Narwhal Studios

Narwhal Studios is the virtual-art-department studio I co-founded in 2015 with Safari Sosebee. It began as Happy Mushroom, and I led it for the better part of a decade, bridging the art department, story, and tech (VFX and game engine). When the call for The Mandalorian came in 2019, we grew from fifteen people to over a hundred within three years. Along the way I worked closely with directors, production designers, cinematographers, VFX supervisors, and producers, including Jon Favreau and others at his caliber. My approach grew out of my years at The Third Floor, where I first learned to build previs and environments inside the art department.

As one of the first studios to specialize in Unreal Engine inside the art department, we introduced Lucasfilm, Marvel, Netflix, Warner Bros., Paramount, and others to virtual production and the virtual art department. My role was to work with each production on the keys to the process: sourcing and building the team, setting schedules and budgets, consulting productions, onboarding keys, and supporting the crew so they could do their best creative work. On the toughest shows, like The Mandalorian, where we had to introduce new tech and process, I also art directed.