Senior Animator

Senior Animator: Character Animation & Visual Development

Department: Animation / Creative

Reports to: Animation Director / Creative Director

About Us

We are an animation studio developing original animated stories, characters and worlds with a distinctive cinematic visual language. Our ambition is not to simply produce conventional 2D or 3D animation — we're building a studio with a strong, recognizable artistic identity, combining the emotional storytelling and hand-crafted feeling of traditional animation with the cinematic depth, atmosphere and technical sophistication of modern animation. We're also exploring AI-native animation and interactive worlds, where characters, environments and stories can eventually exist beyond a single film or episode.

We're looking for a Senior Animator who can help us define and raise the quality bar of the studio.

The Creative Direction

Our visual ambition sits at the intersection of cinematic storytelling, expressive animation, rich world-building and emotional depth. We may look to works such as Arcane and Studio Ghibli as references; not to replicate their visual language, but to understand the qualities that make their worlds so compelling: distinctive character design, atmospheric environments, cinematic composition, emotional storytelling, and a strong sense of place.

Our goal is to develop a visual identity that is entirely our own; contemporary, cinematic, human and unmistakably original. The world should feel beautifully crafted without becoming overly polished; imaginative without losing authenticity; technologically ambitious while retaining warmth and emotional character.

The Creative Principles

• Cinematic — Every frame should feel intentional, with strong composition, lighting, depth and visual storytelling.
• Human — Characters should feel emotionally real and nuanced. Expression, gesture and small details should carry as much weight as spectacle.
• Atmospheric — Light, colour, texture, weather, architecture and environment should create a world that feels lived-in and memorable.
• Distinctive — We should avoid generic "AI animation" aesthetics or recognisable imitation of existing studios. Our visual language should be identifiable as ours.
• Culturally grounded — Where the story draws from a particular place, culture or community, visual design should reflect that identity authentically rather than relying on generic globalised imagery.
• Imaginative, but believable — The world can be fantastical and ambitious, but its materials, environments, characters and physical details should feel coherent and grounded.
• Ultimately, the ambition is not to create something that looks like Arcane or Studio Ghibli. The ambition is to create something that makes people say: "I haven't seen anything quite like this before."

References for Quality and Ambition

• Arcane / Fortiche — Cinematic composition, strong character acting, stylized 3D, hand-crafted 2D elements, excellent lighting and atmosphere, expressive faces, strong silhouettes, sophisticated camera language, dynamic action.
• Studio Ghibli — Natural and believable movement, emotional subtlety, human gestures, environmental storytelling, beautiful background integration, quiet moments, attention to small details, characters that feel alive rather than mechanically animated.
• Other useful references: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Klaus, Blue Eye Samurai, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Love Death + Robots, Pixar character animation, Disney's strongest character-animation work, and high-end Japanese animated films. The objective is not imitation — our goal is to develop a new studio-specific visual language inspired by the strengths of these approaches.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for an animator who understands that great animation is not simply about making a character move. It is about making the audience believe that the character thinks → feels → decides → reacts → acts.

You should have a strong understanding of: character acting, body mechanics, facial animation, gesture, timing and spacing, weight, anticipation, follow-through, secondary motion, posing, silhouette, camera awareness, emotional beats and cinematic storytelling.

You should be able to animate both:

• High-energy sequences — Action, running, fighting, jumping, falling, physical interaction, complex movement.
• Subtle sequences — A character thinking, breathing, looking, hesitating, listening, reacting, hiding emotion or simply walking into a room. The second category is particularly important to us.

Responsibilities

Character Animation

• Create high-quality character animation for films, series and short-form projects.
• Animate believable and emotionally engaging performances.
• Develop strong poses and silhouettes.
• Work closely with the Animation Director to establish performance standards.
• Refine facial expressions and body language.
• Maintain consistency across characters and sequences.

Acting & Storytelling

• Interpret storyboards and scripts into meaningful performances.
• Understand the emotional intention of every shot.
• Make acting choices rather than simply following mechanical instructions.
• Use timing, posing and movement to communicate character personality.

Cinematic Animation

• Work with camera composition and staging.
• Understand how animation interacts with cinematography, lighting and editing.
• Create animation that works as part of a complete cinematic sequence rather than as isolated shots.

Visual Development

• Participate in developing our studio's animation language.
• Experiment with stylized movement, timing and visual effects.
• Help establish reusable animation principles and standards.
• Contribute ideas for improving the quality and efficiency of our production pipeline.

Collaboration

• Work closely with the Animation Director, Creative Director, storyboard artists, character designers, 3D artists, 2D artists, layout artists, FX artists, lighting artists, editors and technical artists.