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Curated collections of Workshops organized by subject matter, such as Environment Art, Character Design or Effects Animation.

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Sang Jun Lee

Concept Artist

Sang Jun Lee is an accomplished Art Director and Character Designer with over two decades of experience in animation, film, and games. He earned his BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art University in California and began his career focusing on character, costume, and creature design. Early collaborations include Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm, Blue Sky Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Electronic Arts.


His film credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Men in Black II, Hulk, War of the Worlds, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, and Rio. He served as Lead Character Designer for Epic, Rio 2, The Peanuts Movie, and Ferdinand.


Currently, Lee is Art Director at Walt Disney Animation Studios, contributing to recent films such as Strange World (2022) and Zootopia 2 (2025). He is known for infusing personality and individuality into characters, emphasizing the seamless integration of costume and character development.

  • The mark of a good character designer is the ability to infuse personality and then individuality to all the designs he or she makes. Sang Jun Lee possesses a great ability to do just that, and he draws really well. That recipe makes some tasty food for anyone wanting to study character design.

    - Carlos Huante
    Creature Character Designer / Sculptor / Author

  • In these days of digital shortcuts and lightspeed deadlines, good draughtsmanship — the apex skill of almost every art — has become a rebel force fighting the galactic empire in many schools and studios. Fortunately for us, Star Wars and Blue Sky concept artist Sang Jun Lee is a sketching master, and reveals not only his hard-won secrets for creating characters out of thin air, but also how much more powerful they can be when you've truly learned to draw.

    - Iain McCaig
    Artist / Writer / Filmmaker

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