Jamy Wheless

Jamy Wheless began his artistic practice in the early years of grammar school, initially inspired by the iconic characters of Marvel comic books. Growing up, he often dedicated hours to perfecting action-packed illustrations, during which he established his passion for art--and has never looked back. After graduating with a degree in Visual Arts from Auburn University in 1987, he worked as a freelance illustrator in Atlanta, Georgia, which led to assignments in storyboarding and traditional animation.

With the release of Jurassic Park, Jamy then turned his traditional artistic talents towards computer animation. He sharpened his digital skills and in 1995 caught the eye of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic when his first short film, Avery, premiered at SIGGRAPH. In 1996, he was hired by ILM to work on commercials as a technical director and character animator. In 2000, Jamy became a member of ILM’s feature production team, where he was a lead animator responsible for the character development and performances of the first digital Yoda for the Star Wars prequels as well as Davy Jones for the Pirates of the Caribbean films amongst many others.