Rolling back the years once again we present Danny’s Diary, a series of articles written back in 2007 – 2008 and originally posted on Lightsabre.co.uk by ILM and Kerner Optical multi-tasker Danny Wagner.
Thursday 29th November 2007
Dear Diary,
George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch Art Department
JAK films is on the Third Floor of the Main House.
What can I say… what a dream come true, I thought my first day at ILM on Ghostbusters 2 was awesome, but Holy Crap! I couldn’t believe my eyes! The Ranch is so beautiful. It’s not like a ranch you would experience on a farmers land with the cow’s and horses. It’s paradise.
Meeting Doug Chang outside was a pleasure. It was delighted to meet him. Doug is one of the nicest men in the business. With a soft voice and tender mannerisms he guided me through the Main House and Art Department. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The main house was designed and constructed with beautiful staircases and huge display cases. We stepped into the elevator and went up. Even the elevator walls were carved out of wood and conformed into a beautiful serrel style. Passing the forbidden second floor we approach the third.
The second floor is another story…
The doors open…
STAR WARS LAND IN THE MAKING – all the concept artwork and sketches you can imagine. Believe me I did pinch myself to see if I was sleeping!
The people were very nice and very talented. It was wonderful working with a crew of artists that are the best in what they do. I was hired to fabricate concept models with a small crew of other model makers. John Goodson, Kim Smith and Carol Bauman. We had a meeting every Friday and got feedback from George.
On our breaks we walked to Lake Ewok and had picnics or just a exercise walk to breath the clean Marin County air. Sometimes we walked far enough to see the future BIG ROCK.
