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Download my resume in Microsoft Word format. |
Donny Jansen's Biography & Career:
For a complete account of my job history and marketable skills, please see my resume.
As long as I can remember, I've been drawing pictures. Even as early as 1st grade, when the teachers asked what everyone wanted to be when they grew up, to the chorus of the other kids' "Fireman!", "Doctor!", and "President!" I always added "Artist!" In elementary school I had whole notebooks filled with giant monsters rampaging through the city and being attacked by tanks and helicopters (what can I say, I just LOVED those Japanese monster B-movies). By junior high I even hand-made a short animated cartoon using a few hundred sheets of looseleaf notebook paper and my parents' old super 8 movie camera. But it wasn't until I went to the High School for Performing and Visual Arts that I started putting in the time and effort needed to really polish my skills.
I graduated in 1983 and went on to college, majoring in (of course) fine arts and illustration. I transferred to UT at Austin because I found out that there were openings in the Daily Texan for student cartoonists. I did get into the school paper for about 2 years doing a fun little comic strip. It was entirely too derivative of Doonesbury, but it was a great learning experience and taught me a lot about the pressures of deadlines (something that, as an art student, I had long believed only existed for other people). Eventually, I got into hot water with the editors (it's a long story, but essentially I made them look foolish) and was blacklisted. I got back into the paper with another strip for another year by collaborating on a strip with my buddy Kevin and having him sign his name to the work!
I eventually graduated with a BA in Fine Arts in 1987 and discovered that in the real world no one cared about a Fine Arts degree. For many years I worked at whatever jobs I could find – data entry for the IRS, waiting tables, even a (mercifully brief) stint as a dancing blackjack dealer in a teenage night club. Oh, the horror.
During that time I occasionally managed to land a job as an illustrator, most notably as the interior artist for two superhero RPG game supplements. But I soon realized that digital graphics and photo retouching were slowly taking over the traditional market and that I had better adapt or perish. I made a move into print production, beginning with working as an illustrator and a layout designer for a pair of technical magazines, moving on to do the same thing at the Houston Chronicle for about a year, and then finally working at a print shop doing digital prepress (word to the wise: NEVER believe the photos in a real estate ad!)
Around 1995, some friends of mine started a company called Net Explorer that designed websites and provided web solutions for e-business, which was just in its infancy. I came on board as the company's production artist and begin learning all about the wonders of HTML. 
We started out with just six guys sitting around someone's mom's kitchen table, and within a few years of mergers and expansion we found ourselves part of a fast-growing company with over a hundred employees in NYC, Houston, and a few other cities. The name changed, first to "Nuforia", and then to "Red Sky Interactive" (and almost became "Raildown Gumbo" in between before someone wised up). Sounds like the American Dream – but unfortunately, like so many other start-ups in the tech bubble of those years, ultimately the company failed when reality set in. It was an educational experience in many ways, however.
In 1997, while the company was still known as Net Explorer, I met the woman of my dreams while minding my own business at the Texas Renaissance Festival. That is a story in itself! And it was love at first sight for both of us (fortunately, or I would probably have run foul of the state's stalking laws). Jamie and I were married exactly a year later, and she has been a steady source of love and support, both in my career and my personal life. I would not have made it this far without her, and I can't imagine my life without her in it.
After the demise of Red Sky, I went on to work at Savage Design Group starting in January of 2001, where I specialized in website design, production and multimedia. That went well until the triple whammy of 9/11, the economic slowdown, and the Enron/Dynegy scandals (the company's primary clients were in the energy industry, and we had JUST signed a huge deal with Enron when the scandal broke – it's all in the timing.)
SDG (and its very conscientious owner Paula Savage) really tried their best to keep us all on staff, but by April 2002 finally had to start cutting back and I was laid off (last hired, first fired). Since then, I have been doing contract work as a freelancer illustrating magazine ads, designing and building websites, and creating interactive sales presentations – and hoping like crazy for the economy to turn around again! Web Chameleon is my own company, consisting of just me and my good old iMac and working out of my home. But, as you can see from the work on display on this website, I continue to bring the same level of professionalism and skill to the jobs I do now as when I worked at prestigious companies like SDG and Red Sky.