Art Director + PrincipAL Creative (VAD/VFX/VIZ)

safari sosebee

I help directors, production designers, and producers turn ideas into beautiful, story-first worlds. I plan and build scenes in Unreal Engine, align departments, and make the path from design to set clear and practical.

I’ve spent 17 + years across VFX, virtual production, VAD, and visualization, with roots in character/environment art, matte painting, lighting, and digital sculpting. That foundation led me into Virtual Art Department work on shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, collaborating with directors (Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni), production designers, and cinematographers to manage world build-outs.

Beyond film and TV, I’ve led teams on game cinematics - applying filmic sensibilities to fully animated projects. I’m a life-long learner always looking to see what new tools there are to use, tools to speed iteration and de-risk choices, without ever replacing the human taste that makes imagery feel right.

🌐Linked-in

✉️ safarisosebee@gmail.com

Skills and Features

  • I design cinematic environments (digital sets) that serve the story for VFX and virtual production pipelines.

  • I lead VAD teams, using real-time tools to help filmmakers scout, light and shape their worlds before stepping on set.

  • I help bridge design and production, working closely with VFX and visualization teams to keep proejcts aligned from content to final.

  • Emmy Awards – 2019–2020
    Outstanding Production Design For Narrative Program (The Mandalorian)

    Contributions to major franchises: Star Wars, Marvel, Warner Bros., Netflix

    Featured by: Emmys, Golden Globes, ASC, ADG, SIGGRAPH, GDC, NAB

    Published in: ASC Magazine

    Interviews and Keynotes: Gnomon, Game Developers Conference (GDC)

    • Fateless: Godforge Cinematic

    • Skeleton Crew

    • Megalopolis

    • The Mandalorian (Seasons 1–3)

    • Ahsoka

    • The Book of Boba Fett

    • Obi-Wan Kenobi

    • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

    • Guardians of the Galaxy

    • Black Adam

    • Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix)

    • Treasure Imagination

    • Captain America: Winter Soldier

    • Prisoners

    • Underworld: Awakening

    • Thor

    • The Green Hornet

    • True Grit

    • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

    • The Book of Eli

    • A Serious Man

    • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

    • X-Men Origins: Wolverine

    • Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

    • City of Ember

    • Midnight Meat Train

Our Work
Godforge Game Cinematic

Building UE5 Cinematic for Fateless Games.

Skeleton Crew

Virtual Art Department design, and supporting ILM’s pipelines.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Virtual Art Department, turning concept art into real-time sets and guiding key creative visualization.

Ahsoka

ICVFX stage-ready environments and visualization.

The Mandalorian – Season 3

Virtual Art Department - delivering ICVFX sets and leading virtual location scouts.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Virtual Art Department, creating virtual sets and bridging art and VFX across teams worldwide.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Virtual Art Department Worlds, while running two Lucasfilms productions in tandem.

The Book of Boba Fett

Virtual Art Department, built a centralized asset system, and moved virtual scouting fully remote.

The Mandalorian – Season 1

Scaling Virtual Art Departments Across Star Wars

Luma Pictures – VFX Work

Safari spent eight years at Luma Pictures, shaping films like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers.

PROJECTS

BLOG

Blog
The Mandalorian S1 E4: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
The Mandalorian S1 E4: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
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The Mandalorian S1 E3: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
The Mandalorian S1 E3: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
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The Mandalorian S1 E2: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
The Mandalorian S1 E2: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
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The Mandalorian S1 E1: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
The Mandalorian S1 E1: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
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How Was The Godforge Game Cinematic built? | Breakdown
How Was The Godforge Game Cinematic built? | Breakdown

A behind-the-scenes look at how we created the Godforge cinematic in 20 weeks using UE5, a lean remote team, and a mix of real-time tools, AI, and smart workflows.

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How We Built VAD Digital Sets for Ahsoka Using Unreal Engine | Breakdown
How We Built VAD Digital Sets for Ahsoka Using Unreal Engine | Breakdown

An in-depth look at Safari’s virtual set design process used to create Unreal Engine environments in pre-production to plan the in-camera VFX for Ahsoka.

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Siggraph Presentation - Art Directing For ICVFX | Video
Siggraph Presentation - Art Directing For ICVFX | Video

This SIGGRAPH talk covers how we used Unreal Engine to design virtual sets for The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Antman, and more, aligning directors and crews early to plan, virtually shoot, and get final shots faster.

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