INOVA Design Studios

Senior Industrial Designer | Creative Technologist | Cross-Sector Innovator
📍 Bangor, Maine | ✉️ eric.mahady@gmail.com
🔗 Portfolio | 🎬 IMDB

I design what hasn’t been designed yet.
Over a 30+ year career at the intersections of marine innovation, digital production, and advanced industrial design, I’ve carved a path through firsts—building new systems, launching award-winning vessels, and helping birth the digital workflows that now shape media production worldwide.

💡 Systems Thinker, Creative Builder

From my early days as a car designer at Renault—where my concept was acquired by the museum and my salary doubled—to creating boats for Navy SEALs and award-winning animation pipelines for HBO and Nickelodeon, I thrive where vision meets execution.

Design is more than aesthetics—it's strategy, structure, and storytelling. Whether shaping a carbon-fiber catamaran, building a digital studio from scratch, or leading a team through fast-turn prototyping, I bring clarity to the chaotic and form to the undefined.

Selected Highlights

Marine & Mobility:
• Designer of the Renault Alpine Evo, now in the Renault Museum, Paris
• 10+ production boats for Chris*Craft, including the “Best of the Best” 302 Crowne
• Designer, Fast Assault Craft, U.S. DoD / Navy SEALs (2023)
• Sustainable marine design, 100% carbon-fiber catamaran, electric propulsion R&D
Media & Storytelling:
• Foundational roles in creating the first digital production studios at Warner Bros., HBO, and Nickelodeon
• Art Director, Animator, and FX artist for over 40 film and television productions, including SpongeBob, Barnyard, and Invader ZIM
• Invited speaker: Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America
Cross-Industry Innovation:
• Design strategist for NASA, exhibit design, and 3D printed tooling
• Partner in Unmanned Aero Systems, collaborating with Charley Morgan (Morgan Yachts)
• AVID & Autodesk Certified; Class-A surfacing, CADD, CAM, Rhino, Maya, Cinema 4D

Design Ethos

I was once told the reason I was hired was because “nobody else in the company could think like you.” That’s stayed with me.

I design with imagination, rigor, and a refusal to be boxed in by discipline or trend. From sketch to screen to sea trial, I create with the confidence that great design is born where industries intersect.

Titles I’ve Earned (and Invented):

Creative Technologist
Director of Advanced Design
Chief Innovation Officer (by behavior, if not title)
Digital FX Supervisor
Yacht Designer
Art Director / Animator
Studio Builder

Let’s Talk

I’m always looking for new challenges—particularly at the bleeding edge of mobility, media, and marine innovation.

If your team is tackling something no one’s done before, I’d love to hear about it.

📧 eric.mahady@gmail.com

🔗 Portfolio Site | 🎬 IMDB

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science, Transportation Design, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA

SKILLS

Senior Industrial Designer

Rhino 7

THEA

Redshift

Physical Modeling (Visual Prototypes)

Autodesk Inventor (Certified)

CAD

CAM

CNC Tool Pathing

3D Printing

Class A Surface Modeling

Management

Engineering

Engineering Change Orders

Computer Hardware

Photoshop

Cinema 4D

Autodesk Maya

Solid Works

Adobe After Effects

AVID Media Composer (Certified)

Adobe Premiere

Animation

Computer Graphics

Working Directly with Clients

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Designer: Over 20 Years Work History As A Designer with:

Chris*Craft

NASA

Fountain Power Boats

Donzi Power Boats

Warner Bros. Animation

Disney Animation

HBO Animation

Nickelodeon Animation

Film Roman

Régie National des Usines Renault

Intrepid Boats

Monterey Boats

Jupiter Yachts

MY Huntress (Re-fit)

Sea Force IX

Sharp Naval Architects

Brunswick Boat Group

Battaglia and Associates

Talon Marine

Boost Mobile

Raisins

INSTRUCTOR

Rhino for Yacht Design, Rhino for Jewelry Design, Industrial Design, Photoshop, Film Editing.

Art Center College of Design, Ringling School of Design, Directors Guild of America, and

Motion Picture Screen Cartoonist’s Guild.

CERTIFICATIONS

AVID Media Composer

Autodesk Inventor

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Renault Alpine concept, Renault Museum, Paris, France.

The "Best of the Best", Boating Magazine’s “The Best of the Best” for the Chris*Craft 302 Crowne

Chicago Boat Show Award Winner, (Motor Boating and Sailing) for the Chris*Craft Caper16

Designer, "The World’s Largest Sport Fisher", Boat International, USA

Nominated to the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Honorable Mention, National French Exams 1980 & 1981

Panelist, Producers Guild of America, New Media Conference, "Animation, from Pencils to Pixels"

Instrumental in building Warner Bros. Digital, HBO Animation Digital, and Nickelodeon Animation Digital

CREDITS/CAREER DETAILS/EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2020-2021 Partner / Consultant, Unmanned Aero Systems, LLC

2018 Designer 80 foot, 100% Carbon Fiber / Green, Performance Sailing Cat. CNC Programmer/Trainer.

2017 CNC Programmer/Trainer. NCDOT Aluminum Ferry, Ocracoke Express.

2016 Designer 3D Printed Carbon Fiber Tool.

2014 Yacht Design, Intrepid Boats, Monterey Boats, Jupiter Yachts.

2013 Designer, MY Huntress refit.

2013 Illustrator, Glacier Bay, 2780.

2012 Designer, Special Projects, Brunswick Boat Group.

2011 Project Manager, 3D Modeler, Texture Artist, “Dora the Explorer”, Main titles.

2011 3D Modeler, Texture Artist, Compositor, Lucky Charms “Rainbow”, “Everybody Flies”.

2011 Animator, BG Painter, “On the Shoulders of Giants”, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Producer.

2010 Technical Consultant/Animator Calabash Animation.

2008 Yacht Designer, Rivolta Group, $750,000 custom yachts.

2008 Yacht Designer, Sea Force IX, $8 million custom sport fishers.

2008 Key Background Artist, “Little Man Dan”, Walt Disney Television Animation.

2007 Design Management Consultant, NASA.

2006 Production Designer, The Jim Henson Company, Live-action Pilot for series.

2006 Special FX Designer/ Artist, The Jim Henson Company, Live-action Pilot for series.

2006 Designer, Displayit Inc., Exhibit and Retail Design.

2006 FX Artist/ Compositor, "Fight Science", Brain Zoo, Discovery Channel.

2005 Pre-viz, Prop Design, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, (3D)" Warner Bros.

2005 Art Director, "Murder in the Cathedral", Brian Eatwell, Production Designer.

2005 Matte Painter, "The Barnyard", Omation/ Paramount.

2005 Character Modeler, "The Barnyard", Omation/ Paramount.

2004 Co-Art Director, "Dirk Derby", O Entertainment/ Nicktoonz.

2004 Animatic Compositor, "Barnyard", Omation/ Paramount.

2003 Art and Technical Director, "Van Helsing", Universal Studios.

2002 Finish Carpenter, Private $5 million home in Malibu, CA.

2002 Co-Director, "Bahrain Summer", 40 second ad, Saatchi and Saatchi, Gulf.

2002 Head of Digital, "India MkIII Water Pump", instructional animation for UNICEF.

2002 Special Effects Supervisor/ Co-Director, "Bokshu, the Myth", Shyamaprasad, Director.

2002 Special Effects Supervisor, "Lakeer", Amir Hasan, Director.

2001 Head of Digital, Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd., Expanded and trained burgeoning overseas digital animation studio. Wrote and designed work flow of Digital Department.

2001 Effects Artist, Reel EFX, "Matrix ‘Bullet’ Cam’" style multi-cam stabilization and color timing for Ford Motor Co. and Kirin Beverage Co. commercials in After Effects.

2001 Compositor, Stargate Films/IDI, live-action compositing in After Effects for "Santa Who?" Walt Disney Productions.

2001 Compositor, Stargate Films/IDI, live-action compositing in After Effects for "Second String" Turner Network Television.

2000 Editor, "Hooligans", Compilation of rowdy football (soccer) fan footage for direct to video.

2000 Key Background Artist, “Oblongs”, Film Roman.

2000 Compositor, Ring of Fire, live-action split screen and roto-scoping in After Effects for "The Other Me", Walt Disney Productions.

1999 Digital Effects Supervisor, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Built and supervised NAS's first digital studio. Effects Animation, 3-D Animation and Post Production.

1999 Juror, ASIFA Annie Awards, Special Effects Animation.

1998 Digital Painter, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Development for "Sponge Bob Square Pants".

1998 Compositor, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Main Titles for "Invader ZIM".

1998 Digital Painter, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Title Cards and Background Paint for "The Angry Beavers".

1997 Director of Animation, Walt Disney T.V. Animation, Development for ABC's "Disney One Saturday Morning". (“Main Titles”, "Mrs. Munger's Class" [Co-Creator], "The Monkey Boys”, (Designer, Photographer), "Sub-Three" and various bumpers).

1996 Editor, "Dharma and Greg" pilot for TV series.

1996 Technical Supervisor/Editor, HBO Animation, For "Spawn" and "Spicy City". Titles. Specified, purchased, operated and maintained an AVID Media Composer, Media 100 and Photoshop paint station.

1995 Consultant, Warner Bros. T.V. Animation and Warner Bros. Feature Animation, research and evaluation for digital Ink and Paint system purchase (Cambridge Animation Systems Animo, U.S. Animation, Softimage Toonz and Core Retas Pro).

1993 Title Artist, Warner Bros. T.V. Animation, Titles for: "Batman; Mask of the Phantasm", "Batman the Animated Series", "Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries", "Freakazoid!" and "Animaniacs".

1992 Prop Artist, Warner Bros. T.V. Animation, Props for: "Tazmania", "Animaniacs", "Pinky and the Brain" and "Tiny Toons Adventures".

1990 Background Layout Artist, Warner Bros. T.V. Animation, B.G.s for "Tazmania".

1990 Architectural Modeler, Battaglia and Associates, Theme Park model for Kobe, Japan.

1989 Designer, Talon Marine, a 120 mph 37' Catamaran.

1989 Designer, OMC Chris-Craft Boats, 11 award winning Boats from 16' to 32'.

1988 Designer, Regie National des Usines Renault, Renault Alpine "Evo" show car, the Renault Museum, Paris.

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💡 Systems Thinker, Creative Builder

Selected Highlights

Design Ethos

Titles I’ve Earned (and Invented):

Let’s Talk

info@inovadesignstudios.com