angeles where he has been ever since.
Currently,
Andy develops Flash and Shockwave content on a freelance and contract
basis. He recently began teaching an introductory Flash class
for Moviola and donated his time to FlashCore, the global new
media creative & technical community, assisting them with the
initial development of the FlashCore website.
Prior
to that, Andy was the Lead Flash Animator at The ROMP,
an irreverent entertainment website, where he led a team of animators
and programmers developing original Flash and Shockwave animations
and games.
During his time at The ROMP, Andy developed branding animations,
Flash-cards, and original Shockwave games, as well as matching
many animation styles making additions and adjustments to externally
developed content.
Before
The ROMP, Andy worked as a Senior Web Engineer developing
templates and working on many of the "show" websites
for the infamous DEN. He also worked at a small web development
company called TROON where he acted as an HTML / JavaScript
programmer and web designer on numerous client websites.
Andy's
thoughts on production:
The people you work with developing a website can make the difference
between a pleasant experience and a nightmare. I have known too
many designers who thought they could program, too many programmers
who thought they could design, and far too many people stepping
on toes interfering with other people’s jobs.
My
favorite co-workers from the past understood they did not know
everything, and they were not afraid to ask questions. These people
are always a pleasure to work with, and production usually flows
smoothly. This is especially true of producers and project managers.
I have also worked with people who knew nothing about web development
beyond the scope of their duties. These people do not understand
what their co-workers do and, in many cases, do not care resulting
in late nights at the office and tight deadlines.
This
is not to say don’t try to learn about other fields of web development,
but be aware that your co-workers are hired to do a job and you
need to let them do it.
