From Northbrook College to a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Richard Gray's Journey from Student to Star Wars  

A Northbrook College graduate who worked on the props for Star Wars, Barbie, and Ghostbusters recently returned to share his journey from student to industry professional.  

A decade after studying BA (Hons) Prop Making & Special Effects at Northbrook, Richard Gray has built a career working on productions for Warner Bros. and Sony, including The Flash and Apple’s dystopian series Silo.  

His latest job was on the props team for the upcoming Star Wars Starfighter, where he designed a variety of droids for the film.  

During the visit, Richard reflected on the career change that led him into the creative industries. After working in the oil and gas sector with seismic data, he decided to pursue his passion for making and design. Expanding on this, he said:  

“Here it was all about making a portfolio, trying out different media, and it was really lovely to be in a workshop full of other creative people, something I’d really been starved of for a long time, and that’s what brought me here.  

“Some of the other courses really specify down one path, and because I’m a jack of all trades, it’s just made sense for me to be in a place where you can get a taste of everything.”  

Looking back on his time at college, Richard identified the opportunity to work on live client projects as one of the most valuable experiences on the course. He elaborated, saying:  

“We had a whole term where clients would come in and interact with second years, and the first years would get involved in the work.  

“It massively helped. The reason why I did the course was to build a portfolio; my thinking was if students are going from this into film, then surely I can do the same thing.”  

Richard also singled out his former lecturer Dan Jenkins, who played a key role in convincing him to join the course, saying:  

“I think it was meeting Dan – he’s just such a nice person and seemed really receptive. I’d nervously bought a binder full of drawings, and a sculpture I brought in. I think it was Dan who really sold me on doing the course, showing me the course and the toys I’d be using.”  

To learn more about the BA (Hons) Prop Making & Special Effects course at the college, please click here.