Jarien Skywall 3D Art

Jarien Skywall

3D Character Artist and Lead 3D Generalist

Boston, United States

Summary

For full employment and experience history, see:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jariensky/

Cara profile: https://cara.app/jarienskywall

I'm an experienced 3D artist located in Boston, MA, USA. I'm open to character and prop modeling/texturing opportunities - full-time, part-time, or freelance! Currently I'm freelancing. I lean toward colorful, stylized art.

I've created characters, props, and environments for indie games, AAA games, educational software, VR and AR apps, archaeological reconstruction, and product visualization.

Skills:

3D Modeling:
High-poly sculpting, low-poly modeling, retopology, organic modeling, hard-surface modeling, UV unwrapping, baking maps.

Materials and texturing:
Realistic photo-sourced texturing, procedural texturing, PBR materials, stylized handpainted textures.

Technical:
Real-time performance optimization, in-engine asset setup. Good practices for AR and VR UX and UI. LODs. Collision meshes.

Creative and traditional:
Figure drawing, human anatomy, drawing, color theory, principles of design and composition, concept iteration.

Soft skills:
Mentoring, leadership, hiring / interviewing, strategic decisionmaking, project management, communicating in large and small groups, and clear technical writing.

My hobbies include playing guitar, listening to music, reading science fiction, writing, drawing, studying anatomy, and of course indulging in what got me into art in the first place – reading comics and playing video games!

Resume PDF

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Skills

Software proficiency

Maya

3ds Max

ZBrush

Photoshop

Unity

Substance 3D Painter

Substance 3D Designer

V-Ray

TopoGun

Marmoset Toolbag

3DCoat

Unreal Engine

xNormal

Experience

3D Art Lead at Rocketcat Games
remote
February 2024 - Present
Set/refine 3D art creation visual & technical standards, with Art & Tech Lead & Creative Director, and create 3D assets.
3D Artist at Freelance - various clients
remote
August 2009 - Present
Select projects:

Model, texture, rig, animate, export glTF of creatures, props, and environments for asynchronous AR & VR game.

•Title: BeeQuest. Client: Niantic. Platform: Web-based VR and AR.

Model and texture stylized characters, environments, and props for Pre-K educational game.

•Title: Nunaka. Client: FableVision Studios. Platform: iPad, Android.

Stylized handpainted character models/textures for educational game to teach computer programming to kids

•Title: May’s Journey. Client: Chaima Jemmali, Northeastern University, & UC Santa Cruz. Platform: PC, Web

Model and texture characters, props, and vehicles; assistance with tech art & art direction.

• Title: various. Client: SuperScience LLC. Platform: VR & PC.
Technical Art Manager at Visible Body
Boston, MA, United States of America
January 2021 - December 2022
• Standardize, document, & teach 3D art practices.

• Streamline pipeline of 3D assets going from art team to software development team.

• Work with Product Owners, Senior Artists, & Art Director to align improvement initiatives with company priorities.
3D Character Artist at Poorly Timed Games
Remote
July 2020 - May 2021
Model & texture 3D characters for debut title Grim Tranquility. Collaborate with Concept Artists & Art Director.
3D Art Manager at Wayfair
Boston, MA, United States of America
February 2016 - July 2020
3D Art Manager, 3D Model Operations (Mar 2018 – Jul 2020)

• Identify pipeline needs; propose/lead/execute cross-team processes, measure business impact & iterate

• Lead a team of artists who ensure that external contract modelers hit target 3D model quality, by creating reusable model and material resources and defining and communicating technical standards

Senior 3D Artist, 3D Visualization (Dec 2016 – Mar 2018)

• Lead a team of artists creating models, materials, lighting, & renders for photoreal images in 3ds Max and V-Ray

• Work with Seniors to document/teach best practices, organize projects, grow the team (from 5-60 artists in 1 yr)

Technical Artist, Wayfair Next team (Feb 2016 – Dec 2016)

• Develop 3D workflows. Create models, materials, textures. Work with engineering, creative, & copywriting teams

• VR & AR apps on desktop & mobile – optimize performance, create & iterate on UX & UI
Adjunct Instructor at Mount Ida College
Newton, MA, United States of America
September 2015 - May 2017
Teach 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, & rendering to Game Art and Animation Bachelor’s students
3D Artist, Technical Artist at VivEd Learning (formerly Cyber Science 3D)
Iowa City, IA, United States of America
June 2008 - July 2014
• Create dissectable models for educational apps on PC, mobile, web, and VR platforms for K-12, colleges, & med schools

• Models, UVs, textures, materials of human & animal anatomy, spaceships, microbiology, environments, & props

• Create textures for 3D version of Atlas of Human Anatomy, based on Frank Netter MD’s medical illustrations

• Custom shaders via node-based editor, Unity art asset optimization, lighting, particle FX, maintain material & texture library
3D Modeler & Texturer at Liquid Development
Portland, OR, United States of America
October 2006 - April 2008
Organic & hard-surface models, textures, UVs, LODs, collision meshes for AAA clients

• Title: Rockband. Client: Harmonix. Platform: Playstation 3 & Xbox 360

• Title: Warhawk, including Operation: Omega Dawn expansion. Client: Incognito. Platform: Playstation 3

• Title: Killzone 2. Client: Guerilla Games. Platform: Playstation 3

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