Experience — Esther Ko

October 2019 - Present

Created distinctive creature animation style guides and led team in tone consistency throughout the project
Mentored junior animation teammates in craft and career development while leading team animation reviews
Crafted both keyframe and mocap-based characters across a myriad of physiques and gameplay contexts
Defined realistic creature animation workflows and production phases from initial design to shippable quality
Planned and maintained creature animation’s realistic capacity and scope in partnership with other leadership
Delivered efficient gameplay content through effective iteration, in-game implementation, and timely animation polish
Collaborated closely with art and design leadership to shape production processes with a holistic, multi-disciplinary focus
Directed large motion capture shoots, modeled use of individual suit capture for effective gameplay prototyping

August 2018 - October 2019

Utilized both keyframe and mocap data to execute on realistic-but-stylized animation direction
Fully implemented animation data in engine, including animation systems housing the content
Teamed up with tight-knit, multi-disciplinary strike teams to quickly design and iterate on live content

March 2018 - August 2018

Built a cross-discipline communication culture to support the fast-paced development patch cycle
Created stylized, keyframed first and third-person animations for a diverse character lineup in 3ds Max
Directed champion animation tone and united character creation disciplines for cohesive character presentation
Managed and uplifted 6-person team of animators and technical artists

December 2015 - March 2018

Delivered 7 SMITE gods and 18 Paladins champions with stylized keyframe animations in 3ds Max
Initiated cross-department improvements to character rig defaults
Guided department through establishing a motion-capture pipeline

March 2014 - December 2015

Shaped motion-capture into realistic animation style in Motionbuilder
Led animation portion of Pre-Game feature re-design for NBALive16
Mentored, managed tasking, and guided animation polish for contract animators
Teamed up with engineers and designers to develop tools/prototypes for workflow improvements

September 2012 - March 2014

Keyframed 60+ diverse characters in Maya within cartoon animation style and tight deadlines, implemented in Unreal 3
Initiated exploration into different animation implementation for better animation quality