Background Painter

Background Painters visually explore and collaborate in the creation of animated worlds through fully rendered paintings that utilize color and mood to serve a film’s storytelling. Learn more about our filmmaking process here.

We’re looking for Background Painters who have a sense of whimsy, appeal, and masterful painting skills. Expertise in color and lighting are key skills in breathing life into our worlds. The ability to work both traditionally and in digital media is appreciated.

We are looking for passionate Background Painters to join our Set Extension team at our Vancouver, BC Studio starting in December 2026.

To apply for this position, you must upload a portfolio and a resume consisting of your background painting work.

What You’ll Do:

• Paint inspiring worlds and environments, responding constructively to the director’s vision and production needs
• Execute detailed, full-rendered paintings in thoughtful collaboration with other departments in the pipeline
• Paint over set models that are lit and rendered with a simple value structure and color palette, finishing the set painting with full render and appeal
• Interpret small, vaguely indicated key paintings and expand them into fully realized, rendered scenes, filling in the appropriate amount of detail and adapting to composition or location changes while remaining true to the original lighting and color scheme
• Execute paintings in the style of examples provided to you and making necessary decisions that fit your specific layout, such as which edges to indicate softly and which to paint crisply, the amount of details to render at different distances, and how much of the vignette is needed to direct the eye accordingly to the storytelling needs of the shot
• Execute paintings that seamlessly “hook up” to the backgrounds of other painters in an established style to ensure smooth and invisible sequence cuts

What We’re Looking For:

• Ability to utilize dynamic relationships of color and value structures to evoke a wide range of immersive moods that enhance the storytelling of your images
• Ability to digitally paint in the style of Californian/Russian plein air impressionism that evokes the look and feel of oil painting textures in a variety of strokes from sharp to soft as well as smudging, blending, and glazing
• Ability to use color to convincingly represent light and depth
• Proficiency in Photoshop
• Graphic design and traditional painting skills encouraged
• Bachelors degree or equivalent experience

Portfolios Should Include:

• Paintings and environment designs that demonstrate strong painting skills and a strong understanding of storytelling, observation, mood, clarity, color, lighting, and appeal
• Illustrations of narrative moments, character and environment interactions encouraged
• Variety of environmental work including organic, architectural, interiors, and high concept
• Observational studies
• If any of your work is password protected, please include the password with your application (even if just included on your resume)
• Social media accounts may be submitted as a supplement to your portfolio but should not be your primary portfolio (websites or multipage PDF files submitted via a Google drive preferred)

At Walt Disney Animation Studios, we believe strong design builds unforgettable stories. We can’t wait to see the worlds you’ll help us create!

PAY TRANSPARENCY

The hiring range for this position in Vancouver, BC is C$134,800 to C$174,400 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other variable pay or benefits, may be offered dependent on the level and position offered.

This position is with Walt Disney Animation Studios Vancouver Inc., which is part of a business we call Walt Disney Animation Studios.

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