Maya Character Animator — Mascot Loading Screens + Snapchat AR Beats (Rig Supplied)

Job description: We're a Gold Coast tourism-tech brand with a finished, production-ready 3D mascot rig (Maya) and detailed frame-by-frame storyboards. We need an experienced character animator to bring the mascot to life across two surfaces: app loading screens and a Snapchat AR lens. This is not a from-scratch job. The character is modelled and rigged, the brand is locked, and every beat is storyboarded with timing already worked out. We need someone who can execute hand-keyed character performance with weight and personality, and deliver clean, loopable, implementation-ready files. Scope 3D logo asset Build one animation-ready 3D logo (a stylised gold wave + wordmark) from a chosen concept direction. Reference provided. This is the hero asset that sits above the character in the loaders. Loading screen animations (3) Three seamless-loop loaders, 9:16 portrait, wordless, single character. Personality scales across the three: one logo-only (no character), one light "peek" beat, one seated performance piece. Delivered as Lottie/dotLottie where possible, with MP4/WebM + alpha as fallback. 24fps. Transparent background, alpha exports (we set backgrounds in-app). Snapchat AR lens beats (5) Five short capture animations delivered as clips on the rig (we handle Lens Studio integration). Includes a two-character beat: the mascot's ice cream is snatched by a seagull — so this job includes rigging and animating a simple second character (the gull) for that one beat. The others are single-character: a hero pose, a warm "offers a glowing heart" beat, a "tries to look cool, fails" beat, and a live-mimicry "copycat" beat. Each must hold cleanly on a hero frame and blend back to a rest state. What we provide Sunny mascot rig (Maya), ours to share, ready to hand over Locked brand tokens (exact colours, fonts) Full frame-by-frame storyboards for every beat (two detailed docs) Logo concept reference What you deliver Maya project + source files All final exports (Lottie/dotLottie + alpha MP4/WebM as specified) The gull rig you build for the steal beat Full IP assigned to us on final payment Must have Strong Maya character animation portfolio (mascot / stylised / appealing-character work preferred over realistic or mocap) Demonstrable hand-keyed work — weight, timing, personality (no mocap) Experience with seamless loops and/or short-form character beats Able to work from an existing rig and detailed brief Comfortable exporting to Lottie/dotLottie and alpha video Nice to have Prior loading-screen or AR/Snapchat lens experience Basic rigging (needed for the simple gull) To apply, please: Share 2–3 portfolio pieces of hand-keyed Maya character animation (link, not a reel of studio group work — we want to see your keys). Tell us, in one line each: how you'd approach a seamless loop for a loading screen, and how you'd keep a snatch/reaction beat reading clearly in under 0.5s. Confirm you work in Maya and can deliver Lottie/dotLottie + alpha exports. Give us a rough estimate of days and your rate for the scope above. Applications that don't include hand-keyed Maya samples and answer the two craft questions won't be reviewed.