For Studios & Agencies Check Availability

Senior 2D & 3D motion designer

For Studios & Agencies Drysen Carsten · drysen.work

Who

I'm Drysen.

I'm a senior-level 2D & 3D Motion Design freelancer based just outside Sioux Falls, SD. Remote, but I've been known to travel for the right project.

Senior to me means thinking in systems — how a piece gets built, reused, versioned, and where it's headed after I've worked on it.

I prefer projects that last from a few weeks to a few months. I love being a part of the entire process, from script to final render. That said, I'm also available for quick projects that only last a few days.

Software

After Effects (primary) Cinema 4D + Redshift Illustrator Photoshop Audition Premiere

Capability

What I do

2D Motion Design

After Effects is where I spend most of my time tweaking keyframes to perfection, even if that means animating shape paths by hand. I lean heavily on the 12 animation principles and believe that things should have personality. I also believe that good design carries an animation further than the keyframes do.

3D Motion Design

I bring the same animation knowledge from After Effects into Cinema 4D. I've carried hard-surface projects end to end — simple modeling, UV mapping in RizomUV, texturing cards and boxes, animation, lighting, multipass rendering, and Takes for localized versions. I lean on pre-modeled assets where it makes sense and gets to a good frame faster.

Illustration & Asset Prep

Am I familiar with Illustrator? Absolutely — though I wouldn't call myself an illustrator. I'm comfortable building the assets I need to finish a shot, and I can vectorize a sketch. Taking a blank artboard to a finished style frame is when I want a real illustrator in the room.

Video Editing

My video career started with five TV shows ranging from local productions, regional broadcasts, and a nationally aired documentary. I'm comfortable running cameras on set, lighting, audio, footage management, editing, and localization. These days I focus on motion graphics, but the skill's here if the right project calls for it

Audio

I'm comfortable taking VO, stock music, and SFX all the way to the finish line. That comes from a DJ company I ran in high school, mentoring under a live sound engineer on concerts, and years in post doing editing and mastering. I'm not your custom score guy — that's a composer's seat.

When you shouldn't hire me

Where my limitations are

I'd rather tell you this up front than have you find it mid-schedule.

Character animation

Character rigging, complicated facial syncs, or lip syncs are out of my wheelhouse. Simple character motion to land a bit of emotion? Happy to. Anything that deforms like a body is someone else's seat.

Modeling

I've modeled simple objects like bottles, boxes, cards, buttons. Highly detailed and complex forms or sculpted work means I'll be using provided stock assets or working with a ZBrush artist.

Technical 3D

I'd call myself mid-level here, not senior. I'm not confident with sims — dynamics, cloth, particles and I tend modify existing materials rather than building node trees from scratch. Xpresso and procedural rigs I leave alone.

Illustration from a blank page

Give me a sketch and I can vectorize it. Designing the initial look and proportions from nothing isn't my strength.

I enjoy pushing my skills further with every project. But I won't commit to something I'm not confident about while you pay premium rates for me to learn on your clock.

A NOTE TO PRODUCERS

Communication is Everything.

Over the past few years, I've put on a producer's hat — managing artist teams, organizing assets, handling client communications. I understand how delicate the balancing act is. That's why clear communication without overpromising matters so much to me. If something's running behind schedule, you'll know about it with time to plan. Communication is everything.