Keycraft Studios mark KEYCRAFT STUDIOS
Keycraft Studios — Animation Development, Consultation, Mentorship

Animation with a game development mindset.

Keycraft Studios delivers high-quality animation built around your vision, provides animation consulting, and mentors individuals looking to sharpen their craft. Backed by more than a decade of experience across games and feature animation.

GAMES
FEATURE ANIMATION
CINEMATICS
MOTION CAPTURE
KEYFRAME
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What we do

External development shouldn't feel like a game of telephone. Work with artists who understand the language of animation, iterate quickly, communicate clearly, and help your team save time and resources.

Animation Production

High-quality animation built around your vision, including first person, player, combatant/AI, cinematics, keyframe, and motion capture. We integrate into your pipeline or work independently.

Animation Consulting

A second pair of experienced eyes on your pipeline, rig, or shot list. We spot problems early and suggest the fastest path to a better result.

Mentorship

One-on-one guidance for animators looking to level up, from portfolio review to workflow habits learned across a decade in games and film.

Fluent in the craftNo translation layer needed. We speak animation, not just "notes."

Fast iterationQuick turnarounds on passes so revisions don't stall your schedule.

Clear communicationStraightforward updates. You always know where a shot stands.

Pipeline-awareWe slot into your existing tools and process instead of asking you to work around ours.

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Testimonials

Before we talked, I was unsure about an animation package I wanted to purchase and the surrounding animation process, so I reached out to get expert advice and find out whether it was worth the investment.

From the session, I changed my approach to what I wanted to showcase for my project, focusing more on the elements that differentiate it beyond the gameplay animations alone. I also gained clearer insight into how the animation process works between roles.

Working with Nate was a pleasure. He was knowledgeable, helpful, and well prepared for the meeting. He'd help any indie dev looking for a boost to their knowledge or project.

Roosevelt Gray Indie Developer
03

About

I'm Nate Thomas, a senior animator with a decade of experience in games and features. I've worked on games like Destiny 2, Marathon, Mortal Kombat 11, and Fortnite. Keyframe, mocap, combatant, player, first-person, cinematic... I've worked on nearly every type of 3D game animation there is.

Keycraft Studios, LLC is my studio. We provide consulting, development, and mentorship for individuals and groups of any size. Want to expand beyond animation? Over the last decade I've built a network of animators, technical artists, designers, and more who are eager to lend their expertise should it be required.

Outside of client work, I host Animated Animators, a YouTube channel where I do it all: demonstrate animation workflows and animation tools, chat about game development best practices, and talk shop with a variety of game dev guests about everything else going on in the industry.

  • BungieMarathon · Destiny 2
  • Steamroller StudiosMortal Kombat 11 (Finishers) · Fortnite
Portrait of the founder of Keycraft Studios

Off the clock

When I'm not animating, you'll usually find me:

Goofing off with my wife Hanging with our cat, Birdie Reading graphic novels Sci-fi & comedy shows Video games Golfing Hiking
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Reel

The clips below are excerpts from prior studio work and are not Keycraft Studios productions.

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Get a quote

Have a project, a pipeline question, or just want to talk shop? Reach out, and I'll try to reply quickly.

Email

The fastest way to reach me for quotes, project details, or general questions.

keycraftstudios.team@gmail.com

Book a call

Prefer to talk it through? Grab a slot on the calendar for a one-hour consultation.

Book a consultation ↗

Book mentoring

Looking for one-on-one guidance on your animation work? Grab a mentoring session.

Book mentoring ↗