Presenter

Heather Brown is a distinguished 3D shading specialist with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Her work is featured throughout the worlds of Stranger Things, the Marvel universe, the Star Wars galaxy, and the Ice Age series, among many more. As a Look Development Lead at Weta FX and an active member of ACM Siggraph, and Women in Animation she works to support emerging technical artists. Throughout her career, Heather has been instrumental in optimizing workflows for procedural look development, with a focus on achieving photorealistic shading and procedural fabric rendering in high-end film production. Her expertise spans visual effects, 3D feature animation, live-action, and post-production, where she has collaborated with teams worldwide to create intricate procedural surface textures for diverse environments and characters, from ancient forests of the thawing ice age to a fleet of special agents and melting bronze statues, to viscera and decaying comic book villains.

Prior to her 3D digital arts career, Heather spent a decade in live-action TV production, advertising, and media agencies in New York City. She holds a degree from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. A passionate maker, Heather enjoys designing costumes and props and translating them into real-life fabrications, blending creativity with technical expertise as she continues to push the boundaries of visual storytelling.

Before embarking on her 3D digital arts career, Heather spent a decade in live-action TV production, advertising, and media agencies in New York City. She holds a degree from Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts. A passionate maker, Heather enjoys designing costumes and props and translating them into IRL incarnations, knitting, sewing, and cosplays, blending creativity with technical expertise as she continues to push the boundaries of visual storytelling.