Environment Designer

Disney Entertainment; Burbank (CA); On-site; USD 84,000 - 99,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Financial benefits

Job summary

Walt Disney Animation Studios seeks Environment Designers who blend imagination with technical skill to craft cinematic worlds. You’ll create mood, color, and architectural/organic forms, translating designs into detailed drawings and textures for downstream teams.

A strong portfolio demonstrating storytelling through environment design is essential. The role emphasizes traditional and digital media, collaboration, and willingness to explore new approaches while supporting the director’s vision.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in Photoshop.
• Professional experience required, feature animation experience preferred.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Design inspiring worlds, spaces, and moments based on a director’s vision that convey information and storytelling.
• Translate designs into detailed technical drawings and surfacing rendering to support collaboration across downstream departments.
• Communicate with downstream departments to clarify requests, provide context, and find solutions.
• Authenticate your designs with thoughtful research and inspire through your art.
• Collaborate thoughtfully and respond constructively to direction.

Skills

Photoshop

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Environment Designers visually explore and collaborate in the creation of story-driven animated worlds and their interior logic through the depiction of design ideas, dramatic story moments, mood/tonal pieces, and prop and vehicle designs that all serve a film’s narrative needs. Artists also prepare technical designs for downstream departments including technical orthographic drawings, breakdowns, and full render texture reference to inform the art direction of downstream departments. Learn more about our filmmaking process here (https://www.disneyanimation.com/process/) .

We’re looking for Environment Designers who have a rich imagination, a sense of whimsy and appeal, stylistic versatility, and masterful drawing and painting skills. Expertise in design, perspective, color, both architectural and organic forms, and a general knowledge of the CG process are also key skills in breathing life into our worlds. The ability to work both traditionally and in digital media including 3d is appreciated. We welcome artists who will bring inspirational and unexpected ideas and research to our filmmaking and our team. We encourage and embrace original thinking and passion.

What You Will Do:

• Design inspiring worlds, spaces, and moments based on a director’s vision that convey information and storytelling

• Translate designs into detailed technical drawings and surfacing rendering to support collaboration across downstream departments

• Communicate with downstream departments to clarify requests, provide context, and find solutions

• Authenticate your designs with thoughtful research and inspire through your art

• Collaborate thoughtfully and respond constructively to direction

What We’re Looking For:

• Ability to bring unique and interesting solutions to design challenges

• Ability to create cinematic compositions that convey storytelling, creating “shots” instead of illustrations

• Ability to evoke mood and feeling in your work that enhances the storytelling of your images

• Ability to utilize dynamic relationships of color & value structures to convey specific emotions and story points

• Adaptability to varying film styles and director tastes, reinforcing and furthering the established style as needed

• Adaptability to the different stages within a film (such as development, production, marketing, etc) as well as evolving workflows and tools

• Openness to new approaches, workflows, and tools and risks failure responsibly

Requirements

• Proficiency in Photoshop

• Professional experience required, feature animation experience preferred

• Bachelors degree or equivalent experience

Portfolios Should Include:

• Paintings and environment designs that demonstrate stylistic versatility and a strong understanding of specificity, storytelling, lighting, observation, mood, clarity, staging, color, perspective, and appeal

• Illustrations of narrative moments, character and environment interactions encouraged

• Observational studies

• If any of your work is password protected, please include the password with your application (even if just included on your resume)

• Social media accounts may be submitted as supplemental material but should not be your primary portfolio (websites or multipage PDF files submitted via a Google drive preferred)

At Walt Disney Animation Studios, we believe strong design builds unforgettable stories. We can’t wait to see the worlds you’ll help us create!

The pay rate for this role in Burbank, California is $60.69 - $71.68 per hour, which follows the pay scale agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The base pay actually offered may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other factors. Select benefits may be provided as part of the compensation package, such as medical, financial, and/or other benefits. To learn more about our benefits visit: https://jobs.disneycareers.com/benefits.

Disclaimer

This position is with The Secret Lab, which is part of a business we call Walt Disney Animation Studios.

The Secret Lab is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Disney champions a business environment where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a constantly evolving world.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION FOR EMPLOYMENT APPLICATIONS

The Walt Disney Company and its Affiliated Companies are Equal Employment Opportunity employers and welcome all job seekers including individuals with disabilities and veterans with disabilities. If you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation in order to search for a job opening or apply for a position, visit the Disney candidate disability accommodations FAQs (https://support.disneycareers.com/hc/en-us/sections/32131060143380-Candidate-Disability-Accommodations-FAQs) . We will only respond to those requests that are related to the accessibility of the online application system due to a disability.

Having technical issues? View the FAQs for help. (https://support.disneycareers.com/hc/en-us)

The Walt Disney Company is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Disney fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a rapidly changing world.