After graduating high school, Pangrazio worked as scenic artist for a television network, which was a euphemistic term for "bucket boy", as he was charged with cleaning paint buckets, dirty brushes and other menial tasks. He subsequently performed these tasks for a small Hollywood effects studio, before he met
Joe Johnston of
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Through Johnson, Pangrazio was hired in 1978 at ILM. Lacking any experience, conceptual artist and matte painter
Ralph McQuarrie taught him the craft of matte painting, a trade he learned in the course of three years. The backdrops from most of the
stop-motion shots from the
Imperial Walker/
Hoth sequence from
The Empire Strikes Back were painted by Pangrazio. The final shot of the government warehouse from
Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was painted on glass by Pangrazio at ILM, was combined with live-action footage of a government worker pushing the crate up the center aisle. The integration of the live-action lighting and painted lighting effects is said to be the best matte-painting achievement in filmmaking history. He was also responsible for the
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Pankot Palace, Cliff and the Village, as well as most
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) matte paintings. After leaving ILM, Pangrazio co-founded
Matte World Digital with Craig Barron in 1988. Barron and Pangrazio continued to work with the crew at ILM on notable matte-painting scenes in several classic feature films. Pangrazio moved to
Oregon with his family in 1994 to pursue his children's book illustration career. He contributed images to numerous book publications. In 2004, Pangrazio returned to the film industry and joined a world-leading visual effects studio
Weta Digital in New Zealand as art director. He has since supervised blockbuster installments, including
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and
Bridge to Terabithia (2007). ==Personal life==