“Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them. They hire already motivated people and inspire them.”
Work
I am a creative leader who helps corporate research and development labs create visually compelling, entertaining and useful applications so they can go on to produce dynamite products at scale.
As a classically trained Artist, Autodesk Maya, Unity, Unreal and Adobe CC IC, with ARVR, UIUX, VFX and CGI Generalist chops, I revel in difficult technical situations and creatively challenging tasks. I thrive while learning and it is through this passion and enthusiasm that I have obtained a multitude of skills and experiences.
Having created visually compelling solutions for a wide variety of stakeholders, from baked renders to interactive games and applications, from A/VR prototyping to corporate video, 3D UIUX to Virtual Environments, my designs and consultations have delivered on mission critical objectives, garnered enterprise interest, educated key stakeholders and wowed customers at scale.
With an uncanny ability to recognize visual details, inconsistencies and other oddities, my innate art direction skills bring every project to the next level while exceeding the stakeholder's expectations.
Possessing a firm grasp of pipeline optimization, asset development, limitations and dependencies, I love working with talented artists, programmers, and producers, to perfect that delicate balance between jaw dropping aesthetics, implementation time, and performance.
I am excited to help you and your organization take part and deliver the next generation of real-time experiences and products.
Most importantly, l have fun doing it! From the mundane to the epic: laughter, enjoyment, and quality of life are all import factors in bringing home to roost, the very top shelf of content.
About James
A Creative with a passion for next generation real-time experiences currently living in Bellevue, WA. I love mentoring almost as much as I love getting heads down, hands dirty. A perfect blend of task master and IC diligence.
I believe that at its core, great leadership is about empathy and compassion. It is not "how do I get the most out of my team," it is how do I guide and help people to be their best selves. It is about being a steward, about understanding what my squad needs in order to nail their objectives, in budget, on time and with pride. It is about fostering a safe enough environment for them to be real. I am in this business because I have an inspired, passionate spirit and I want to use my strengths to help others arrive at their maximum potential while crafting great things. It's not what we do, or even how we do it, it's why.
After graduating from university at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a degree in Art Technology, I held multiple VFX, Motion Design and 3D Artist positions within the TV, Film, and Military industries including DARPA, Lockheed Martin, US DoD, NASA JPL, and many others.
My career in real-time graphics officially kicked off after creating a real-time car configurator for Toyota. From there I moved on to some groundbreaking Hololens prototyping at Microsoft. I was fortunate to have worked on a secret government application, numerous corporate augmented reality vision labs, and research and development work for the HoloLens augmented reality device.
From my stint at Microsoft's secretive Studio X, I transitioned to Microsoft Ambient Computing and Robotics as a 3D/CGI Generalist. The AC+R team has been diligently working to develop a system that can enhance safety and efficiency through connected cameras and other sensory devices. The system should not only recognize people and objects but also begin to learn about the environment, becoming cognizant of context and policies. I collaborated with the VP and partners to craft a series of 3D/CGI storylines that illustrated how the system might operate in the real world and clarified some of the technical aspects of the demo. A series of concept videos was produced to further the project and engage stakeholders. As the concept evolved, we refined the narrative and enlisted additional assistance to produce a public-facing presentation. The culmination of all this effort was showcased at Microsoft Build 2017.
From there I moved on to Eqogo as a Lead Technical Artist and Designer, where I consulted on the creation of an AR/MR solution to developing a robust transparency tool, assigning products a simple score based on their environmental and social impact. I was also tasked with Art Directing and owning the development of a VR, CGI experience to be used as an education tool highlighting our fully-immersive product lifecycle experience.
Onward, I took on a variety of art direction roles, from contract to FTE where I got experience first hand the excitement and fullfillment of leadership positions. Every one of these roles was fluid in nature, meaning I had to wear a great many hats and get my hands dirty in the project while continuing to mentor, foster excitement and manage accordingly.
Relentlessly curious, I have been known to take on incredible challenges, just for the growth they foster. For example, I achieved a certification as a AWS Solutions Architect. You may wonder, why on earth would an artist do a thing like that? To me it’s simple, the merging of AR and the Cloud allows the real, physical world and all of the otherwise mundane objects scattered throughout it, to animate seamlessly with meaning and imagination. AR itself becomes the interface that allows us to intuitively navigate the new layers of reality. The cloud is a unifying infrastructure; without which, all of the fragmented platforms, devices, and content, are left relatively unhinged. Continuously fated to live out a half-life that is needlessly short, because in its absence, they are not afforded the essential and critical capabilities like precise and persistent share-ability, beautifully rendered assets, or content worthy of consumption. I don't need to be a solutions architect but I can speak the language. At a high level, I understand what it would entail to marry a headset to the cloud, rendering and streaming to the device, as opposed to rendering locally, which has limitations, whereas the cloud can render in real-time at film level quality. It’s this kind of forward thinking, creative innovation that I will bring to you and your organization.
Outside of my primary work, I stay active hiking, engineering, distributing, and promoting independent music, as well as creating traditional art and enjoying my little family that consists of my wife Nicole and my sweet little boy Michael.
Education
BA in Art Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The process of invention is integral to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Department of Art and Technology Studies curriculum. Complex technological systems comprise much of the support structure and communications environment we rely on in daily life. We artists are relentlessly appropriating, repurposing, and subverting these systems in order to critique their provenance, reveal their hidden potentials, unlock experiential possibilities, or suggest alternative social frameworks. Often, the seeds of new creative behaviors are hidden within the very complexity and instability of modern technological systems, waiting to be released. While technology can be applied in traditional disciplines, in Art and Technology Studies our discipline is one of invention through the generation, hacking, and subversion of systems.
Emerging technologies often stimulate the invention of new forms. Faculty and students in Art and Technology Studies not only create new aesthetic experiences, but often the very tools and processes with which they are achieved. Through the department’s innovative curriculum, creating and manipulating objects, images, sound, music, voice, text, and movement, are explored in tandem with custom-written software, emerging materials, unconventional processes, and new methods of integration with other technologies and fields of practice.
The Art and Technology Studies curriculum is grouped within the following conceptual areas: • Hybrid and Virtual Worlds: Experimental Visualization and Fabrication • Interaction as Materials and Venue: Performative Objects and Responsive Environments • Bio Art • Embodied Networks: Collectivity and the Collapse of Separation • Thinking, Creating, and Designing with Light • History and Theory: Art and Technology Studies http://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/ats/