Mark Raats

Mark Raats is a retired 2D/3D animator who currently works as an illustrator primarily for Disney and Lucasfilm.

 

Born and raised in Johannesburg, the cell animation Raats was doing in late 1970’s gave way to his interest in the fledgling computer graphics industry where he completed his first computer animated short film in December 1985.

Tired of software, hardware, plugins and rigging, in the year 2000 Raats was reintroduced to traditionally rendered art after he was commissioned to do a portrait of President Nelson Mandela. His first official project for Lucasfilm was done around 30 years ago and in the time since, he created official poster art for amongst others, the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises. For his personal collection, George Lucas has purchased almost all of the original paintings Raats has created for those franchises. Mark Raats currently works from his studio in Perth. His most recent work includes the official poster art for Disney and Lucasfilm’s SOLO - A Star Wars Story, The Rise of Skywalker and season 2 of The Mandalorian.