# Gillian Yu > Concept Artist and Illustrator | 3D Modeler | UCSC Art + Game Design Alumni Location: Cupertino, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/gillian A creative Art + Game Design Graduate with 4 years of experience with character concept art and 3D modeling experience and 8 years of illustration experience. Currently learning how to use rive.app to rig and animate characters. Excited to work in a collaborative environment and provide support with my skillset! ## Work Experience ### Product Designer | Artist @ Potato Dog Studio Jan 2020 – Present ✦ Created sole proprietorship of art and design, finished products created with Clip Studio Paint ✦ Designing and producing original art products to sell online on Etsy and at conventions, with up to $1,000+ in revenue ✦ Promoting products and growing community through social media and actively engaging with community Potato Dog Studio is an art business started by Gillian Yu where she creates merch such as vinyl stickers and prints of her mascot, Potato Dog, inspired by food and daily life. ### Art Lead | Character Concept Artist @ Unlocked Basement Games Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 | Santa Cruz, California, United States ✦ Managed art tasks as part of a 12 person team in a multi-department setting to create a UI and story-focused high fantasy game ✦ Led department lead meetings and transcribed accurate notes for future reference ✦ Established art direction and style guide for character portraits in Google Slides ✦ Facilitated feedback sessions with art team and exchanged constructive feedback to maintain consistent art style ✦ Created character concept art of 6 high fantasy characters with a compelling design that resonated with playtesters ### 2D Animator | Concept Artist | UI Artist @ Team Catfé Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Santa Cruz, California, United States ✦ Collaborated with 6 people for animation feedback ✦ Won B-A-N-A-N-A-S Award at 2021 UCSC Games Showcase ✦ Used the Unity animator to rig and animate characters with varying body types ✦ Designed 20+ concept iterations for the UI and illustrated final UI art ✦ Partnered with a programmer to resolve animation issues in Unity Worked on Seventino Midnight Café, a 2D open-world cooking game where you hunt for your ingredients. ### 3D Modeler @ Game Design & Art Collaboration Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Santa Cruz, California, United States ✦ Collaborated with 3D animator to get feedback on 3D model edge flow and learned how to create optimized 3D models ✦ Won the B-A-N-A-N-A-S Award during the 2021 Sammy Awards Worked on Gremlin Garden, a 3D game where you feed, train, and pet your gremlins and pit them against each other in various racing challenges. ### Character Concept Artist @ Game Design & Art Collaboration Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Santa Cruz, California, United States ✦ A platonic plant care simulator and visual novel made in Unity by UCSC's Game Design and Art Collaboration Club ✦ Collaborated with 10+ artists to give feedback and iterate on character concepts ✦ First experience collaborating with various artists and departments on a game ✦ Won Worldbuilding Award at 2020 UCSC Games Showcase ✦ Created 20+ pieces of character concept art over a span of 3.5 weeks ✦ Designed final concept art for one of the main characters ### Game Artist | Animator @ Field Medics Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Santa Cruz, California, United States ✦ A 2D military medical simulator developed in Unity for the UCSC Senior Capstone Sequence for Game Design ✦ Created 2D props, frame animations, animations, and cutscene art as an external collaborator with a team of 5+ artists ✦ Won Impact Award at 2020 UCSC Games Showcase ### Course Assistant (CA) @ University of California, Santa Cruz Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 ✦ Collaborated with other CAs to discuss issues in the teaching curriculum for ~200 students ✦ Assisted the teacher with class management by facilitating group discussions with the whole class ✦ Supported 1/3 of the class by addressing their concerns during office hours with academic aid ### Intern @ NASA Ames Research Center Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Mountain View, California, United States ✦ Created a comic about the life of a NASA intern by using my personal experience as an intern ✦ Learned how to incorporate feedback into my work while under the mentorship of an artist from the Public Affairs Office (PAO) ✦ Designed and wrote graphic recordings for the Summer Series presentations, a collection of talks by internal and external experts ✦ Advertised the Summer Series by distributing posters and flyers around the Center ✦ Actively engaged with Summer Series speakers to end their presentations on time through the use of time cards ### Summer Intern @ NASA Ames Research Center Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 ✦ Conducted extensive research on possible conflicts of interest in research review ✦ Created a flowchart that aids in determining the integrity of project review to generate maximum output and to foster trust between researchers and reviewers on project credibility ✦ Advertised the Summer Series’ 16 speakers by distributing posters around the Center ✦ Actively engaged with Summer Series speakers to facilitate speaker adherence to lecture closure. ## Education ### Game and Interactive Media Design; Art University of California, Santa Cruz ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/gillian-yu - Website: https://sites.google.com/view/gillianwyu/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/gillian JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/gillian/resume.json Last updated: 2026-02-23