Hello, My name is Jim Busike and I am currently working on a masters degree in game design with an emphasis in modeling. My personal interest is in illustration and character design and modeling. I approach art with three different facets in mind, as an instructor, I am constantly looking for newer ways of approaching the same problems. I believe the most prominent obstacles for beginning artists are mental. Thus by being able to convey concepts in a basic and simple manner, hopefully, I can diminish the aforementioned barriers. Secondly are my professional endeavors as an artist. My efforts at learning software and looking for shortcuts are not only to educate my students, but also to enable me to increase my own productivity. I want to be able to have personal time and streamlining processes and taking advantage of new developments in the field are an excellent way to achieve that. In addition, if I can generate something quickly, it gives me time to polish and revise at the end, resulting in a superior product. Lastly, I would mention my personal endeavors as an artist. My personal belief is that any talent, be it athletic, intellectual or artistic requires adversity to grow. In the case of athletic endeavors, a body must be pushed further and further beyond what was previously possible to improve. Art to me is an ongoing process, I believe to become a better artist you have to spend a great deal of time identifying and solving artistic problems. My goal in the class is to define and focus my thesis project. I want to conceptualize something that is not only appealing to others but is also compelling to me as an artist. I see the course as road mapping the next two and a half years of my life artistically.