Harrison Ellenshaw is an American matte painter

Matte painting

A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques...

, following his British-born father Peter Ellenshaw

Peter Ellenshaw

William "Peter" Ellenshaw was an Anglo-American matte designer and special effects creator who worked on many Disney features....

. He started his career at Walt Disney Studios

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

. He later joined George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

's effects studio Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light and Magic

Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...

 (ILM), where he produced many of the matte visual effects

Visual effects

Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...

 backgrounds for the films Star Wars

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...

(1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). He then returned to Disney to work on the film Dick Tracy (1990), and eventually headed Disney Studio's effects department, Buena Vista Visual Effects (BVVE). He was also visual effects supervisor for Tron

Tron

-Film:*Tron , a franchise that began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron** Tron , a 1982 science fiction film by Disney, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor and David Warner...

(1982), where he had the distinction of being the first person to have that credit in a film.

He and his father were nominated for an Academy Award for their work on Disney's film The Black Hole

The Black Hole

The Black Hole is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson for Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine, while the voices of the main robot characters are provided by Roddy...

(1979).

Harrison Ellenshaw is now pursuing his passion for fine art painting. Many works have been created, of both Disney Fine Art

Disney Fine Art

Disney Fine Art is a term used to describe works of art portraying Disney Characters, painted by professional artists who are often animators, background artists, or production designers....

 and non-Disney themed subjects, which are thought highly collectable.

His son Michael Ellenshaw has directed a short film while his sister Lynda Thompson is also a visual effects artist.

Selected filmography

• Star Wars
  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
  
  (1977), matte artist
• The Black Hole
  The Black Hole
  The Black Hole is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson for Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine, while the voices of the main robot characters are provided by Roddy...
  
  (1979), miniature effects creator (Academy Award nominee for visual effects)
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980), matte artist
• TRON
  Tron (film)
  Tron is a 1982 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Lisberger, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Jeff Bridges as the protagonist Kevin Flynn; Bruce Boxleitner in a dual role as security program Tron and Tron's "User", computer programmer Alan Bradley; Cindy...
  
  (1982), visual effects supervisor
• Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
  Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
  Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie. It is the fourth film in the Superman film series and the last installment to star Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, but...
  
  (1987), visual effects supervisor and second unit director
• Dick Tracy (1990), matte artist

External links

• Artist's Official Disney Fine Art Site
• Ellenshaw.com, official biography website