Dave Carson first got into movies as a kid watching the inspiring work of Ray Harryhausen in films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He joined ILM in the late 1970's to work on the original Empire Strikes Back as a model maker and storyboard artist. That initial job opportunity developed into a full-time position where Dave went on to work on numerous films including; Dragonslayer, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek 3, Goonies, Enemy Mine, Young Sherlock Holmes, Willow, Witches of Eastwick, Hook, Jurassic Park, Casper, and Titanic (to name just a few...). In the mid 1990's Dave served as Visual Effects Supervisor on the Special Editions of Empire and Jedi. He eventually left ILM and went to work at Electronic Arts where he spearheaded groundbreaking work bringing a visual effects and cinematic sensibility to multiple game projects.

Dave's career is a master class in the history of visual effects and the development of new techniques and tools. He approaches all his work with the eye of an artist and shares some great memories from his incredible career.

Dave in the creature shop at ILM sculpting a mask for Return of the Jedi.