Jarien Skywall

Available to hire

I'm an experienced 3D modeling and texturing artist with a focus on characters and game art, and experience in leadership and tech art.

About

I’m an experienced 3D modeling and texturing artist with a focus on characters and game art, and experience in leadership and tech art. I know the full pipeline of sculpting, retopology and low-poly modeling, UV unwrapping, baking maps, texturing using a variety of techniques, and setting up assets and materials in engine. I can make art that’s photoreal, stylized PBR, painterly, or toony.

On the creative side, I understand how to create appealing silhouettes, clothing styles, faces, and hair, and how to use color and value to create areas of focus, to create art that serves art direction, gameplay, and narrative. On the technical side, I know how to create optimized assets that run well for real-time, mobile, AR, VR, or web-based platforms.

I’ve supervised and mentored dozens of artists. I’ve done work improving pipelines, creating documentation and internal tools, and setting and enforcing standards.

  • 19 years' experience
  • Joined November 2026

Industry experience

  • Gaming
  • Media & Entertainment
  • Education
  • Professional Services
  • Software & Internet
  • Healthcare

Work experience· 10 roles

Senior 3D Character Artist · Studio DrydockOct 2024 – May 2026 · 1 yr 8 mos

Created high-resolution sculpts of stylized characters (faces, clothing, hairstyles). Kitbashed and modified character parts, then completed retopology, UVs, baking, texturing, and final polished assets in Unity. Applied artistic judgment to keep assets aligned with briefs and gameplay/narrative/art direction, including clear silhouette reads and period-accurate costume construction. Owned technical execution such as clean deformation, appropriate polygon budgets, and efficient UVs. Supported environments when needed by creating reusable tiling textures and building houses/buildings. Title: Wylde Society. Platform: TBD

Technical Art Manager · Visible BodyJan 2021 – Dec 2022 · 2 yrs

Streamlined the artist-to-engine 3D pipeline by gathering input from artists, leadership, and stakeholders, then overseeing internal tool creation for automation and engine testing. Refined, documented, and taught technical standards and workflows (materials/shaders, import/export settings, naming conventions). Defined scope for a Technical Artist role, supervised the Technical Artist, and acted as the art team’s problem-solver for technical issues. Optimized models and animation and contributed via scripting, shader development, VFX, modeling, and 3D animation. Titles: Visible Body and Visible Biology. Platforms: Web, PC, mobile, zSpace.

3D Character Artist · Poorly Timed GamesJul 2020 – May 2021 · 11 mos

Created alien creatures and human characters and supported environment/prop art as needed. Worked with art direction, concept, and narrative teams to translate concepts into 3D while ensuring art supported the game vision through plausible anatomy and locomotion aligned with alien biomes. Title: Grim Tranquility. Platform: PC.

3D Art Manager, 3D Operations team · WayfairMar 2018 – Jul 2020 · 2 yrs 5 mos
Senior 3D Artist, 3D Visualization team · WayfairDec 2016 – Mar 2018 · 1 yr 4 mos
Technical Artist, Wayfair Next team · WayfairFeb 2016 – Dec 2016 · 11 mos
Adjunct Instructor · Mount Ida CollegeSep 2015 – May 2017 · 1 yr 9 mos
Freelance 3D Artist · Various clientsAug 2009 – Mar 2025 · 15 yrs 8 mos

Education

Bachelor of Science, Media Arts & Animation · The Art Institute of Portland2002 – 2007
Advanced Stylized Character Art Mentorship · CGMA2023
Individual Character Art Mentorship · The Mentor Coalition2023
Creating Stylized Game Assets · CGMA2020

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