RIT student brings the action of ‘Predator: Badlands’ to the streets of Los Angeles

Lucy Ray, a fourth-year medical illustration and psychology dual-degree student from Rochester, spent her summer working as a contracted artist for Drissi Advertising, a creative agency specializing in entertainment marketing. One of the biggest highlights from her time with Drissi was displayed at the busy intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Bundy Drive: a stunt billboard for the new movie ‘Predator: Badlands.’

Ray pursued this position as a non-required co-op for the RIT Honors Program. She lived and worked in Los Angeles from June through August, supporting Drissi’s design team to create “out in the wild” marketing materials. Ray said she helped support creative projects at nearly every stage of the process, from conceptualizing thumbnails to completing the final rounds of editing before a project went to print.

What are some of the specific projects you worked on at Drissi Advertising?

I can’t share a lot of what I did yet, but I can share that I got to work on a stunt billboard for the movie Predator: Badlands. It was two separate billboards that were connected. I had a part in the tail end of the graphic design process. My main role was creating 3D models of vines for the 3D aspects of the billboard. Those models were then created at real scale, which was amazing to see.

One of the other projects that I got to work on was for the new Avatar: Fire and Ash movie. I was able to participate in the first couple rounds of that design before I had to come back to school at the end of the summer. Some aspects of my design were used in the final product.

How did it feel seeing your artwork displayed in the middle of downtown Los Angeles?

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Ray, left, combined her knowledge of medical illustration and psychology to tackle the fast-paced world of entertainment marketing in Los Angeles. When she wasn’t working, she explored new adventures the city had to offer, like movie premieres.

Unfortunately, I was not there in person to see the actual billboard. But I grew up spending a lot of time in LA and I always loved seeing the stunt billboards, especially when they were three-dimensional. These special stunt billboards are a very big part of the LA landscape, so it was amazing to be a part of that. Being very new to this type of work, and my major not being graphic design or anything, I felt a little bit like an imposter at times. But it was nice and affirming to see a design that my hands were on last come together in real life.

How did your experiences in the medical illustration and psychology programs prepare you for this position?

I think a lot of what made me more marketable in this job was my 3D-modeling abilities. It is a unique skillset, and I learned those skills entirely through the medical illustration program. A lot of people don't know that we do a lot of computer work, including two semesters of modeling and animation. I've taken extra classes in those areas to be able to work on this skill set since I've realized it is so valuable.

In my psychology classes I’ve learned a lot about communication, and they even touch on principles of advertising and how different methods of visual communication can interact with the viewer. It's really interesting to think about combining that knowledge with the design principles that I learned in art classes.

Do you have any advice for students seeking jobs or co-ops far from home?

It's totally worth the experience, especially if you've never spent that much time outside of your hometown. It's good to be in a completely new place where you have to build a new network for yourself. Since I did have family there, I expected that I would just spend time with my family and my friends that I've known for years. But I surprised myself and I met a lot of new people, went to a bunch of new places around the city, and tried new things.