Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, I decided to move to San Francisco to attend the Academy of Art University. I graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Animation.

 

After San Francisco, I attended Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Games and Animation, with an incredible opportunity to learning advanced creature modeling and texturing from Madeleine Spencer. She is an acclaimed digital sculptor known for her digital work in Gentle Giant Studio and Weta Digital: Visual Effects

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After building my portfolio I then moved back to Hawaii to work for the Hawaii Animation Studio. During my time there I had the opportunity to work with clients like Discovery Channel, Timoon, Big Idea Production and NASA. At around the same time I also worked as a 3d modeling instructor at the Kapiolani Community College. 

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I later moved to Utah to work on a social media project called MyRooms doing props and characters in Unity.

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Then had an opportunity to work for a medical software company called  Heartflow, where I create a 3d representation of the Heart using CT data. Then calculated the flow of blood using there own proprietary software. 

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OTHER INTERESTS

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• Sculpting

• Figure Drawing

• Photography

• Gaming

• Muay Thai

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SOFTWARE

Autodesk Maya
Pixologic ZBrush
Substance Painter

Marmoset Toolbag
Adobe Creative Cloud

Topogun
XNormal
Headus UV Layout

Zendesk

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SKILLS

Texturing
Texture Baking
UV Mapping
Retopology
High Poly Sculpting
Low Poly Modeling
Character Modeling
Creature Modeling
Prop Modeling
Character Design

Graphic Design

Photo Retouching

Color Correction

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PROJECTS

Museum of Natural History: Monsters of the Deep
•  Sculpted main dinosaur characters (Kronosaurus, Coalecanth).

Bishop Museum: Deep Ocean Simulator
•  Design main character model (Diver) to be used in game.
•  Modeled environmental assets and props

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Timoon Animation: Fish & Chips
•  Modeled props and environments.

Discovery Channel: Dinosaur Revolution
•  Retopologized hi resolution dinosaur scan data.
•  Baked hi quality displacement and normal maps.
•  Created ground and shadow planes.
•  Modeled props and character assets.
Big Idea Entertainment: Veggie Tales the Movie
•  Modeled movie quality props and environmental assets.

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"James was one of 4 modellers who created over 100 dinosaur characters for Discovery HD's REIGN OF THE DINOSAURS and an interactive exhibit of prehistoric creatures for the Museum of Natural History in NYC. His skills in Maya, Topogun and ZBrush were professional. I would recommend him for creature modelling, from base mesh to ZBrush and UV's"

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REMINGTON SCOTT

Director and Producer Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality / AAA Video Games and CGI Films

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"James was one of my first employees at MyRooms and a very talented 3D artists and valuable employee. His knowledge and skill-set of Maya, ZBrush and Photoshop were exemplary. One thing that stuck out early on was his ability to express his thoughts on improvements in an effective way. I would recommend James, his work ethic and skills to any studio or independent client." 

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TIMBER BARKER
CEO / Founder at Studio 11k, INC.

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"A skilled 3d artist in both modeling & texturing as well as assisting with visual target demos for programmers. James developed a large portion of models for the platform, even spending hours to hit deadlines & visual designs. He is organized and promotes the same of others on the production floor. James is dedicated and passionate as well as team oriented - Id recommend him for any 3d team."

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VERONICA LYNN HARPER

FINE ART STAGING . ARTIST . DIRECTOR .DANCER . EVENTS . FASHION . VR . AR . MOCAP . VIDEO GAMES . FILM . INSTRUCTOR