Tell-Tale Heart Silhouette Designs

 

Final Silhouettes

References

Perforce Proof

Inanimate Animation

 

ZBrush Simple Head Project

This is the first assignment in 3D art. I spent a lot of time sculpting this head. I used references from Tieflings from DND and Baldur's Gate. This is my first time sculpting and I am excited to try more in the future.

Progress

Head Progress

Horn Progress

Ears Progress

Realtime VFX Project

 

For this project I wanted to create some 3D, real time VFX for a first person shooter.

I used photoshop for the textures, blender for the meshes, and Unreal Engine for Niagara

Particle System and implementation. I did not create every element of the ability. I found some

noise textures, seed mesh, and sounds online.

The ability system, projectile, and health system is fully functional and programmed using

Unreal Engine’s blueprints.

Flower Flurry

Unleash a flurry of petals that deals consistent damage. 

Arboreal Impale

Impale your enemies with a hard-hitting, magical branch.

Seed Shielder

Launch a seed missile that shields your allies against damage. 

By Bait or By Bullet

 Hello!

By Bait or By Bullet is a fishing rogue-lite adventure developed by Small Pond Studios. I worked with a 20 person team to develop this game. My role was animator and pixel artist. I developed 2D VFX, animated guns, and the first boss fight of the game. 

You can check the game out through this link: 

https://apostoljane.itch.io/by-bait-or-by-bullet

Pixel Boss Art and Animations

I worked closely with the design team to create the bosses of this game. The bosses in the game are tentacles designed in different mediums. The medium I created was the pixel art boss. Since animating a tentacle is quite unorthodox and difficult, the animations I designed were reused and referenced when creating the other tentacle animations. 

Idle, Drill Attack, and Scrapped Pierce Attack

We decided that the bosses would move through a portal. The portals would also shoot out projectiles. I designed and animated the portal which is reused for the other bosses as well. 

Portal Animation 

I split the portal into two. The second one was created for the programmers to put in front of the boss to make it look like the tentacle is coming out of the portal. 

Boss + Portal

 

Pixel Boss Arena Background and Foreground

Projectiles

The piranha projectile was based off of pacman. It would shoot out of a projectile and once it reaches the same x or y level as the player character, the piranha would turn and chase after you. 

The second projectile is a lobster which was based on space invaders. After the boss would reach a certain health threshold, an array of them would spawn and move from the top of the screen downwards. 

Miscellaneous Art

Pufferfish Gun

Deadbones gun

Buffs or junk you can fish

2D Vfx I created for dying bosses

Wanted Poster for Bosses Intro Banner

First Design of Backpack Merchant

Motion Test for Tentacle

Animation for Initializing Fishing Minigame

I also included a README for every finished asset I created. In this readme I would give steps on how to import the art into the game engine and what settings would be best. 

This is an example README I would add:

Hello!

This the pixel boss drill animations. To properly fit them into a 1920x1080 scene all you should need to do is upscale it by 3x (as they were created by using a resolution 3x smaller). 

---------------------------------------------

Make sure to use the proper import settings when uploading pixel art sprite sheets into Unity. 

1. Change Sprite mode from single to multiple

2. Change Filter mode from Bilinear to Point (no filter)

3. Change Compression from Normal Quality to None

4. Click Apply

5. Click on Sprite Editor

6. Click on Slice

7. Change type from automatic to grid from cell size

8. Then change the Pixel Size to the corresponding resolution.

---------------------------------------------

The resolutions for TentacleDrill-TransitionIN.png, TentacleDrill-Transitionout.png, and TentacleDrill-Attack.png is 540 x 400

The order of the animations is transition in, Tentacle Drill, and transition out. 

Richard Huang

✧♡(◕‿◕✿)

Good Luck. 

                          

Butterfly Sword Trail

 Sword swipe and impact VFX. Created to be easily modified and implemented to fit different animations. Can be added into any animation in Unreal with 2 sockets added into the skeleton.

Operating Systems Memory Manager

Hello!

This was a project I completed for my Operating Systems class. In this class I studied the

kernel, system calls, and more key aspects relating to operating systems. I included the source

code and an explanation video I created when I submitted the project. I developed the code in a

virtual machine that allowed me to make system calls and modify the Operating System without

risk to my own machine.

The project specifications were to develop a memory manager that held a specific amount of

storage, took in data, tracked holes in the storage, and implemented different allocation

methods. The allocation functions implemented were BestFit and WorstFit. I was also

responsible for testing for memory leaks and errors. The specifications required me to complete

some specific printing methods of the memory block being managed. One example is printing

out the memory storage translated into a Bitmap format. At the end I had to pass some tests

and mention some bugs I encountered.

I cannot post any of my code or demonstration video because this was an assignment for class and it could be taken without permission. 

2D Art Portfolio Piece

 Hello!

For this piece I was playing with light, color, textures, and shapes.

I also wanted to attempt to display emotion while only revealing the eyebrows and one eye.

The smooth suit shapes/colors contrasts with the messy skin and hair textures.

First Portfolio Post

 Hello!

Dragon Slayer is a game I created during the 2025 FIEA Game Jam. It is a 2.5D beat-em-up. The game is centered around a mega fan of the “Dragon Slayer” franchise. They just released a new ride fittingly called “Dragon Slayer.” You arrive at the park excited to ride, but the line to ride is too long. You take a balloon sword from a clown and start fighting your way to the front of the line. 

You can check the game out here:

https://holtj.itch.io/dragon-slayer

I created the character designs, animations, level design, and props. 

Protagonist Run, Idle, and Stunned

Protagonist 3-Hit Combo

Protagonist Jump, Jump Attack, and Dash

Enemies

I designed and animated the enemies as well. There are 4 enemy types, each with their own gimmick. 

Fodder

Fodder is the basic, common enemy type you encounter in the game. There are two types, male and female. They chase after you and punch when you get into range. When you hit them they can become stunned. 

The animations are Idle, Punch, Stun, and Run

Father

Father is a larger, slower enemy that is difficult to stun when attacked. 

The animations are Idle, Headbutt, Stun, and Walk.

Mother + Child

The Mother enemy does not chase after the player. They run around the area and scream. Whenever they scream, they spawn a child that runs from one side of the screen to the other. When the child reaches the protagonist, they lunge and attack the protagonist. 

The mother has Idle, Scream, Stun, and Walk animations.

 

The child has Run, Lunge, and Stunned Animation.

In addition to the characters and the animations, I also created a bunch of props to decorate the levels.

Balloon Stand

.

Banners + Pole

Billboard

Random Trash

Misc

Level 2 Specific Decor

In-Game Screenshots: