Do you dream of working at Lucasfilm Animation? If so, the LightBox Expo panel titled “Your Career Path at Lucasfilm Animation” would’ve been right up your alley. Seven talented artists each discussed their journey to LucasFilm Animation. Like the broader animation industry, no two paths are the same, but what is consistent is having passion and dedication to your craft.
Dawn Carlos is a Concept Designer who joined Lucasfilm Animation three years ago, but has been in the animation industry longer. She shared some tips that helped her get the job, starting with creating a portfolio that reflects the type of work you want to get, as well as your passion. Part of the reason she was a natural fit for production on Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi is that she had lots of experience with painterly styles. She also encouraged industry hopefuls to stay curious and to never stop learning from their peers and collaborators.
Caitlin Cheek has also been at Lucasfilm Animation for three years, although this is her first job in the animation industry. Before she was an Asset Assistant Technical Director, helping to create digital assets for the animators to use, she stayed at her alma mater, Texas A&M, as an educator specializing in animation. With a passion for oil painting, she was a natural fit to help create assets in the painterly style of The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi. She also gave an overview of her work creating assets, using an example of a ship starting with a simple proxy that can be tested, then a medium model that’s quick to render, and a final textured version for the finished episode.
Tori Niu joined Lucasfilm Animation in 2019 after an internship at Pixar. Tori shared that their best learning experience came after school, being inexperienced as a 3D Story Artist when they first began on The Bad Batch. Lucasfilm Animation trained Tori for the job, which begins with a story kickoff for each episode where scenes are assigned to 3D Story Artists, who create 2D thumbnails and story beats before getting approval to use previsualization tools to create an animatic, which becomes a guide for overseas animators.
Greg Verreault has been an animator at Lucasfilm Animation for a year, crediting Star Wars: The Clone Wars as one of his biggest inspirations. He didn’t have a great college experience in Canada, but got a job at Mercury Filmworks, a vendor used by Disney on shows like Mickey Mouse, Wander Over Yonder, and The Lion Guard. He came to the United States via Sony Imageworks to get into feature films, and also worked at BlueSky on Spies in Disguise and Disney Animation on Encanto, Baymax!, and Strange World. While in Southern California, he attended Star Wars Celebration where he met Animation Director Keith Kellogg. There weren’t any openings at the time, but Keith gave Greg a call when there was a position, and he quickly jumped at the chance to relocate to the Bay Area where he now animates key scenes and makes edits to overseas animation on The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi. When new characters are created, Greg also gets to figure out their movements and walk cycles as an aid to other animators.
Miguel Perez is also an alumnus of Walt Disney Animation Studios, working as a lighting artist on Frozen 2, Baymax!, Zootopia+, and Strange World. Now at Lucasfilm Animation, Miguel is a Generalist with a focus on lighting and FX. He works closely with the Lighting and FX Director to create 3D lighting keys for episodes in addition to look and tool development. When animation comes back from overseas, he also helps finalize the frames with roto and paint tools.
Molly Denmark’s career with Lucasfilm predates the existence of Lucasfilm Animation, joining LucasArts (later known as Lucasfilm Games) in 1999 as a concept artist on games inspired by Star Wars and Indiana Jones, as well as original projects like Monkey Island. She recounted the sad day in 2013 when the department was shuttered after Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm. But a former colleague of hers had previously moved to Lucasfilm Animation, and when they were promoted, they recommended Molly to take over their role as the Senior Lighting Concept Artist, a role she’s held since 2013. Molly’s credits include seasons 3 and 4 of Star Wars: Rebels, the final batch of episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Resistance, The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi.
Closing out the panel was Associate Postproduction Manager Tanha Dil, who came to Lucasfilm Animation by way of live-action television work. She started as a production assistant to get her foot in the door, eventually ending up at Marvel Studios. With the exception of a short period of time on the crew of Netflix’s Waffles + Mochi, which has animated elements, she had no animation experience when she applied to Lucasfilm Animation in 2022. However, she came to the role with a lot of enthusiasm for the animation pipeline, and her favorite part of the job is watching episodes over and over during the quality check phase.
Seven stories, each different, but each culminating in jobs at the same studio: Lucasfilm Animation. You’ll be able to see the work of these artists in future episodes of The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi on Disney+. Click here for more coverage from LightBox Expo.