From Toys to iPads
My Full-Circle 3D Journey
Once upon a time—long before I had an iPad in one hand and an Apple Pencil in the other—I was elbow-deep in resin and rubber molds at my dad’s model-making shop.
Yep, my father ran his own model business, and for a while, I worked there. We made toys for the giants—Hasbro, Mattel, Kenner. Real deal stuff. Around 1998, we got tapped to work on the Inspector Gadget movie toys. That’s when I witnessed something that completely rewired my brain: a 3D computer image becoming a real, physical object. I know that sounds basic now, but back then? Pure wizardry.
Here’s how it went: Matthew Broderick got his head 3D scanned (which honestly sounds like a weird spa treatment), and the digital file was sent to an SLA machine. I had no clue what that was at the time, so let me explain like I wish someone had explained it to me.
An SLA machine is a kind of 3D printer that uses lasers to cure liquid resin into solid shapes, layer by layer. It’s called stereolithography—fancy word, but it just means sci-fi magic that makes plastic stuff. The detail it produced was incredible. The price tag? Also incredible. That machine was a massive investment for my dad’s shop.
He didn’t stop there. He also got early 3D sculpting software—stuff that let artists sculpt virtually in a 3D space. But this was the ’90s. Programs like Maya or 3D Studio Max were like trying to run a spaceship on a potato. You needed a monster computer just to open a file, and using a mouse to sculpt? Absolute torture.
Still, that was it. I was hooked. That was the moment the 3D bug bit me hard.
Spoiler alert: the Inspector Gadget toyline didn’t exactly become the next Star Wars. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is the spark.
Now fast-forward to today. I’m sitting here with an iPad and an app called Nomad Sculpt, and it’s absolutely blowing my mind. It feels like drawing—but in 3D. It’s responsive, powerful, and just ridiculously fun. Yes, the learning curve is real. I’m constantly overwhelmed. But I don’t care. I’m in love with this thing, and I’m not quitting.
So this is me, back in the 3D saddle, sculpting like it’s 1998… only way cooler and without the smell of resin.
If you’re into that kind of journey—learning, fumbling, discovering, creating—I’d love for you to follow along. I’ll be sharing updates, finished pieces, maybe even a few disasters on this Substack. I am planning on creating some merch based on Book Worms and my comic strips. If you haven’t subscribed yet, now’s a great time.
Let’s make some weird stuff together.
—James