"James Haywood is the kind of guy that redefines the role of game artist. He is a game company commodity, the kind of artist that creates and devises tools that benefits the whole company, while making his own art look great. James, you rule." - Alex Bortoluzzi, Art Lead

Highlights
• Committed to making artist's lives easier using new tools and technology.
• Quickly becomes proficient with in-house tools and procedures.
• Works closely with artists to increase productivity and reduce errors.
• Experience with all aspects of the art pipeline.
• Budgets time wisely to meet or beat deadlines and expectations.
• Strong traditional art background.
• Communicates well with both artists and engineers.
• Reputation as the "go to" guy for anything technical.
• Autodesk 3dsMax beta team member for two years.

Summary of Skills
• Tool creation using MaxScript
• Third-party tools research and evaluation
• Real-time and cinematic asset creation
• Particle effects
• Advanced character rigging
• Hard and soft body dynamics
• Cloth and hair simulation
• Compositing and editing

Software
3DS Max, MaxScript, After Effects, Photoshop, Vegas, Perforce

Experience
Bungie - Kirkland, WA
Technical Artist , 3/07-present

Gas Powered Games - Redmond, WA
Technical Director /Cinematic Artist , 1/05-3/07
• Created GPGTools, a collection of MaxScripts to increase artist productivity. Established a method of distributing the tools with minimum effort required by the artists to receive updates and additions.
• Started a weekly series of "ArtTech" meetings where artists would get together to talk about tools, new technology, and techniques for speeding work flow.
• Met weekly with engineers to talk about new gaming technology and how it could be implemented in an artist-friendly way.
• Established a training library of DVD's and books to help artist's learn new skills, as well as improve current ones.
• Dungeon Siege 2 (PC)
Polished existing cinematic sequences with upgraded textures, improved lighting, and particle effects. Established FMV production pipeline to save time and increase efficiency on future projects.
• Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World (PC)
Worked with a small FMV team to create the Intro cinematic. Involved in every stage production: script, storyboards, animatic, asset creation, scene assembly, lighting, effects, rendering, and compositing.
• Supreme Commander (PC)
Technical Director on all pre-rendered cinematics. This involved creating new tools when needed, troubleshooting technical issues, evaluating and purchasing new tools, establishing organizational conventions, and offering advice on direction and scope of movies so they could be finished on time with the limited resources we had.

Freelance 3D Artist - Seattle, WA, 10/04-12/04

Oberon Media - Seattle, WA
3D Artist, 7/04-9/04
• Lemony Snicket's, A Series of Unfortunate Events
Designed and created 36 distinct pre-rendered backgrounds over a one month period.
• BeTrapped
Created and animated 14 high poly characters, with animations, in under one month, which were then rendered in top-down, isometric view and used as animated sprites.

Treyarch - Santa Monica, CA
Technical Artist, 4/04-7/04
• Dead Rush (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube)
Created many time saving MaxScript tools which were a key factor in allowing the environment artists to create stunning levels while meeting critical milestones. They included vertex painting improvements, auto UV mapper, collision maker, and numerous workflow enhancements.
• Ultimate Spiderman (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube)
Scripted a tool to completely stop all motion for a length of time in already animated scenes, saving many hours of production time.

Frantic Films - Burbank, CA
3D Artist, 2/04-4/04
• Superman Returns (Feature Film, unfinished McG version)
Created pre-vis sequences of many of the FX heavy shots in the film. With a very tight deadline, converted story boards to 3D animatics, then refined them by working on camera moves, editing, limited character animation, and adding particle effects and lighting.

Black Ops - Santa Monica, CA
Environment Artist, 9/02-1/04
• T3: Rise of the Machines (PS2, Xbox)
Helped artists work with the not so artist-friendly game engine. Worked closely with programmers to develop and test new tools and functionality. Created three level environments, including modeling, texturing, lighting, collision, and particle effects. Fixed bugs and polished art in other levels. Modeled and textured many of the first-person weapons.
• X-Files: Resist or Serve for the PS2
Brought on late to this project, so mainly squashed bugs and optimized art assets.

Prolific Publishing - Burbank, CA
Lead Animator, 9/01-9/02
• Don't Call Me Max (Gamecube)
Created hundreds of in-game character animations, as well as the intro and in-game movies. Optimized art assets, worked with programmers, and helped with modeling and texturing tasks.

Education
Associates In Art: The Master Drawing and Painting Program, Advanced Course - 9/00
Animator’s Union: Character Design, Storyboarding, Advanced Life Drawing - 12/99-8/00
Cal State University Fullerton. Major: Fine Art, Drawing and Painting - 6/95-12/99
Platt College, Newport Beach. Major: Graphic Design - 1/93-11/93
Cal Poly University Pomona. Majors: Architecture, Computer Graphics - 6/87-12/88

References Available Upon Request