Resume

About Garman

My name is Garman, and I’m a traditional and Visual Effects artist and teacher. I’ve worked and taught in North America and East Asia. I received an Advertising Design degree, concentrating in calligraphy and hand lettering. I followed that with a drawing and painting MA, which introduced me to early computer graphics.

I’ve always enjoyed teaching those who are eager to learn, and I consider this my top profession and the most rewarding.

Teaching

Between feature films, I’ve taught visual effects at the Savannah College of Art and Design, the University of Texas at Dallas, the Gnomon School, Peking University, the Mars Era schools in Beijing and Shanghai, and online via the Vancouver Animation School.  For a few years, I ran my own online school, Vizy Acky. After several years offline, I have resurrected Vizy Acky under this website.

Many of my students work in the feature film effects and game industries around the world.

The Return to Iowa

In 2018, I returned to Iowa to spend more time with my mother, and finally finished my MFA in Graphic Design under Anson Call at Iowa State University, where I worked on the story and production design for my “52-1/2 Feet” original project.

Living in Asia

For fifteen years, over two tours, I worked in Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Beijing, and Singapore. It started with broadcast commercials, which turned into feature film work as the technology expanded.

Living and working in Asia is different. Each city has its own idiosyncrasies. I’m often asked which I liked best. I like a little of this and a little of that. Overall, I liked Beijing. I liked the people I met and the work I did while there. Especially the drawings. I drew over 4,000 drawings, mostly at coffee shops, over a two-year period in Beijing.

VFX Production

I started in computer animation at Post Production Services in 1986, working with one of the early 3D systems, the Bosch FGS-4000.  The early 3D animation work was broadcast graphics and flying logos.

In 1988, I relocated to Taipei, Taiwan, which began my first nine-year Asian tour. Then, on to  Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, and Singapore for advertising. In 1999, I went to Los Angeles and worked on my first Hollywood feature, "O Brother Where Art Thou," followed by "X-Men", "The Day After Tomorrow,”  "Cast Away", "Harry Potter and most recently “Ghosted" for Apple TV.

A Wanderer

I’ve had the wander bug, having grown up in Iowa with part of my childhood in Denmark. In the US, I’ve lived and worked in Los Angeles, Savannah, GA, Dallas, TX, and Bellingham, WA. Internationally, I’ve lived in Taipei, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, Thailand, and Singapore. And I’ve touched my feet down in about 23 countries, mostly for work. Those were the days before the internet made file transfers easier than bringing a videotape on an airplane.

Back to Teaching

For now, I’ve returned to my boyhood home, teaching remotely and working on personal projects.

In 2008 while living in Dallas, TX I opened Vizy Acky as school to teach Houdini. It quickly morphed into an online-only school, with students from every continent except Antarctica.

I was eventually pulled back into feature film production full-time and put Vizy Acky on the back-shelf, still teaching but inside production facilities in Beijing and Vancouver BC.

During COVID I resurrected the trade-name Vizy Acky to serve the remote teaching needs of professionals around the world.