Concept designer and 3D artist with 5+ years of production experience at Lucasfilm, delivering character, creature, vehicle, droid, and environment designs for two Disney+ series. Now leads Motakuki Studio, producing animated films, AAA game concept trailers and stylized animation. Skilled across traditional 2D/3D pipelines (Photoshop, Maya, Blender, ZBrush, Unreal Engine) and AI-assisted image/video generation workflows (Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Seedance), using generative tools to accelerate ideation and exploration while maintaining hand-crafted, production-ready final art. MFA in Animation & VFX; prior classroom teaching experience in concept design and 3D modeling.
Motakuki Studio
After five years designing worlds for Star Wars at Lucasfilm, I started Motakuki Studio — my own version of a premium content channel, where animated films, game trailers, and stylized shorts are made fast with AI tools and finished by hand.
Lucasfilm, Ltd
Design and visualize a diverse array of elements integral to crafting immersive fantasy worlds within the Star Wars universe. This encompassed creating and conceptualizing characters, creatures, vehicles, droids, props, and environments using both 2D and 3D software tools such as Photoshop, Maya, Blender, Zbrush, and Unreal Engine. Leveraging art and design skills, understanding of visual storytelling principles, craft scenes, apply textures, and employ advanced lighting techniques to evoke the desired ambiance. Collaborate with the team to contribute to the rich tapestry of the Star Wars universe with authenticity and ingenuity. Work in conjunction with the outsourced vendor to create high-quality 3D assets from beginning to finish. My pivotal contributions were instrumental in the successful delivery of two highly acclaimed titles, "Star Wars: The Bad Batch," "Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi," and "Star Wars: Tales of the Empire" as animated TV series on Disney+. These shows garnered widespread adoration from fans worldwide.
ROSSO Fashion and Art Education
Shanghai Pinghe School
ComfyUI
Flux
Midjourney
StableDiffusion
Seedance rapid ideation, style exploration
Prompt engineering
AI to-final art cleanup & refinement
3D Modeling
Texture and Lighting
Digital Sculpting
Concept DesignCharacter
DesignVisual Development
Digital Illustration
Animation
Drawing & Painting
Maya
Blender
ZBrush
Arnold
Unreal Engine
Substance Painter
Photoshop
After Effects
Academy of Art University
Maryland Institute College of Art
bmeng.conceptart@gmail.com
Linkedin.com/in/bensmeng
youtube.com/@MOTAKUKISTUDIO
