It was my birthday, I was getting to show my artwork to Jim for the very first time, and both Chris Swift and John Rosengrant, our Supervisor, were telling me horror stories about working with Cameron on Terminator 2!! I was getting real nervous. Our first presentation was on my birthday, Dec 07, 2005. I spent about 20 hours a day for the next 14 days cranking out artwork. Lucky for me my wife was just as excited that I was working with Jim Cameron and didn’t mind that she didn’t see me for two weeks. Once I got to the point of starting my first image I put 150% of my time and energy into doing the best work I possibly could for the next two weeks. I went back to Stan Winston Studio and started a lot of research on the Internet. I was really excited and intimidated all at once. Then Jim gave us the ultimate download of images from ILM, Neville Page, Yuri Bartoli, Jordu Schell and Wayne Barlowe. He said that the two of us “better show Jim some cool shit!” We met with Jim Cameron that week in his Santa Monica office, were given two hours to read the scriptment (which was more than a two hour read!) I didn’t get to finish it!! I’m a slow reader. A day later, Christopher Swift and I were called into Stan’s office for a meeting. He said he spoke with “Jim” (Cameron) who had already spent a year developing his next film, and that we have been given two weeks to show him something “new” and “spectacular” for his secret film “Project 880.” Winston said that only two artists would be chosen to try and accomplish this daunting task. While I was working at Stan Winston Studio about mid 2005, Stan Winston brought the entire studio to the display room for a meeting. Pepe's first Na'vi Male and Female designs done for James Cameron. A few weeks later, while brushing my teeth, I received a call from Swift in which he asked: “How fast can you get over to the studio?” and I gurgled “15 minutes.” And that turned into my four year adventure with the gang at Stan Winston Studio. I showed Christopher Swift, a veteran Stan Winston artist, my work on the spot. Fortunately I carried a portfolio with me every day just in case. Once AVP was finished a friend named Chris Grossnickle asked me “where are you going next?” and I said disappointingly “home.” He said that he would introduce me to a friend from Stan Winston Studio that was coming to pick him up and that he could set up an interview to show my work. They hired me on AVP back in July of 2003 for three months to design the weapons and armor for the predators. at ADI because they were looking for a concept artist. ![]() After being laid off from Disney Feature Animation Kevin contacted me to see if I was available to interview with Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. He liked my portfolio and we kept in contact. My older brother Louis introduced me to a friend of his named Kevin McTurk who is a veteran practical FX artist.
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