John Knoll, working along with his brother Thomas, co-created Adobe Photoshop, beginning in 1987. Thomas was a PhD candidate in computer vision at the University of Michigan while John worked at special effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). This unique combination of artist and engineer is part of the magic that led to Photoshop.
John continued contributing to Photoshop development until version 3.0 while working at ILM. Over his career there, he has directed the special effects on more than 20 feature films and commercials. He has won an Academy Award (for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest), and four Oscar nominations and is currently chief creative officer and senior visual effects supervisor at ILM.
