'MEDAL OF HONOR’ VIDEO GAME ANIMATION DIRECTOR COMES TO I.E.

(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Sunil Thankamushy has what most young men would consider to be the dream job. He gets paid to design and play video games like “Call of Duty: Finest Hour.”

Thankamushy, founder of the video game studio Spark Unlimited, is a guest speaker at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire, located at 630 E. Brier in San Bernardino, at 11:50 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25. He is talking to students about how to break into the video game industry. Everyone is welcome. Please check in at the front desk.

“Sunil is a veteran insider of the video game industry,” said Santosh Oommen, Academic Director for Game Art and Design at The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire. “He offers our Game Art and Design students valuable tips on how to break into this business.”

The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire’s Game Art and Design program prepares young people for jobs as video game designers and animators.

Thankamushy was one of the first animators selected by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Interactive Studio. Thankamushy was one of a handful of people chosen to create the best-selling World War II video game “Medal of Honor.” As animation director of “Medal of Honor,” Thankamushy helped turn Spielberg’s ideas into a multi-billion dollar video game franchise.

“Medal of Honor” is loosely based on Spielberg’s Oscar-winning movie “Saving Private Ryan.” Imagine Games Network (IGN), a web site covering the video game industry, ranked “Medal of Honor” as one of the top 25 games of all time for the PlayStation console.

After leaving DreamWorks Interactive, Thankamushy also worked at video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) before starting his own studio, Spark Unlimited. The studio has launched two originals games, “Turning Point: Fall of Liberty” and “Legendary.”

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion & Retail Management, and Media Arts & Animation. It offers an Associate degree in Graphic Design, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fashion Design.


The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers an Associate degree in Culinary Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree in Culinary Management. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.

It’s not too late to start a new term at The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire. Courses begin April 6 and classes are offered in the day, evening and on weekends for new and reentry students.

For more information, or to arrange a tour, call The Art Institute at (909) 915-2100 or go on line to www.artinstitutes.edu/InlandEmpire.

The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of the Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu/InlandEmpire), a system of more than 40 locations throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.

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