Costume Designer

Skydance Media is hiring a Costume Designer to join their animation studio in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. This role leads the full costume design pipeline for a feature film production, from initial character concepting through crowd costume systems, working directly alongside the Director, Production Designer, and Lead Character Designer. It suits a visual development artist with deep knowledge of garment construction who is ready to step into a department leadership seat.

About the Role

The Costume Designer sits within the art leadership team at Skydance Animation, contributing to a feature film production from early visual development through asset delivery to CG departments. Day to day, this means defining the film’s costume language, iterating on main character designs, directing costume assistants, and packaging final designs with the technical detail downstream animation teams need to build assets accurately. The role reports to the studio’s Head of Costume Design and carries real mentorship responsibility across the costume crew.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop the complete costume design system for the film, from hero characters through secondary, tertiary, and crowd populations, ensuring visual coherence across the entire animation pipeline.
• Drive costume research in support of the director’s vision, translating historical, cultural, or conceptual references into practical character design iterations.
• Prepare detailed costume packets for CG departments, including pattern cuttings, fabric swatches, draping diagrams, silhouette guides, texture references, and color specifications.
• Art direct asset building teams on costume construction, providing clear notes on textiles, garment fabrication techniques, and design intent throughout production.
• Oversee Costume Design Assistants by distributing assignments, tracking deadlines, and actively teaching costume terminology, pattern making, and visual development standards.
• Partner with Production Designers and Art Directors to ensure costumes serve the film’s world-building and character storytelling without visual inconsistency.

What You Bring

• Eight or more years working as a visual development artist on animated projects, with at least one year focused on costume design in animation, theater, or live action production.
• Hands-on experience with fabrics, garment construction, pattern making, and draping, with the ability to teach these methods to junior artists.
• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and strong drawing skills across human and animal anatomy, composition, and color theory.
• A track record of preparing costume packets that successfully inform final design execution for downstream CG departments in an animation studio environment.
• Membership in, or willingness to become a member in good standing of, the Animation Guild, Local 839.

Why This Role

Skydance Media has built a production slate that spans feature film and television across multiple genres, and their animation division is developing original properties with full art department investment. This Costume Designer position offers genuine creative ownership over a film’s visual identity, not a support role, with direct access to directorial leadership from the earliest stages of production. For a visual development artist ready to run a costume department on a feature film production, this is a substantive next step.

Apply now for the Costume Designer role at Skydance Media and bring your costume design expertise to an animation feature film production in Santa Monica.