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

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

Blizzard Entertainment

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

The Famous Group

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

The Third Floor, Inc.

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

Empty Electron

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.

Variant

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

Playsino, Inc.

Art Intern

Winter 2014


Worked alongside with Art team & QA. Created social media assets for mobile games: Bingo HOME, Bingo USA, & Bingo World.