Jacob Flores-Popcak MA, MA, LMHC
DESIGN WITH THE MIND IN MIND
Jacob Flores-Popčak (he/him) is a designer specializing in themed entertainment. With a dual foundation in clinical psychology and interdisciplinary design, Jacob brings a rare depth of audience insight to every project. His six years as a licensed psychotherapist uniquely fuel his creative process—translating human behavior into emotionally resonant, story-driven visuals. From theme parks and museums to brand identities and children’s books (12 titles and counting), his work blends analytical rigor with artistic flair. Recognized by the Walt Disney Company and featured in international exhibitions, Jacob leads with empathy, collaborates with clarity, and delivers with precision start-to-finish.
“For our museum client, Jacob looked at our rough sketches, listened to the big idea, asked pertinent questions, and then turned out a set of beautiful concept renderings in a short amount of time. I appreciate his empathy for the visitor and their experience.”
—
John Kelton, Owner/Creative Director, Kelton Design
“I have worked with Jacob on several projects during his involvement with JRA and have enjoyed his collaborative spirit and thoughtful, well-crafted visuals... He’s delivered several imaginative, on-message experiential illustrations for our projects that integrate skillful graphic understanding while also fully emotive and savvy in their execution.”
— Tony Schmidt, Director, Studio, JRA
“It’s a pleasure to collaborate with Jacob. His passion for storytelling and placemaking is evident in his work, and I always appreciate his desire to push himself.”
— Luc Steadman, Principal Concept Designer, Universal Creative
Design Process
MOOD BOARDS, STORYBOARDS & SKETCHES
My psych-informed design process always begins with quick sketches, often created in real time during design charrettes while the team and I bounce around ideas. At this point, emotional resonance is the most important thing to me: What feelings do we want to get across with this piece? How do we want guests to relate to it, or to one another as a result of encountering it? What core memories or references do we want audiences to connect to this piece?
Next, I fine tune the sketches, and when appropriate, take them into storyboarding. Almost all of my projects start with a mood board, which I try to make an immersive scene rather than a mere collection of images. This helps establish emotional tone from the very beginning of the process.
Four mood boards from four very different projects; my mood boards tend to be immersive scenes, rather than collections of images.
Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
HQ HIDDEN DOOR EXPERIENCE
The Ripley’s Believe It or Not headquarters in Orlando, Florida is home to some incredible artifacts. To enhance the guest experience of how these artifacts are stored, the Ripley’s team tasked me with several projects, including this one: a hidden trap door element to enter through for a behind-the-scenes tour.
I devised and proposed several options, including: 1. an entrance inspired by the original Believe It Or Not! comic and old time fun houses; 2. a torture chamber with an iron maiden serving as a door; 3. an inconspicuous stack of shipping crates that could be entered speakeasy-style; 4. a recreation of Ripley’s original office, complete with a classic “statuette door release”; 5. a vault that shows the damage of the adventures its survived.
Visit Vulcan
MUSEUM CONCEPT ART PACKAGE
How do you make a city’s art history accessible and inspirational for kids? That was one question that drove this blue sky design I rendered for Vulcan Park & Museum, depicting the studio of famed artist Giuseppe Moretti as he crafts his statue of Vulcan for the 1904 World’s Fair. Working with Kelton Design, we envisioned a whimsically-cluttered space where kids could get up-close-andpersonal with sculpting tools, as well as have a humorous encounter with Vulcan himself.
I also created several concept sketches depicted how children might playfully learn about Birmingham’s cast iron industry, illustrated by the example below.
Tausendfüssler
RIDE REIMAGINING CONCEPT PACKAGE
Erlebnispark Tripsdrill is a wildlife and theme park near Cleebronn in Southern Germany. The park wanted to completely reimagine the queue and exterior of its iconic Tausendfüssler family coaster as it prepared for the attraction’s 40th anniversary.
I was commissioned by Alex Korting to reenvision the area as the home of a caterpillar who loves to run competitively. I drafted the concept art and conceived the visual gags, from the mock inspirational posters to the bunting of “drying socks.”
The path to the Tausendfüssler attraction entryway is homey and lived-in, with colorful socks drying above.
The queue depicts the interior of the racing caterpillar’s home; mementos of his victories adorn overhead shelves.
The ride path takes guests past an in-world billboard for a “green leaf” shake favored by caterpillar athletes.
Haunt Logos & Posters
HAUNTED ATTRACTION PROMOTION
These haunt walkthroughs and accompanying posters/logos advertise two haunted maze attractions, themed to the Loch Ness Monster and Italian medieval werewolves, respectively:
In 16th century Italy, harvest season means the clashing of two ancient cults. Now you’re trapped in a battle between werewolf zealots and wicked witches, and it’s pray-or-be-prey in this cursed, Inquisition-era village!
While exploring the ruins of a Scottish castle, you discover a torn-apart tour boat and a horde of hungry hatchlings before coming face to face with their monstrous mama in a half sunken cave. Can you survive the nest of Nessie?
Campfire : Theatre in the Round
OUTDOOR AMPHITHEATER CONCEPT
Inspired by the great American folktales told around the campfire, this outdoor amphitheater concept places the stage within the “fire” itself, with gigantic logs serving as pillars around a central performance space. The stage itself resembles an ancient stump where storytellers and performers can entrance audiences of up to 1,100 people.
Holly Jolly TM Junction
SEASONAL ACTIVATION CONCEPT
I was very excited to have worked with Herschend Family Entertainment to illustrate this image depicting Holly JollyTM Junction at Christmas at Kentucky Kingdom. Used for in-park promotion of the event, the handdone illustrative style of the piece allowed for a tactile and bespoke quality that gave the art a storybook feel, perfect for the world of
Bircus Brewing Co.
BREWERY THEMING CONCEPT
I conceived this elephant stage for Bircus, a circus-themed brewery, as an answer to two needs: that for more storage, and the need for a dedicated performance space. The elephant’s torso creates shelving for beer kegs, and the stage itself opens to create further storage.
Bircus Brewing Company is the brainchild of former Ringling Bros. clown Paul Miller and Flemish youth circus Circusplaneet’s Coördinator, Matthias Vermael. A circus/ beer hall hybrid, it provides work and entertainment to the under-served area of Ludlow Kentucky, even while serving as a home to performers from 28 countries –Antigua to Australia, Ghana to Germany, and Indonesia to Israel.
Eggspedition : Easter Bunny
DARK RIDE PERSONAL PROJECT
Combining springtime aesthetics with Italian Renaissance architecture, I designed this classic dark ride to take guests down into the burrow of the Easter Bunny. I decided to style the Easter Bunny as one of the Renaissance masters, painting frescoes on eggs and carving masterpieces out of chocolate. Riding in Easter eggs, the guests would help him out with “quality control” and become honorary Easter bunnies by the attraction’s end.
The entrance to the attraction is set into the hills like a rabbit’s burrow, with Renaissance-inspired dome roofs.
The ride path takes guests past the Easter Bunny painting eggs in his master studio.
Lumystica
TOURING EXHIBIT CONCEPT ART
Created by Lightswitch, Lumystica is a dazzling touring event of circus-inspired fun. I created three pieces of highly-stylized concept art, reminiscent of traditional block print posters but with a fittingly modern and funky twist. The art depicts a kaleidoscopic hall of mirrors; a room of circled circus wagons and shimmering astral lanterns; and an interactive game featuring an old-time circus organ!
This concept art package deviated from my normal style but was an incredibly fun challenge. Designer Antonio Pelayo designed the logo and branding package from which I drew the vivid color palette.
Dragonslayer
ROLLER COASTER PERSONAL PROJECT
As a kid, I was obsessed with stories of knights and dragons, especially the 80s sword-andsorcery films that depicted them so vividly. I’ve always wanted a ride that could capture that same thrill, and that desire served as the inspiration for this coaster.
Modeled after the steel-motorbike-meetshorse-riding concept seen in attractions like Pony Express at Knott’s Berry Farm and Steeplechase at Luna Park in Coney Island, this coaster casts riders as knights of old. Riding along on saddle-like seats and with innovative harnesses, riders would face off against a mighty dragon and simulate a joust by way of a sharp bank turn that has riders pass other ride vehicles coming and going.
The logo/marquee for this attraction is modeled after medieval tapestries and illuminated manuscripts.
Very Merry-Go-Round
HOLIDAY CAROUSEL PERSONAL PROJECT
Inspired by German Christmas pyramids, or Weihnachtspyramide, The Very Merry GoRound” was envisioned as a double-decker carousel and with a big propeller on top (as illustrated in the logo). Instead of horses, the animals would be predominantly reindeer like the one seen here. But like most carousels, there’d be a few other animals too, in this case representing different winter holidays: a polar bear for the Winter Solstice, a horse for Hanukkah, and more.
Icelandic Restaurant
RESTAURANT AND NIGHTTIME SHOW
I was commissioned by a certain Florida theme park to create a series of concept artworks depicting a refined Icelandic-inspired restaurant, build around a waterfall projection show. I had fun including little details, like a driftwood pergola or support beams inspired by Viking ships. Unfortunately, funding to the project was cut before it could continue further, but it remains a favorite concept of mine due to the unique aesthetics.
The entrance to the restaurant is modernist, but with traditional Icelandic and Norwegian touches.
The dining area gives guests a front-row seat to a projection show on a private waterfall.
Tiki-natti
BAR ART INSTALLATION
I had the awesome opportunity to imagine, design and even fabricate this tiki art for Fishbowl at the Banks, a Cincinnati-based tiki bar. I came up with the idea to build out the city skyline as a series of tiki faces, and pitched it to the owner, who loved it.
After designing the piece with a series of sketches, I modeled it out in CAD for an initial CNC carve. I then hand carved the smaller details, staining and aging the piece and inlaying individual sea shells.
Misc. Illustration
BOOKS, COMPETITIONS & EDITORIALS
I have illustrated over 12 books, several for children, in a variety of illustration styles. In addition, I regularly create editorial illustrations for an array of national periodicals. This work has won me a number of awards, including:
Finalist, National Indie Excellence Awards | Hermosa Beach, CA 2019
First Place, Best Illustration with Graphic Design or Art | Catholic Press Association | Chicago, IL 2021
First Place, Best Illustration with Graphic Design or Art | Catholic Press Association | Chicago, IL 2019
Featured Artist | AIGA PGH365 | Pittsburgh, PA 2018
Winner/Featured Artist | Escucha Mi Voz | Jalisco, Mexico, 2016
Finalist/Featured Artist | D23 Design Challenge | Disneyland, California, 2015
Design Challenge 2015 | Finalist, Featured Artist
D23
Escucha Mi Voz! 2016 | Contest Winner Sausalito Arts Festival, American Worker Series
Ocean Outpost
MURAL PACKAGE
My inner pirate was incredibly excited to be commissioned by Melody Matheny of Melody Matheny Designs to create two huge murals for a newly developed mixed-use space at CHUKKA’s Ocean Outpost. The first mural I created was for an 8’x28’ wall and depicted the 160-acre property as it would have looked in 1746; the second mural was for the ceiling of the same space, and depicted many of the native species one should be on the lookout for when exploring the property. Both murals were rendered in the style of a mid-1700s map, with thousands of intersecting ink lines and lots of hidden illustrative details. The project also required me to render an East India Companystyle “trading stamp” to represent how the estate might have marked its goods.
Gruseltage!
AD CAMPAIGN POSTER DESIGN
To market the Halloween festivities at Austria’s Eis-Greissler theme park, I was tasked by Alex Korting Themed Entertainment Design to create a series of 7 posters at different dimensions. Drawing from the aesthetics of retro “rubber hose” style animation as well as Halloween posters from the same period, I reimagined both the park’s attractions and their adorable cow mascot Rubi with pie-eyes, gritty textures, and a limited color palette befitting the spooky family event.
