Jen Huffa
I am an Unreal Technical Artist living in Los Angeles. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Game Art & Design specializing in shaders/materials.
I am a self-motivated & enthusiastic person with a broad skill set passionate about creating meaningful products. The majority of the projects I had the pleasure of working on have been remote-based.
Currently, I am full-time on VALORANT at Riot Games.
Education:
Art Institute of California-Hollywood
March 2016 - B.S. Game Art and Design
Awards & Certifications:
Dean's Honor Roll October 2015
Join us on Friday, April 28th for an exciting live stream event showcasing the Technical Art department at Riot Games!
We are thrilled to welcome Jeremy Ernst, Seth Hall, Izzy Cheng, Taylor Wright, Jen Huffa, and Gaige Hallman..
What people say
"We hired Jen to help us with shader development, procedural texturing, and environment art support. In other words, her areas of expertise. Almost immediately after she joined, with her help, we discovered that the team had more urgent needs. For the following 12 months, she supported the Tech Art and the Design and the Art team in areas where she had very little previous experience. This, not only didn't stop her, she performed admirably. It was a surprise to everyone that the areas she was supporting were new to her. She learned at lightning speeds, she helped train others on these areas, and gracefully adapted her support to the discipline, subdiscipline, and person she was working with. Jen is a wonderful Technical Artist, and she is a huge value add to any team she is a member of. I look forward to see many great things come from this talented artisan."
Alexis Meade
Technical Lead at Blizzard Entertainment
"I had the pleasure of working with Jen at Halon Entertainment. We worked in the same projects for a while, and even though we were in different departments, we frequently worked together to come up with solutions for different needs of the projects. I often asked Jen for help as some of my ideas for asset work needed a deeper technical knowledge of Unreal. She would then either explain me how I could accomplish my goal or offer to help with the task, and in that case Jen always had some solution and in the rare instances when she didn't know the exact way to go about solving a problem, she would research and test possible approaches and normally give me a working answer in a couple of hours. I always found Jen a serious and professional person, and she is extremely easy to work with. I can't recommend her enough."
Joao Baptista
Lead Character Artist at Halon Entertainment
"I had the pleasure of working with Jen on an incredibly difficult project that would have broken the spirit of a lesser person. Her ability to adapt quickly in the face of many technological hurdles and learn new software inspired her teammates. She has an excellent handle on deadlines and how to achieve them, with clear communication to get the work done. I would gladly work with her again in the future!"
Rachael Kent
Associate Producer at The Famous Group
"I greatly enjoyed working with Jen - she is hard working, knowledgable, and excellent with clients. In a recent project she went far above and beyond my initial expectations; stepping up into a much higher role than initially discussed, managing a team, and learning a new software she had never used before. I was constantly impressed with her work ethic and ability to execute. She handled difficult personnel issues with grace and was incredibly communicative with me throughout the project."
Nathanael Horton
Producer at The Famous Group
MATERIALS & SHADERS
PROFESSIONAL
Riot Games
Technical Artist III
Sept 2023 - Current
Technical Artist II
May 2022 - Sept 2023
Works with content creators to develop materials & shaders for the Premium Content team of Valorant.
Skinlines: Abyssal, Iridian Thorn, Reverie, Transition
Software: Unreal Engine 4, Maya, Substance
Technical Artist
March 2021 - May 2022
Supported artists & helped implement best practices for the pipeline for the upcoming Unannounced Survival Project.
Article: Create A New Universe With Us
Software: Unreal Engine 4, Maya, Substance
Halon Entertainment
Technical Director
November 2020 - February 2021
Optimized Fortnite trailers to achieve better frame rates & render time. Created documentation to define best practices for the pipeline & set style sheet. Customized & created new shaders/materials to meet the teams' needs.
Trailers: The Walking Dead , Master Chief Joins The Fight In Fortnite , Sarah Conner & the T-800 Arrive
Software: Unreal Engine 4, Maya, Substance Painter
Technical Lead
August 2020 - November 2020
Main supporting hands for VFX Supervisor & Producer for the Riot Worlds 2020 Opening Ceremony performance. Responsible for integrating models, animations, & FX assets into Unreal Engine 4 & Zero Density project. Assists with live demos to clients & vendors. Optimize assets while maintaining quality to increase performance & frame rate.
Video: Opening Ceremony Worlds 2020
Software: Unreal Engine 4, Zero Density
Santa Monica College
3D Texturing & Rendering Professor
January 2020 - July 2020
Responsible for educating students on the basics of texturing, shaders, & materials using current industry-standard software.
Software: Unreal Engine 4, Substance Designer, Substance Painter
Unreal Technical Artist
April 2020 - June 2020
Support development team within Unreal Engine 4. Research & develop new assets for Previs library.
Software: Unreal Engine 4, Maya, Substance Designer, Substance Painter
Technical Artist
August 2016 - August 2019
An upcoming action RPG indie game created in Unreal Engine 4.
Responsible for creating materials, shaders, textures, & short cinematic teasers.
Software: Substance Designer, UE4, 3DS Max, Photoshop CS6, After Effects CS6
Skills Used: Material and Shader Creation, 3D Modeling, UE4 Sequencer, Lighting, & Level Building.
Technical Project Manager
October 2017 - October 2018
An Eco-Friendly custom knitwear apparel start-up company based in Malibu, CA.
Responsible for guiding teams and creating a technical pipeline. Assisted with asset creation for 3D customizer, mockups, website development, photo editing, & branding content.
Skills Used: Motion Graphics, 3D Modeling, Branding Assets, Web Development, Interface Design.
Freshi Media
Game Design Instructor
Summer Quarter 2017
Responsible for educating students on the basics of 3D modeling, shaders, level design, & animation.
Software: Blender & Multimedia Fusion 2
Skills Used: Motion Graphics, 3D Modeling, Branding Assets, Web Development, Interface Design
Art Intern
Winter 2014
Worked alongside with Art team & QA. Created social media assets for mobile games: Bingo HOME, Bingo USA, & Bingo World.