2D/3D Animator & Rigger / Nikolai

13+ years of experienceNovi Sad, Serbia

Versatile 3D Animator, 2D Spine Animator and Rigger with over 10 years in the game industry, including senior and lead roles on global mobile hits (Playrix) and hardcore shooters. Proven track record managing full animation pipelines - from concept and character rigging through engine integration - using both keyframe and mocap workflows across humanoids, animals, monsters, and reptiles, alongside hands-on 2D Spine rigging and animation for live mobile titles. Combines strong hands-on craft with leadership experience: team management, pipeline optimization, and task decomposition for animation departments over 5+ years. Portfolio is available upon request.

Skills

  • 10+ years delivering production-ready 3D keyframe and mocap animation (cleanup & retargeting) in Maya for 1st- and 3rd-person shooter mechanics, plus 2D Spine rigging/animation for top-tier mobile titles with millions of active users
  • Custom character rigging for any anatomy - bipeds, quadrupeds, creatures - using Advanced Skeleton and Maya pipelines, including building animator-friendly rigs that cut FBX import/export friction
  • Hands-on engine integration and animation customization in both Unity and Unreal Engine, including 1st/3rd-person weapon and interaction systems
  • Early adopter of AI-assisted animation generation and retargeting tools, speeding up production without sacrificing quality
  • 5+ years leading animation departments: scheduling, task decomposition, quality review, and pipeline optimization across multiple concurrent projects
  • Strong cross-discipline collaborator — translates producer and game-designer vision into technical specs, partners closely with concept artists, modelers, programmers, and narrative teams
  • Shipped and supported global hits across genres: casual/mobile (HomeScapes, GardenScapes, Fishdom), tactical shooters (Dead Side), and story-driven titles (Dream Town, Mom)

Experience

December 2023 — now

2D Spine Animator, 3D Rigger & Animator

Freelance
  • Lead animator and senior rigger across multiple ongoing projects
  • Translate producer and game-designer visions into technical task descriptions
  • Collaborate with concept artists and modelers to ensure production-ready characters
June 2024 — April 2026

Senior 3D Animator

Playrix
  • Contributed to world-renowned casual titles (HomeScapes, GardenScapes, Fishdom)
  • Focused on expressive character acting and polished aesthetics
August 2023 — December 2023

3D Animator

BadPixel
  • Rebuilt animation pipeline from 3ds Max to Maya for Dead Side project
  • Created animator-friendly rig supporting FBX import, controller re-baking, and engine export
  • Created 1st- and 3rd-person weapon reload animations simultaneously
  • Imported and customized animations in Unreal Editor
November 2020 — June 2023

Lead 3D Animator

Playgendary
  • Led story-driven animation for Dream Town in realistic style
  • Scheduled deadlines, optimized pipeline, authored and reviewed animator tasks
  • Built realistic game rigs for pet characters in Design Masters
  • Partnered with programmers on Unity integration and reviewed outsourced work
  • Organized team workflow for Mom, created character rigs, planned interaction systems
June 2018 — October 2020

Lead 3D Animator

Playrix
  • Researched and implemented animation approaches to optimize team resourcing
  • Planned timelines and workload as lead, reviewed animator tasks
  • Consulted on sister-studio projects and enabled animation reuse across company
August 2017 — June 2018

3D Character Animator

Playrix
  • Created rigs and animations for meta (UI/event) characters in HomeScapes
August 2011 — August 2017

3D Animator

Social Quantum

Education

September 2000 — June 2006

Architecture, Architect

Ivanovo State Polytechnic University

Contact

Takovska 5, Belgrade, 🇷🇸 Serbia.

Email: [email protected]