Digital Matte Painting Intern

Lucasfilm Animation Ltd., the creators of the Emmy award-winning animation series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and the highly successful animation series “Star Wars Rebels,” “Star Wars Resistance,” “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” “Tales of the Jedi” and “Tales of the Empire” are looking for a Digital Matte Painting Intern who reflects the innovative spirit, creative talent, production excellence, collaborative mindset and passion for great filmmaking that defines Lucasfilm Ltd..

The primary role of a "Digital Matte Painting Intern" is to support and learn from the Director of Cinematography while working directly with the in-house Digimatte Artist and Senior Lighting Concept Artist in the creation of digital mattes and environments as well as bringing individual shots to completion based on the painting style and direction of the show.

On any given day, you will draw upon all available tools and skills to stylistically create set extensions for practical or digital mattes to represent our many Star Wars worlds. You will balance your technical and creative skills along with all of your problem solving knowledge to create worlds in the Star Wars universe that can only be achieved through ingenuity, teamwork, creativity, and exacting focus. Every day you will attend Lighting Dailies with the Director of Cinematography and the lighting/FX/matte team. This will be an exciting opportunity to learn a very unique 3d animation pipeline and contribute to the artistry, craftsmanship, and technical innovation of our award winning production.

Being a part of the Lucasfilm Animation team that creates animated Star Wars content, means that we work together as a team to make every single episode better than the last. You will be tasked with challenges, some more difficult than others, often bordering impossible; however, as a team we can make the impossible happen, and learn together.

What you'll do:

• Utilizing paint skills to create original 2D, 2.5D, and 3D content that may comprise part or all of an environment, sky, or element.

• Use both traditional and emergent approaches for creating digital environments to either supplement or complement traditional 2D/3D rendered elements.

• Use traditional 2D/3D skills to aid in shot finaling pertaining to backgrounds, sets and mattes to bring the final image/shot to completion.

• Maintain a stylized yet photographic sense of lighting, perspective, and color referring to the style guides and direction of the current show.

• Attend dailies with the Lighting/Matte/VFX department for reviews of all incoming dailies from overseas, as well as contribute in reviews of all internal shot work.

• Present progress of all work in dailies for notes and address any notes given in dailies to achieve final approval.

• Communicate daily with the department production manager for progress updates.

• Research, collect, and catalog reference imagery that pertains to upcoming lighting/ matte tasks.

• When requested, attend meetings with internal teams and external development teams.

What we’re looking for:

• General knowledge of Maya, Arnold, and Nuke or similar compositing software such as Natron or After Effects.

• Strong knowledge of Photoshop

• Strong understanding of color theory

• Strong sense of graphic composition

• Diverse background painting portfolio showcasing different types of locations and different painting styles

• Strong understanding of basic photographic methods (film/exposure/light ratio)

• Ability to adapt within a very fast paced schedule, and rapid turnaround on given direction

• Ability to light/render/comp elements together into a completed final shot

• Broad knowledge of film and art history

• Ability to take direction from notes given and eagerness to learn new skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience creating 2d/2.5d/3d animated matte paintings or backgrounds on a production.

• Experience with traditional artwork methods such as plein-air landscape painting

• Basic knowledge of Blender, Unreal Engine, Houdini, or other 3d software that would be useful in the creation of environments used in matte/background creation.

• Self-starter, energetic, and able to prioritize workload.

• Strong and clear communication skills.

• Team player that strives to maximize team and department performance.

• Detail oriented, highly organized and able to handle a variety of tasks in an efficient manner.

• Strong understanding of production deadlines and time management.

Education:

• Currently working toward a Bachelor's with a major in Painting, Digital Art, Game Design & Development, Animation, or a related field.

Eligibility Requirements & Program Information

Candidates for this opportunity MUST meet all of the below requirements:

• Be enrolled in an accredited college/university pursuing a degree taking at least one class at time of application OR currently participating in a Disney College Program or Disney Internship. Current Disney Interns, College, International, or Culinary Program Participants: You may only work for ONE consecutive year (12 months) in any combination of an internship and/or program.

• Be at least 18 years of age

• Possess unrestricted work authorization
   

Additional Information

• Must be able to have a consistent, reliable work schedule throughout the internship

• The approximate dates of this internship are early June 2025- August 2025

• Must provide own housing and reliable transportation during the internship in the San Francisco, CA  area