Terryl Whitlatch
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Terryl Anne Whitlatch (born 1960 in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
) is an American scientific and academically trained
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
, known for her creature designs for
Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
and her illustrations in the book '' The Katurran Odyssey'' among others. Whitlatch grew up in the East Bay, in the
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
area. Her mother was an illustrator and her father was a biologist. She studied
zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
at
Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's d ...
, and later transferred to Academy of Art University in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, where she graduated.


Films

Whitlatch has worked with many major studios and effects houses as a creature and concept designer. Clients include Industrial Light and Magic,
Lucasfilm Ltd. Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
, Pixar, Walt Disney Feature Animation, PDI, Entertainment Arts, LucasArts,
Chronicle Books Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children. The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. ...
, and various zoos and natural history museums. Whitlatch was the principal creature designer for '' Star Wars Episode I''. She designed most of the alien characters and creatures, from concept to fully realized anatomies and stylizations. Some of the significant characters include
Jar Jar Binks Jar Jar Binks is a fictional character of the Gungan race from the ''Star Wars'' saga created by George Lucas. Jar Jar appears throughout the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy – as a major character in '' Episode I: The Phantom Menace'', with a ...
, Sebulba, the pod racers, the undersea monsters of Naboo, and the Naboo Swamp creatures. She also worked closely with
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...
in the redesign of such pre-existing characters as Jabba the Hutt and the dewbacks in the remastered versions of the original ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' movies. Whitlatch designed bear, moose, and other animal characters, from highly realistic anatomical studies to fully branded characters for
Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
's '' Brother Bear''. Other films to which she has contributed concept work include ''
John Carter of Mars John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabi ...
'' and Pixar's '' Brave''.


Print media

Whitlatch also creates and illustrates books. Her titles includ
The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field GuideThe Katurran OdysseyAnimals Real and Imagined
and th
Science of Creature Design
an
Principles of Creature Design
Her work has also appeared in ImagineFX magazine and Aeon magazine.


Educational work

Terryl Whitlatch an international speaker and instructor for Schoolism, a division of
Imaginism Studios Imaginism was a Russian avant-garde poetic movement that began after the Revolution of 1917. History Imaginism was founded in 1918 in Moscow by a group of poets including Anatoly Marienhof, Vadim Shershenevich, and Sergei Yesenin, who wanted to ...
in animal anatomy and creature design. She used to teach classes at her alma mater, Academy of Art University. Whitlatch currently works at Imagination International, Inc. as a designer and curriculum developer of Creatures of Amalthea, an online creature design course, as well as other book and world building intellectual properties.


References


External links

*
University press release: "Highly Celebrated Terryl Whitlatch Joins Illustration Department" at Academy of Art UniversityTales of Amalthea.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitlatch, Terryl 1960s births Living people American illustrators Artists from Oakland, California Sonoma State University alumni Academy of Art University alumni Academy of Art University faculty Lucasfilm people