This is the 2026 version of my animation reel, which I'm using for my job applications. It's been updated to include my best work as of yet: my character model, rig, and animations from my team's senior capstone film, "An Unfurgettable Night". The full film is currently unavailable because it's running its course through film festivals, but you can see the specific shots I animated down below.

Welcome to my site!

Site Description:

This website was created by me, Kelby Stotz, for the purpose of hosting my 3D models, rigs, and animations. My current goal is to showcase my professional skill and experience to potential employers. If you're interested in recruiting me, send a message to my business email.

If you scroll down, you can see my featured artworks. My recent work is at the top, but you can scroll further and see how I've improved over the years. If you want to see more, check out the Gallery page.

Video content notice: Videos may not not load correctly on narrow screens. Videos may not load at all in specific mobile browsers. Videos may default to a low quality for faster webpage loading, but the quality can be adjusted with the gear icon; all video content is available in 1080p.

~~ Featured Art ~~

These are the shots from "An Unfurgettable Night" that were animated by me, minus a few of the more mundane ones. If you want to see all the shots I animated, check out the Gallery page. As of writing, these are my greatest animations, and they represent my current skill level. The character (Cat Plush) was animated in a cartoonish and exaggerated way.

This was a group project. For a full list of credits, refer to the full film.

This is the main character in "An Unfurgettable Night". I made the model and rig completely from scratch in Maya. The design and texture were mostly created by Grace Johnson, with only minor revisions from me.

Topology

In the above image, you can see the model's topology. I used exclusively quad faces, and nearly every vertex is connected to exactly four edges for edge flow; these were done intentionally for cleaner deformations during animation. Additionally, the spacing of edge loops is also intentional; there are extra edge loops in the armpit region to allow for cleaner deformation in an area where lots of movement is expected. On the arm and torso, however, the edge loops are evenly spaced to allow these body parts to bend in a cartoonish style.

Rig

This is the first full body rig I've created. I put a lot of work into it, but most of the time was spent studying Tina O'Hailey's "Rig it Right!". Now that I know what I'm doing, my next rig will take far less time.

In the left image, you can you see the rig's skeleton. For both the arms and legs, I used five joints each, as opposed to the typical three (shoulder, elbow, wrist; hip, knee, ankle). Again, this was done to allow for bendier movement. Initially, I was unsure if this decision would look good, so the two extra joints are placed in-line with the three main ones so that the limb can optionally be controlled by just the main joints without being affected by the extra ones. In the final animation, however, the extra joints are used frequently.

In the right image, you can see the rig's controls. This is a relatively advanced rig. The controls are a little messy, but I didn't want anything hidden from the other animators. First of all, each individual arm and leg can be toggled between FK and IK; in the image, the FK/IK switch is hidden, but the arms are set to FK while the legs are set to IK. Next, the spine and tail both have SDK controls (represented by blue arrows), which will animate the entire spine/tail. I created these controls because the tail has 12 bones, and it'd be time-consuming to rotate each one every keyframe, so you can instead rotate them all at once with just the blue arrow. The mouth is made of many small joints, each with its own controller to allow for specific mouth poses; these can be hidden, which they are in the image. Finally, the ears, eyes, and mouth are all controlled using blendshape deformers. The eyes and mouth bend to fit the curvature of the head, the eyes squash and stretch to allow for blinking and facial expressions, and the ears bend forwards and backwards for more believable movement.

This character I designed was my final project in MSUM's 3D Modeling class. Created in Maya, this was my first character model. While the character is not rigged, I've created the character in such a way that it is ready to be rigged. This includes edge flow (e.g. a raccoon mask) and edge loops (e.g. higher density around joints). The model has no texture, only basic coloring. Cloth physics were used for the character's shirt. When I first made this in 2025, I was very proud of it. After making Cat Plush in 2026, however, I feel like I've improved significantly.

This was an assignment in MSUM's 3D Modeling class. I chose to model a realistic rifle due to the complexity that the task demanded. I relied on a diagram of an M16 to make the model true to life. After modeling, I had to create the UV map. Finally, I created custom textures in Adobe Substance Painter. The stock, grip, and handguard were all meant to be wooden, but only the handguard got the wood texture in the final version.

This was an exercise in MSUM's 3D Modeling class. These specific models weren't created by me; the assignment was to texture the scene. I textured the models using Arnold's AISS, including the specular, transmission, and subsurface scattering.

This was an independent study in Maya using Arnold lights. The models and their materials are simple and unimpressive; I was instead focusing on the different lighting systems. On the left, you can see the unlit scene for reference. On the right, you can see a lighting system meant to represent sunshine; the lighting is warm, the fill lights are bright, each object has a single, strong shadow, all the shadows point in uniform directions, and there's an additional light below the scene to simulate bounce light.

This was the final assignment from MSUM's 3D Animation class, animated in Maya. Besides storyboarding and animation, I also created the revolver prop and the environment. My personal goal was to make a comedy-focused animation without relying on audio. Some of the animations aren't as cartoonish as I envisioned, but they are still pretty expressive. When I made this, I was pretty proud of the larger character's walk cycle and the revolver model, and I believe they still hold up.

Try selecting the loop option in the video player!

This was an assignment from MSUM's 3D Animation class, animated in Maya. The goal was to have the flour sack move in a believable way, demonstrating weight, anticipation, squash and stretch, and personality. The model and rig were created by Joe Daniels.

Try selecting the loop option in the video player!

This was an assignment from MSUM's 3D Animation class, animated in Maya. The goal was to animate a walk cycle that shows an understanding of weight distribution and communicate character personality; the personality I chose was sneaky. Personally, I think I did a good job balancing exaggeration and realism.