Sean (He/Him)
Environment Artist
In your own words, tell us a little bit about your role and what you do here at the studio.
I’m an Environment Artist and I, along with my team, help build all the environments and props in various ILMxLAB projects.
Walk us through your career journey a little. What drew you to wanting to work as an artist?
I started working in games in 2017, on Coco VR. Once I played Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire back in 2018, I knew I had to work at whatever studio made it. Two years later, I started working at ILMxLAB.
Does the approach for creating immersive worlds for XR technologies differ from the environments created for more traditional platforms?
In a technical sense, yes. There tends to be limitations due to the capability of the tech available. The gap closes as software continues to evolve and with every new update. Artistically, the approach doesn’t change at all.
When you’re building these high-fidelity environments, is there anything that you like to keep in the back of your mind when you get started on a project?
That it’s ok for the environments to not look amazing immediately. It might take a few hours, days or weeks before it looks the way you want.
With Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge – Enhanced Edition releasing, what are you the most excited for people to see that you were able to do on the project?
The upgrade in the quality and details of the environments. The tech that PlayStation VR2 is capable of due to the power of the PlayStation 5 has allowed us to do things that nobody would’ve thought possible in VR, yet.
What’s your favorite part about being at the studio? Is there anything in particular that makes you excited to work each week?
I know I’m always going to be working on a project that millions of people are going to love. And one of those projects will spark a new wave of fans and a new wave of creatives.
What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever gotten?
Always seek improvement and always be honest to yourself.
For someone interested in a similar career, is there a program or class that you’d recommend taking, or a skill they should learn?
Start learning in any way that suits you. If you can afford to take classes/workshops, Gnomon and numerous others offer great classes, tutorials and workshops. If you can’t, YouTube has an abundance of great free tutorials, from the basics to advanced learning.
LIGHTSPEED QUESTIONS
What’s your favorite Star Wars movie or TV show?
What do you like to do on your days off?
Currently, building guitars
What’s your favorite movie genre?
Comedy
Where’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to?
Paris
If you can meet any character in AR, who would it be?
Kang the Conqueror