Jacob Conard

3D Animation & Visual Effects · Los Angeles area, CA · jacob.conard.career@gmail.com

CSUN graduate (December 2025) with a B.A. in Art (Animation) seeking an internship in 3D animation or visual effects. Skilled in Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine 5 with hands-on experience managing full-cycle animation projects. Recognized for creative storytelling, technical precision, and the ability to deliver results independently and collaboratively.

Skills

3D Software
  • Autodesk Maya
  • ZBrush
  • Substance Painter
  • Unreal Engine 5
  • Nuke
Design Tools
  • Adobe Creative Suite (Certified)
  • Photoshop
  • After Effects
  • Premiere Pro
Other Skills
  • Texture Baking
  • Digital Sculpting
  • Rendering
  • Post-Production
  • Google Apps
  • Zoom
Soft Skills
  • Creative
  • Technical
  • Time Management
  • Team Building
  • Flexibility, Pivot Quickly, Adapts
  • Collaborates

Experience

Assistant Manager

Hot Dog on a Stick
Santa Clarita, CA
  • Assisted General and District Managers with daily operations, ensuring efficiency, consistency, and customer satisfaction
  • Delegated tasks and supported team leadership in a fast-paced setting
  • Developed time management and organizational skills while balancing academic responsibilities
  • Trained and mentored employees to enhance skills, foster a positive culture, and uphold high standards of quality and service
November 2019 - June 2021; June 2022 - November 2024

Photography Volunteer

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Santa Clarita, CA
  • Captured photos of charity events for social media promotion
  • Edited photos by color correcting in Adobe Lightroom to convey a warm, heartfelt mood
May 2023 - May 2024

Producer

'Your Voice Should be Heard'
Santa Clarita, CA
  • Produced, filmed, and edited a documentary-style video across all stages of production, resulting in a 60-second award-winning video to promote anti-bullying
August - September 2020

Portfolio

Unreal Engine 5 Environment

Create an environment inside of Unreal Engine 5 using Quixel assets and custom assets. Render out a 15 second clip.

Project Goals:

  • 3D Environment building
  • Unreal’s Lumen lighting system
  • Video compositing

KaBar Game Ready Asset & Model Overview

This KaBar knife was created inside of Maya, textured and baked in Substance Painter, and rendered in Unreal Engine 5.

Project Goals:

  • Create a high and low poly game ready asset
  • Create high resolution textures
  • Optimized Low Poly model for real-time performance
  • Clean UV layout ensuring efficient texture usage and minimal distortion
  • Balanced polygon count for high visual fidelity while staying performance-friendly
  • Ideal for use in games, VR, or real-time rendering pipelines

3D Still Life Image

Still image using a mix of gathered and custom assets built and rendered inside of Maya.

Project Goals:

  • Showcase our technical skills of 3D lighting with Arnold
  • Texture Baking high poly and low poly assets and creating high resolution textures

Star Wars–Themed 2D Arcade Game Overview

A retro-inspired Flappy Bird side-scroller built in Unreal Engine 5 including:

  • Blueprint driven gameplay (jump physics, scoring, UI, restart logic)
  • Custom pixel art
  • Randomized pipe obstacle spawning with collision-based scoring
  • Integrated sound effects and responsive controls

Star Wars–Themed 2D Arcade Game Assets

Designed and created original 2D sprites including:

  • Player-controlled ship with flipbook animations
  • Parallax-scrolling backgrounds to simulate depth
  • Interactive pipe obstacles
  • Multi-layered foreground elements for enhanced immersion

Star Wars–Themed 2D Arcade Game Systems

Implemented core gameplay systems including:

  • Player controls
  • Physics-based jumping
  • Score tracking
  • Randomized obstacle spawning
  • UI creation
  • Game-over logic
  • Background parallax

Education

California State University Northridge (CSUN)

Bachelor of Science: Art & Animation (expected graduation December 2025)



Certification

Adobe Creative Suite



Awards

Award-winning short film 'Your Voice Should be Heard'

Interests

What I enjoy

What I enjoy the most is spending time with my friends, making memories with my family, and going on adventures with my girlfriend Grace. I also love hanging out with my dog, Coal, who always brings me joy. Whether I’m relaxing at the beach, exploring Disneyland, or just enjoying good company, these are the moments that mean the most to me.

What I've been watching

I love watching movies and shows, and I always strive to see every new release that comes out. Lately, I’ve been watching some horror, like The Conjuring: Last Rites and Weapons, but my favorite genre has always been sci-fi. Recently, I really enjoyed Alien: Earth, since stories about space and futuristic worlds always capture my imagination the most.

What I've been listening to

Music is a big part of my life, and I enjoy a mix of rock and rap. Lately, I’ve been listening to bands and artists like Motionless in White and Breaking Benjamin for their heavy rock sound, as well as Witt Lowry and NF for their powerful rap and lyrical depth. This blend gives me the best of both worlds, energy and intensity from rock, and emotion and storytelling from rap.

What I've been playing

Gaming is another big hobby of mine, and lately I’ve been enjoying titles like Marvel Rivals, Helldivers 2, and Borderlands 4. I love games that mix action, strategy, and teamwork, while also letting me dive into exciting worlds with friends. Whether it’s fighting alongside heroes, battling alien swarms, or exploring wild chaotic adventures, these games keep me entertained and challenged.

What I collect

I’m a huge Star Wars fan. I love collecting and building LEGO Star Wars sets like X-wings and TIE Fighters, and I take pride in displaying them. I also collect lightsabers from Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge, which makes me feel even more connected to the galaxy far, far away. It’s one of my favorite hobbies and a big part of who I am.