Jason van Gumster is an independent creative with a particular interest in open source tools. Very nearly everything that he produces—stories, animation, designs, videos, podcasts—they're all made using Free and open source tools, from applications all the way down to his choice of operating system. Jason has run a small animation studio, written Blender For Dummies (now in it's 4th edition), co-authored GIMP Bible, and helped "fight bad guys with art" by designing anti-counterfeit technology for currency. Most recently, Jason has been helping studios and toolmakers integrate Blender into larger production pipelines as part of CG Cookie's new consulting and development firm, Orange Turbine.
He does all of this while living and traveling full-time in an RV with his wife, two children, and 90-lbs dog. When Jason isn't working on his own creative projects, he's drinking coffee and trying to be awesome. The former he's pretty much gotten down to a science. The latter... well, every now and again he succeeds at that one and makes it look like it wasn't an accident.
