Terryl Whitlach was the principal creature designer for "Star Wars: Episode One". She has also designed characters and creatures for many other feature films, and is currently Senior Art Director at Vis-a-vis, Inc., a content creation company. She lives in Oregon.
Terryl Whitlatch is an accomplished, scientific and academically trained illustrator who extensively studied vertebrate zoology and animal anatomy. She has worked for various zoos and museums in the US and The World Wildlife Fund as Senior consultant for Wildlife Art and Animal Anatomy. She is considered to be one of the top creature designers and animal anatomists working in the field today In a career spanning over 25 years, Terryl has many projects to her credit, includingStar Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: The Special Edition, Jumanji 1 and 2, Men in Black, Brother Bear, Dragonheart, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Curious George, The Polar Express,andBeowulf.For over seven years, Terryl… worked for Lucasfilm Ltd., Industrial Light & Magic and George Lucas' JAK Films. Her unique combination of illustration skills and comprehensive knowledge of animal anatomy and movement are essential components in the design, anatomy and physical animation aspects of believable creature creation. In her work onStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, she worked directly with George Lucas for whom she designed countless creatures for the films and related products, including CD-ROMs. A collection of her work for Lucasfilm,The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guidewas published by Chronicle Books in 2001 to critical acclaim and popular success. Terryl also designed for many electronic and interactive games for leading publishers including Steven's Spielberg'sThe Dig, for LucasArts. Terryl has also worked with many major studios and effects houses as a highly sought after creature and concept designer. Clients include Industrial Light and Magic, Lucasfilm, Ltd., Pixar, Walt Disney Feature Animation, PDI, Entertainment Arts, LucasArts, Chronicle Books, and various zoos and natural history museums. Terryl is also the author ofldquo;The Katurran Odysseyrdquo;, volume one of a forthcoming seriesldquo;The Katurran Trilogyrdquo;. In addition Terryl is involved with several other book and film concepts, as well as teaching Creature Design and Construction/Anatomy at theAcademy of Art University in San Francisco, CA.