3D Artist & Animator Intern Unpaid, Remote

About Us
We're Papertoy Studio, an early-stage game development startup working on mobile games. We're currently bootstrapped and pre-funding, building our first titles with a small, hands-on team.
We're looking for someone who wants practical experience working on real game projects, rather than purely academic or tutorial-based work.
About the Role
We're looking for a 3D Artist & Animator Intern to join our team and help create the characters, environments, props, and animations used in our games.
This is an unpaid internship, and we're being completely transparent about that. In return, you'll get hands-on experience working directly with the founding team, contribute assets to an actual game project, build portfolio-ready work, and participate in real production decisions.
You may work across both 3D art and animation, depending on your skills and the needs of the project.
What You'll Get
Direct mentorship and feedback from the founding team
Hands-on experience working on an actual game in development
Portfolio credits for shipped or publicly released work
Opportunity to see your 3D assets and animations integrated into a real game
Flexible, remote working hours
Experience with a real game production pipeline
First consideration for future paid roles if we secure funding or revenue
Certificate of internship completion
Practical experience that can strengthen your portfolio and resume
Responsibilities
3D Artist
Create 3D characters, props, environments, and other game assets
Model, UV unwrap, texture, and optimize assets for mobile games
Create stylized or semi-realistic game-ready assets
Maintain proper topology and reasonable polygon counts
Prepare assets for integration into Unity
Create variations of existing assets when required
Animators
Create character and object animations
Rig and skin characters when required
Create animations such as idle, walk, run, jump, attack, interaction, etc.
Work with animation rigs and controllers
Export and integrate animations into Unity
Polish animations based on gameplay testing and feedback
Game Production
Work closely with developers and the founding team
Follow established art direction and technical requirements
Optimize assets for mobile performance
Debug and fix asset or animation issues in Unity
Participate in team meetings and contribute creative ideas
Iterate on work based on gameplay feedback
Requirements
Basic to intermediate knowledge of Blender or another 3D software
Understanding of 3D modeling fundamentals
Basic understanding of UVs, materials, textures, and topology
Basic understanding of rigging and animation
Familiarity with Unity is a plus
Understanding of game-ready asset optimization is a plus
A portfolio, personal projects, college projects, or artwork you can share
Ability to work independently and communicate clearly in a remote environment
Willingness to learn and take feedback
Students and recent graduates are encouraged to apply.
Good to Have
Experience creating assets specifically for mobile games
Knowledge of Unity's animation system
Experience with humanoid rigs
Substance Painter or similar texturing experience
Experience with stylized 3D art
Understanding of PBR materials
Basic knowledge of Unity's prefab and asset workflow
Internship Details
Duration: 3 months
Type: Internship
Location: Remote
Working Hours: Flexible
Stipend: Unpaid
Software: Blender / Unity and other production tools as required
Important Note
This is an unpaid internship at an early-stage, pre-funding startup. Applicants should apply only if they are comfortable with the unpaid structure.
The focus is on real production experience, mentorship, portfolio development, and contribution to an actual game project, rather than assigning repetitive or purely administrative work.

Work arrangement
Yes