My career began with a remarkable foundation—animating on "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2012. At Moonbot Studios, I progressed from Senior Animator to Lead and ultimately to Supervisor, demonstrating both technical excellence and leadership capabilities. I led animation and handled all layout work for Radio Flyer's "Taking Flight" and served as Animation/Layout Supervisor for Gatorade's "The Boy Who Learned to Fly." Moonbot also created many indie games like “Diggs Nightcrawler” for Sony Wonderbook, and a console game called “Golem.” My charge into gaming has been equally successful. I contributed to two AAA releases—"DOOM the Dark Ages" and Amazon's "New World"—alongside multiple indie titles including "Stonefly," "Creature in the Well," and "Manifest 99" across console, mobile, and VR platforms. At The Third Floor, I worked as a previs artist on the Mandalorian and numerous Marvel TV projects, honing my skills in layout, previs animation, direction, and VFX integration, and cinematics. I bring deep technical expertise that aligns perfectly with modern game development pipelines. I am an expert in Maya and well-versed in Unreal Engine, Blender, iClone, Unity, and the Adobe Suite. I’m currently animating directly in UE5 for a personal project. I have extensive experience with proprietary game engines, implementing exported animations in-engine, and ensuring animations integrate seamlessly into gameplay. Additionally, I have worked with Unity on several projects and am comfortable adapting to new tools and workflows. Remote collaboration is second nature to me, and I thrive in distributed team environments. I understand the unique challenges of game animation—from technical constraints to iterative refinement—and I'm passionate about crafting movement that elevates player experience

John Durbin

My career began with a remarkable foundation—animating on "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2012. At Moonbot Studios, I progressed from Senior Animator to Lead and ultimately to Supervisor, demonstrating both technical excellence and leadership capabilities. I led animation and handled all layout work for Radio Flyer's "Taking Flight" and served as Animation/Layout Supervisor for Gatorade's "The Boy Who Learned to Fly." Moonbot also created many indie games like “Diggs Nightcrawler” for Sony Wonderbook, and a console game called “Golem.” My charge into gaming has been equally successful. I contributed to two AAA releases—"DOOM the Dark Ages" and Amazon's "New World"—alongside multiple indie titles including "Stonefly," "Creature in the Well," and "Manifest 99" across console, mobile, and VR platforms. At The Third Floor, I worked as a previs artist on the Mandalorian and numerous Marvel TV projects, honing my skills in layout, previs animation, direction, and VFX integration, and cinematics. I bring deep technical expertise that aligns perfectly with modern game development pipelines. I am an expert in Maya and well-versed in Unreal Engine, Blender, iClone, Unity, and the Adobe Suite. I’m currently animating directly in UE5 for a personal project. I have extensive experience with proprietary game engines, implementing exported animations in-engine, and ensuring animations integrate seamlessly into gameplay. Additionally, I have worked with Unity on several projects and am comfortable adapting to new tools and workflows. Remote collaboration is second nature to me, and I thrive in distributed team environments. I understand the unique challenges of game animation—from technical constraints to iterative refinement—and I'm passionate about crafting movement that elevates player experience

Available to hire

My career began with a remarkable foundation—animating on “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2012. At Moonbot Studios, I progressed from Senior Animator to Lead and ultimately to Supervisor, demonstrating both technical excellence and leadership capabilities. I led animation and handled all layout work for Radio Flyer’s “Taking Flight” and served as Animation/Layout Supervisor for Gatorade’s “The Boy Who Learned to Fly.” Moonbot also created many indie games like “Diggs Nightcrawler” for Sony Wonderbook, and a console game called “Golem.”
My charge into gaming has been equally successful. I contributed to two AAA releases—“DOOM the Dark Ages” and Amazon’s “New World”—alongside multiple indie titles including “Stonefly,” “Creature in the Well,” and “Manifest 99” across console, mobile, and VR platforms. At The Third Floor, I worked as a previs artist on the Mandalorian and numerous Marvel TV projects, honing my skills in layout, previs animation, direction, and VFX integration, and cinematics.
I bring deep technical expertise that aligns perfectly with modern game development pipelines. I am an expert in Maya and well-versed in Unreal Engine, Blender, iClone, Unity, and the Adobe Suite. I’m currently animating directly in UE5 for a personal project. I have extensive experience with proprietary game engines, implementing exported animations in-engine, and ensuring animations integrate seamlessly into gameplay. Additionally, I have worked with Unity on several projects and am comfortable adapting to new tools and workflows.
Remote collaboration is second nature to me, and I thrive in distributed team environments. I understand the unique challenges of game animation—from technical constraints to iterative refinement—and I’m passionate about crafting movement that elevates player experience

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Work Experience

Senior Animator at Blind Squirrel Games
June 1, 2025 - November 1, 2025
Hand-key animated zombies for the Outbreak video game project from PUBG. Export animations in Unreal Engine. Fine-tune blend spaces for various animations such as runs and walks.
Senior Animator at Blind Squirrel Games
June 1, 2024 - November 1, 2024
Hand-key animated creatures for DOOM the Dark Ages. Clean up and edit mocap using hand-key animation. Work closely with leads to ensure all animations work in engine. Source and shoot reference developing consistent creature movements with compelling character.
Senior Animator at Blind Squirrel Games
May 1, 2022 - April 1, 2024
Hand-key animated creatures and cinematics for the New World video game project from Amazon. Clean up and edit mocap using hand-key animation. Work with designers and Lumberyard Engine to dialogue in animations for New World. Source and shoot reference developing consistent creature movements with compelling character.
Previs / Postvis Artist at The Third Floor
August 1, 2021 - April 1, 2022
Previs shots for live-action VFX heavy films and TV. Hand-key animated realistic character stunts to avoid re-shots. Track plates, animate characters, props, and effects in Maya. Move into postvis and comp in rough lighting, polish effects, and animation. In Mandalorian, used pipeline to port finished scenes into Unreal Engine for postvis lighting and polish.
Senior Animator at Reel FX
December 1, 2016 - January 1, 2017
Help complete shots for Lyft commercials, Son of Jaguar VR experience, and Best Friends. Meet daily with animation team to discuss and accomplish notes. Use Reel FX proprietary pipeline to track and update tasks.
Animation Supervisor at Moonbot Studios
June 1, 2010 - December 1, 2016
Using new emerging tech to build our IP into films, TV, books, games, VR, AR and apps. Supervise every project through Moonbot with strong morale; lead and mentor teams; coordinate with departments to deliver the project.
Animation Lead at Moonbot Studios
September 1, 2013 - October 30, 2015
Lead animation team every project that comes through Moonbot with high morale Establish strong character performances by letting a talented team guide itself Contribute ideas that drive the story efficiently, creating better performances simply
Senior Animator at Moonbot Studios
June 1, 2010 - August 31, 2013
Create character animations, 2D/3D VFX, simulations, and comp work for all projects Previsualize animation and VFX for the tentacle scene in the movie “Super” Meet with the animation team daily to discuss notes and progress
CG Artist at Hanibal Lokumbe’s The Jonah People Opera
December 29, 2016 - January 29, 2021
Meet with directors to outline animation scenes needed for a blockbuster opera performance; storyboard, layout and previs opening and closing animation; model, rig, texture, light, and animate characters and water simulations all in Maya; provide outputs for a variety of projects and projection mapping.

Education

Associates Degree in Digital Arts at Texas State Technical College
September 1, 2005 - March 1, 2008
Learned animation software and more
Associate's Degree - Digital Arts at Texas State Technical College - Abilene, TX
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 2008

Qualifications

Oscar for Best Animated Short Film 2011
September 20, 2024 - September 20, 2024
Moonbot Studios team won Oscar for Best Animated Short

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Gaming