Personality,
frame by frame.
Zach Grzymala
Animator · Artist · Storyteller
Thesis film · Ringling College
Rebound
A 1980s-stylized basketball story, written and directed as my senior thesis. Two characters, three environments, fourteen hero props — every frame modeled, rigged, animated, lit, and composited by me.
- Role
- Director / Animator
- Assets
- 100% original
- Tools
- Maya · ZBrush · Substance
- Runtime
- 2:51
How a character gets built
Every character, three ways
Texture, shading, topology. Drag across the frame to strip a finished character back to its wireframe — the same way it gets reviewed in a modeling dailies session.
Selected work
The rest of the reel
01
Animation Reel
Two minutes of character performance, plus the eight shorts it was cut from. Open
02
Character Modeling
Three characters and three environments, from blockout to final texture. Open
03
Disney Creative Group
Holiday ornament sculpts of Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy from my internship. Open
04
Story Development
Boards for a national ALDI spot and five original animatics. Open
Who's behind it
Hi, I'm Zach
It started with WALL·E — a small robot with no dialogue carrying a whole film on personality alone. That settled the argument for me in about ninety minutes.
I earned my BFA in Computer Animation at Ringling College and learned every station of the pipeline: modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, lighting, comp. Since 2023 I've been an Animator at Aristocrat Gaming, building original character content end to end. Along the way I sculpted holiday merchandise characters for the Walt Disney Creative Group and boarded a national TV spot at PSYOP.
What I care about is weight and intention — the pause before a character commits, the beat after they fail.
Full background & resume