Biography

Garman Herigstad grew up in Roland, Iowa and received his Advertising Design and Drawing and Painting education at Iowa State University.

With a concentration in calligraphy and hand lettering, in 1986 he started in the computer graphics industry at Post Production Services working on the legendary Bosch FHS4000. In the early 3D animation era, most of the work was broadcast graphics and flying logos. Very suitable for a lettering artist.

In 1988 he relocated to Taipei, Taiwan as trainer at Fary AV (Video Post) and as the first teacher at a new startup CGCG.

In late 1988 he moved to Hong Kong where he formed Computer Motion Control, the production arm of Yiu-Wing Technologies Ltd. under Joe Seow and Stella Seow. In 1990 the crew of CMC reformed under Spin Limited, which became Garman's Hong Kong based CGI business.

For nine years Garman worked in Asia, having bases in Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Bangkok and Singapore. Most notable were his property development commercials for the Muang Thong Thani Industrial Estate and The Land and House Company in Bangkok. Garman worked a year each at Iloura Post Production (Thailand) and Kantana Company Limited before returning to his own business, Spin Limited, which relocated to Singapore in 1995. On the heels of the 1997 Asian Economic Recession, Garman returned to his hometown in Iowa where he worked on the "A Bug's Life Active Play" at EAI, Ames IA.

In 1999 Garman worked on his first Hollywood feature "O Brother Where Art Thou" at Digital Domain, then "X-Men", "The Time Machine", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Stealth". At Sony Pictures Imageworks Garman worked on "Cast Away" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Later Garman would work for Imageworks again at their Albuquerque studio on "The Green Lantern" and at Digital Domain's Vancouver studio on "The Watch" and "Ender's Game." (See full list of feature films.)

Garman has returned often to China to teach and work as CG Supervisor at Technicolor Beijing, BaseFX, Beijing and Versatile, Hangzhou.

Between features Garman taught visual effects at the Savannah College of Design in Savannah Georgia from January 2002 through March 2003. He has also taught at the University of Texas at Dallas, The Gnomon School in Hollywood, and operated his online school VizyAcky from 2006 to 2014. In 2010 Garman taught at the graduate school of Peking Universtiy and at the Mars Era school. Many of his students now work in the feature film effects and game industries all over the world.

In 2013 Garman relocated to Bellingham, WA and returned to doing more design, illustration and lettering, a return to the work he did in his early career.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Garman Herigstad