React Native Radio RNR 355 - React Native Skia for High-Performance UI with William Candillon
Mar 6, 2026
William Candillon, an independent engineer known for React Native graphics demos and tutorials. He explores how React Native Skia enables smooth animations, shaders, and advanced UI effects. The conversation also covers WebGPU, compute shaders, and the future of 3D and high-performance graphics on mobile.
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From Backend C++ To Building React Native Skia
- William Candillon moved from backend C++ database work to React and React Native, then built React Native Skia after seeing the web canvas power while making Remotion videos.
- His frustration with limited React Native graphics primitives and parity with web canvas triggered the Skia project to bring web-grade graphics to React Native.
Skia Is A Cross-Platform 2D Graphics Engine
- Skia is an open-source C++ 2D graphics library used by Google across Chrome and Android that abstracts multiple GPU backends like Metal, OpenGL, and Vulkan.
- It includes a shader language compiled to the best platform backend so custom effects run on device-native graphics APIs.
Retained Mode Minimizes JS To Native Cost
- Skia's C++ API is immediate-mode (draw every frame) but React Native Skia implements a retained-mode layer to minimize JS↔C++ communication.
- The native side stores drawing state so JS only sends updates, enabling near-native animation performance.