Character Artist / Animator

The characters

Vinyl toy-style figures — big heads, small bodies, stubby limbs, huge expressive eyes. Pop Mart collectibles that learned to move. Simple in geometry, but they need to feel alive and full of personality through animation.

All characters share a single 55-bone skeleton. Any animation you create works on every character in the game. Build it once, it works everywhere. The rig is already done — you'd be animating on it, not building it.

The style: bouncy, exaggerated, cartoony. Squash and stretch. Overshoot on every action. Snappy timing. Big anticipation, punchy follow-through, generous arcs. Classic animation principles cranked up.

What you'd be creating

Core locomotion

• Walk, run, fast run
• Jump (start, up, apex, down, land)
• Dash, crouch, slide
• Direction switches, wall slide, ground pound
• Various fall states

Reactions

• Win: Over-the-top celebration — fist pump, jump for joy, victory dance
• Lose: Funny, sympathetic defeat — slump, face-plant, dramatic collapse
• Hit/launched: Getting bonked, sent flying, bouncing
• Surprise, dizzy, anticipation

Emotes & social

• Wave, taunt, clap, cheer
• Multiple dance variations
• Shrug, facepalm, sit/stand

Idles

Characters should never feel dead. Breathing, weight shifts, looking around. Multiple variants — standard, curious, impatient, and weirdo timeout idles for AFK (falling asleep, push-ups, meditating, handstands).

Game-specific

Each microgame may need custom animations — throwing, swimming, climbing, fishing. Bundled per-game and loaded only when that game starts.

Technical

• Tool: Blender — the rig lives here
• Format: GLB (animation-only files; no mesh or textures)
• Framerate: 30fps authoring
• In-place: Character stays at origin, engine handles movement. No root motion.
• Rest pose: A-pose (~45° arms), facing +Z, feet at Y=0
• IK baked to FK before export
• Naming: [category]_[action]_[variant].glb (e.g. core_run.glb, react_win_01.glb)

Duration targets: idles 2–4s loops; walk ~0.6s; run ~0.4s; actions 0.2–0.5s; reactions 1.5–2s; emotes 2–4s. Looping animations need matching first and last frames — no pops, no hitches.

Style reference

• Kirby — bouncy, simple, expressive through shape and timing
• Fall Guys — ragdoll energy, slapstick, physical comedy
• Animal Crossing — personality in small gestures
• Overwatch victory poses — character personality in a few seconds
• Classic Disney/Pixar principles — squash/stretch, anticipation, follow-through, exaggeration

A good idle should make you smile. A win animation should make you laugh. A hit reaction should make you wince then laugh.

What we're looking for

• Portfolio/reel showing character animation — cartoony or stylized strongly preferred
• Proficient in Blender
• Strong grasp of animation principles — timing, spacing, weight, personality
• Can convey emotion with simple characters (no facial rig — body language does the work)
• Experience with game constraints: loops, short durations, in-place authoring
• Comfortable at a steady content-production pace