A monster enthusiast since childhood, Robert Barnes has acted as concept sculptor for Episodes I & II, creating and fleshing out creature and character designs later brought to life by ILM.

Barnes studied fine art and industrial design at Sonoma State University and Art Center College of Design before earning a B.S. in Industrial Design from California State University, Long Beach. He got his start in the film world as a summer intern in the Idustrial Light & Magic Art Department, where he first met Doug Chiang during effects work on Jumanji. Robert returned to the ILM art department as Production Assistant upon graduation, and was soon recruited by Chiang to join the Episode I Art Department.

In the ensuing years, while primarily acting as a concept sculptor, Robert has also contributed designs for environments and hardware, storyboards, a variety of illustrations for Lucas Licensing, and special creature sculptures for Dorling Kindersley's Star Wars Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary.