Blender Environment & Animatic Artist
Project: Shanghai Follies - independent 90-minute animated feature (anime-style 2D characters in detailed 3D environments), set in 1930s Vancouver
Engagement: Contract / project-based
Start: Immediate
Animatic delivery: November 2026
Reports to: Director
About the Project
Shanghai Follies is an independent animated feature in active pre-production. The immediate goal is to build a full storyboard-driven animatic with a scratch voice track - a tool for the director to refine the film and for presentation to funders. This role is central to getting that animatic built.
The Role
We’re looking for an artist fluent in Blender to take storyboard panels created in other tools, enhanced with Grease Pencil as needed, and bring them to life, as timed, camera-driven animatic shots inside rough 3D environments. The role has two initial responsibilities: set builder and shot animator. This is a fast, iterative role - the priority is clear staging and timing.
Principal Responsibilities
1. Build rough environments for the animatic
- Model and assemble “blocking-grade” 3D environments - accurate in scale, layout, and sightlines, but intentionally low-detail. These exist to stage camera and character placement, not to be final renders.
- Work from script, reference, and director notes to capture each location’s key geometry, entrances, and spatial relationships.
- Prioritize speed and reusability: clean, well-organized scenes that can be revised quickly as the edit evolves.
2. Animate and render shots from imported storyboard images
-Import storyboard panels (PNGs, often with transparency) into Blender as Image Empties or image planes, positioned within the 3D environments.
-Stage and keyframe camera moves (push-ins, pans, holds) and panel transitions to match the intended cut and scratch dialogue timing.
- Render individual shots to video for assembly into the running animatic. Final editing may happen inside Blender or in an external editor (e.g. Adobe Premiere), so shots should be delivered as clean, well-organized renders suitable for either path.
Required Skills & Experience
- Demonstrable proficiency in Blender: modeling, scene organization, camera work, the keyframe / Graph Editor animation workflow, and rendering to video.
- Experience importing and working with 2D image elements in a 3D scene (image empties, textured / alpha planes). Experience with Grease Pencil.
- A storyboarding or layout sensibility - understanding of staging, composition, screen direction, and how camera moves read on screen.
- Ability to work efficiently at “rough” fidelity, judging when something is good enough for an animatic rather than over-building.
- Self-directed, organized with files and naming, and responsive to iterative direction.
Nice to Have
- Familiarity with Blender’s Video Sequence Editor and/or external editors like Adobe Premiere for cut assembly and audio sync.
- Background in 2D animation, previs, or animatic / boardomatic production.
- Familiarity with anime / 2D-character-in-3D-environment pipelines.
- Experience on film or episodic pre-production.
- Comfort with current Blender versions
- B.C. Canada based a plus but not required.
Timeline
Start: immediate.
Final animatic delivery: November 2026.
Work proceeds iteratively in collaboration with the director throughout, building and refining environments and shots as the edit develops.
How to Apply
Please submit a reel or portfolio showing relevant Blender work - environment blocking, camera / previs, or animatic / layout work especially welcome - along with a brief note on your experience with pre-production and storyboard-driven workflows.
Email to douglasscottkay@gmail.com