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Shawn Locklear

Check out my work here! _Website not available. Sign in: https://www.twine.net/signup_…

Available to hire

Check out my work here!

Website not available. Sign in: https://www.twine.net/signup

Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

3D Animator at PirateCo
August 1, 2022 - August 12, 2025
Led all gameplay character animation, designing and animating realistic movement cycles, combat attacks, and transitions that reinforced the game's core mechanics and player responsiveness. Collaborated directly with game designers and the creative director to fine-tune animation timing, impact, and anticipation—enhancing combat feel and gameplay pacing. Imported and implemented animations into Unreal Engine, resolving technical issues related to rigging, retargeting, and blend spaces to maintain animation quality and consistency. Actively iterated on gameplay animations based on playtest feedback, improving clarity, player understanding, and overall immersion. Helped define enemy behavior through animation design, using pose and movement to telegraph attacks and give players visual cues to respond to threats.
3D Animator at Symbiotic Games
February 1, 2022 - August 12, 2025
Designed and animated stylized combat combos, abilities, and weapon-based locomotion for the main character, NPCs, and enemies—enhancing responsiveness, timing, and feel of core gameplay. Focused on gameplay clarity by fine-tuning animation timing and posing, helping players easily read attack patterns, ability cues, and movement flow in real-time combat scenarios. Skinned and rigged characters using Epic’s ART system for UE4, ensuring characters were game-ready and optimized for animation-driven mechanics. Imported and implemented animations into Unreal Engine, identifying and resolving import and retargeting issues to maintain gameplay fidelity and animation quality. Collaborated directly with the creative director to iterate on combat animations, incorporating feedback to better align with gameplay pacing and player control expectations. Helped build a combat animation pipeline that supported stylized visuals without sacrificing gameplay responsiveness—resulting in smoother, m
3D Gameplay Animator at Windwalk Games
August 29, 2022 - July 1, 2025
Led all gameplay and cinematic animation across the project, creating a unified, expressive animation style that defined the tone and pacing of player interactions, combat flow, and key narrative sequences. Developed high-impact animations for a diverse weapon set (sword, longsword, bow, heavy hammer, cannon gun, magical weapons), working closely with the game designer to ensure gameplay felt tight, satisfying, and reactive. Created boss cutscenes and cinematic sequences from storyboards, capturing key narrative beats and enhancing emotional payoff during pivotal in-game moments. Animated and rigged a range of stylized characters, from bipedal heroes to quadrupeds and mythical creatures (dragons, cats, birds), increasing world variety and player engagement. Ensured seamless animation integration in Unity by troubleshooting rig and import issues, maintaining consistent visual fidelity and performance throughout development. Collaborated with 3D artists to ensure models were rig-ready an
3D Animator at Bender Games (SAGE)
May 1, 2026 - Present
Create gameplay animations and rigs for a cozy multiplayer game; develop animation rigs for wizard frogs and amorphous creatures; implement gameplay animations in Unreal Engine 5.
3D Freelance Animator at Beef Noodle Studio
March 1, 2026 - May 1, 2026
Create stylized animations for a new upcoming space-themed co-op game; build different animation rigs for humans and creatures; animate social media videos featuring game characters.
3D Contract Animator at Windwalk Games (SWORN)
October 1, 2025 - November 1, 2025
Collaborated with technical artists to create new boss animation for gameplay and cutscenes; built rigs supporting multiple weapons and props; incorporated team feedback to maintain quality; ensured animations imported correctly & collaborated with designers on pose changes for attacks.
3D Principal Animator at Windwalk Games (SWORN)
August 1, 2022 - July 1, 2025
Collaborated with game designers and creative director to refine animation timing, impact, and anticipation for combat; imported animations into Unity and resolved rigging/retargeting/blend-space issues; contributed to cinematic cutscenes in Unity; reviewed fan feedback on responsiveness and planned fixes for combat-related issues.
3D Gameplay Animator at PiratCo
March 1, 2021 - August 1, 2022
Iterated on gameplay animations using playtest feedback to improve clarity and immersion; helped define enemy behavior through animation design with poses and motion to signal attacks; incorporated art director feedback to refine gameplay animations.

Education

Game Art Degree at Full Sail University
November 1, 2017 - June 1, 2020
Bachelor of Science Degree in Game Art at Full Sail University
November 1, 2017 - May 1, 2020

Qualifications

Game Production Award
January 1, 2020 - August 12, 2025

Industry Experience

Gaming, Media & Entertainment, Software & Internet
    paper Sworn

    Windwalk logo
    3D Gameplay Animator
    3D Gameplay Animator
    Windwalk Games · Full-timeWindwalk Games · Full-time
    Aug 2022 - Jul 2025 · 3 yrsAug 2022 to Jul 2025 · 3 yrs
    Remote · RemoteRemote · Remote
    Animate & rig player characters, enemies, bosses, npcs & environmental props for the roguelike game “SWORN”.

    Collaborated with my fellow game designer to ensure gameplay felt great for the player on several weapon animations such as a sword, long sword, bow, heavy hammer, canon gun & different magical weapons.

    Ensured animations & rigs imported smoothly into Unity, if not I would always find a way to resolve & identify the issue.

    Took feedback from my art director on animations for necessary gameplay animations & created animations from storyboards for boss cutscenes.

    Collaborated with 3D artist on the team to also ensure models wireframes would be suffice for certain animations on characters, enemies, bosses, npcs & environmental props.

    Created several quadrupeds & mythical like creatures such as dragons, cats & birds

    Programs- Blender, Unity.

    Platforms- PC, Playstation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch (Shipped)

    paper Sworn

    Windwalk logo
    3D Gameplay Animator
    3D Gameplay Animator
    Windwalk Games · Full-timeWindwalk Games · Full-time
    Aug 2022 - Jul 2025 · 3 yrsAug 2022 to Jul 2025 · 3 yrs
    Remote · RemoteRemote · Remote
    Animate & rig player characters, enemies, bosses, npcs & environmental props for the roguelike game “SWORN”.

    Collaborated with my fellow game designer to ensure gameplay felt great for the player on several weapon animations such as a sword, long sword, bow, heavy hammer, canon gun & different magical weapons.

    Ensured animations & rigs imported smoothly into Unity, if not I would always find a way to resolve & identify the issue.

    Took feedback from my art director on animations for necessary gameplay animations & created animations from storyboards for boss cutscenes.

    Collaborated with 3D artist on the team to also ensure models wireframes would be suffice for certain animations on characters, enemies, bosses, npcs & environmental props.

    Created several quadrupeds & mythical like creatures such as dragons, cats & birds

    Programs- Blender, Unity.

    Platforms- PC, Playstation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch (Shipped)