Joshua Rutledge

Co-Founder & 3D Animator / Lead Technical Artist

GnomeFire Labs Inc., Kingston, Ontario

2023 – 2024

Lead Visual Development on RaceTrap. Co-founded an independent game studio to develop and commercially launch RaceTrap on Steam over a 1.5 year production cycle. Built, rigged, and animated the entire cast of 3D characters in Blender, ensuring appealing silhouettes and expressive movements. Set up and tuned Unity Animator controllers, blend trees, and state machines to successfully launch the game on Steam.

Diploma in Advanced Character Animation Studies

Animation Mentor, AnimationMentor.com

2025 – 2026

Completed a 18 month online program taught directly by professional studio animators. Keyframed weekly animation assignments from layout and rough blocking through spline and final polish while implementing mentor feedback on strict production deadlines. Developed high-quality physical performances, focusing on weight, balance, multi-character dialogue, and interesting acting choices.

Honours Bachelor of Computing, specializing in game development

Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

2018 – 2023

Collaborated with programmers and designers to test character responsiveness and ensure seamless transition between animation states. Studied the mechanics of vertex processing and shading algorithms to understand how animation data is rendered on screen. Programmed and adjusted rigid body physics, collision detection algorithms and gravity constraints within interactive software.