Zachary Urtes
Baltimore
Summary
I am a passionate and skilled artist/animator with over 10 years of experience in 2D art and animation production. From making and animating game-ready individual characters and assets, to overseeing the scheduling and art direction of entire projects, I've had my hands in every stage of the pipeline. I'm a seasoned character designer, a skilled 2D VFX generalist, and a Spine 2D expert.
Overview
2026
2026
years of professional experience
Work History
Lead Artist
All Out Games
04.2025 - Current
- Managed creative projects at a leadership level.
- Created concepts, assets, and VFX animations.
- Directed a team of artists on a strict schedule.
Lead Artist
Double Jump Games
2023 - 2025
- Managed a team of artists in visual direction.
- Kept art production on many creative projects on schedule.
- fixed problems and worked with programmers on integration
2D Artist/2D Animator
Double Jump Games
2021 - 2023
- Created 2D assets for game environments and character designs.
- created complex rig-based animation for game characters, assets, and VFX
- worked with developers to create rigs and assets that are optimized and easy to integrate.
freelance 2D artist/2D Animator
Shiny Box Interactive
2020 - 2021
- Created character designs for mobile game projects at Shiny Box Interactive.
- finalized sketches into game-ready assets to plug into Unity
- used the Unity animator to create expressive animation sequences for characters
Art Contractor
Fearsome Critters (Board Game)
2019 - 2019
- Created all the characters, cards, tokens, and layouts for the board game.
- I designed the box art for the game.
2D Artist/2D Animator
Beo String Quartet
2018 - 2018
- Created two short films meant to go along with Beo's music.
Primary 2D artist/2D Animator
Batterystaple Games
2014 - 2018
- I was the primary artist and animator for all the characters, enemies, props, and environments for 20XX.
- Showed the game at six indie showcases at PAX.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Illustration
Maryland Institute, College of Art
Baltimore, MD05-2012
Skills
- Team leadership
- Spine 2D
- Art direction
- Character design
- Illustration
- Digital painting
- Particle effects
- 2D animation
- Creative problem solving
- Keyframe animation
- Character embellishments
- Asset creation
Timeline
Lead Artist
All Out Games
04.2025 - Current
Lead Artist
Double Jump Games
2023 - 2025
2D Artist/2D Animator
Double Jump Games
2021 - 2023
freelance 2D artist/2D Animator
Shiny Box Interactive
2020 - 2021
Art Contractor
Fearsome Critters (Board Game)
2019 - 2019
2D Artist/2D Animator
Beo String Quartet
2018 - 2018
Primary 2D artist/2D Animator
Batterystaple Games
2014 - 2018
Bachelor of Arts - Illustration
Maryland Institute, College of Art