Shamook is a “facial capture artist” who went viral last year when his attempt at recreating Mark Hamill’s appearance in The Mandalorian was better than what appeared in the show.
Shamook has now been confirmed as Lucasfilm’s new “senior facial capture artist.” His video brought in over 2 million views on YouTube and it got the attention of Lucasfilm’s computer graphics subsidiary, Industrial Light and Magic.
Industrial Light and Magic are a legendary special effects studio that brought films like Jurassic Park, The Mummy (1999), the Indiana Jones series, and the Back to the Future series to life.
In a statement to Indiewire, a spokesperson for ILM stated,
“[Industrial Light and Magic is] always on the lookout for talented artists and have in fact hired the artist that goes by the online persona ‘Shamook.’ Over the past several years, ILM has been investing in both machine learning and A.I. as a means to produce compelling visual effects work and it’s been terrific to see momentum building in this space as the technology advances.”
Shamook himself said that despite his new job he will still be providing content on YouTube, “As some of you may already know, I joined ILM/Lucasfilm a few months ago and haven’t had the time to work on any new YouTube content. Now I’ve settled into my job, uploads should start increasing again. They’ll still be slow, but hopefully not months apart. Enjoy!”
Check out the viral video below.