Kim Aava
ABOUT

BIO & RESUMÉ


Biography


Kim Aava

 Stockholm, Sweden

Softwares

My journey in the industry began in 2013, I had just graduated from uppsala University with a Bachelor Degree in Game Design, and set out on my first internship with Might & Delight - a small indie studio situated in Stockholm. Meanwhile I also enrolled in a Vocational Education at Futuregames to specalise in 3D and started working as an intern and contractor on the game The Solus Project that was led by one of my teacher at that time. I didn't stay long however as I embarked on an exciting internship at Guerrilla Games in Amsterdam, contributing to the critically acclaimed PlayStation 4 title, Horizon: Zero Dawn. After being hired full-time, I spent two years honing my skills as an Asset Artist, immersing myself in the artistry and technical intricacies of game development as well as outsourcing collaboration. 


Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of returning to both Futuregames and Uppsala University as a guest lecturer, course teacher, and jury member, sharing my knowledge and experiences with the next generation of game developers.


At the end of 2016 I returned to Stockholm and did some freelance for Really Interactive on their VR project Toran at the beginning of 2017, before I took a role as a 3D Artists at Fast Travel Games. There I continued venturing into VR development, making 3d concepts, environment, lighting and so on for the game Apex Construct.


In 2018, I joined the talented team at EA DICE, where I took on the role of Lead 3D Artist. During my time there, I had the opportunity to contribute to blockbuster titles such as Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042 and their live services. Before I left EA DICE I contributed to my last Battlfield (yet to be released) as a Principal Environment Artist. I spearheaded efforts to ensure the smooth execution of pre-production, established robust pipelines, and provided comprehensive documentation for onboarding purposes.


As of the beginning of 2024, I've embarked on a new adventure as an Art Director at Toca Boca, where I'm excited to bring my expertise and creative vision to life in a whole new way. I'm thrilled to be part of a team dedicated to crafting imaginative worlds and memorable experiences for kids


When I'm not busy working, you can find me exploring the great outdoors, riding my motorcycle, or indulging in my love for travel and adventure.

Shipped Games

+ Live Support

+ Live Support

Work Experience

Toca Boca

(Jan 2024  - Current) Stockholm, Sweden

Toca Boca Days

Art Director


Tasks include but are not limited to the following:


  • Nurture a good art production and feedback process
  • Establish clear guidelines and documentation of the visual direction of the game
  • Execute on the established art style of the game, ensuring that the visual language of Toca Days fits well within the
  • Toca Boca universe and delivers one cohesive look and feel of that universe
  • Ensure cohesive art style across teams through coaching, make sure that there’s documentation and artistic direction
  • Create ongoing direction and briefs to support the artists and animators on the project to become better and better in
    hitting the right tonality for our audience
  • Establish a close collaboration with the Toca Life World Art Director to set up processes for knowledge sharing
    between the two products visually
  • Keep the art perspective in strategic conversations, in Product Leadership team as well as cross departments
  • Support the Product Owner and Product Leadership Team with direction for visual themes of content, events, levels,
    NPCs and features for the product, that are in line with the tonality that resonates with our audience
  • Responsible for setting the quality benchmarks and evaluation of quality for all elements of the game related to look
    and feel
  • Establish close collaboration with Marketing Creative Leads in how we meet community and player needs when it
    comes to themes and tonality and create synergies between product and marketing campaigns
  • Timely communicate art direction to internal stakeholders within the Product Leadership Team to ensure that they
    are onboard with the ambition levels, priorities and requirements assuring that art gets into the project planning
  • Set the direction for artists and animators in the creation and execution of art and animation assets for the game.
    Give visual direction and feedback
  • Grow the artist and animators on the team by giving clear art direction and continuous feedback and updated
    direction
  • Stay up to date with the latest market research and trend analysis to inspire and inform our direction for look and
    feel
  • Be a stakeholder in recruitment from a skills perspective

    EA DICE

    (Jan 2023  - Jan 2024) Stockholm, Sweden

    Battlefield New (not released yet)

    Key Environment Artist (Principal Artist)


    • Mentorship

      • Supports the team in production related issues and questions, lending their craft expertise to supplement the lead artist's management focus.

      • Creates, delegates and maintains tutorials, best practices and other learning materials relevant to the project and the domain.

      • Creates and holds presentations and shares craft learning, establishing cross disciplinary understanding while also encouraging and creating possibilities for others to share.

    • Quality
      • Works closely with craft Leads and Directors to help form a vision, agreeing on visual targets and helps artists realize said vision in production.
      • Develops production aware visual targets through look dev and benchmarks by both personally creating but also delegating to experts on the team and driving the work.
      • Establishes what needs to be proven during project pre-production in terms of art quality and tools, supporting the team in reaching those goals.
      • Represents the domain in cross-EA conversations, like show & tell meetings between studios, passing that knowledge along to the domain at your studio.

    (Jan 2019  - Dec 2022) Stockholm, Sweden

    Battlefield V - Live & Battlefield 2042 + Live

    Lead Environment Artist


    • Manage and lead a team of 10 people in a centralized art department.
    • Participate and drive meetings, reviews and planning sessions for the immediate team and the wider 3d craft.
    • Inspire, mentor other artists in best practices, pipeline and workflows as well as soft skills such as planning and time management.
    • Work closely with tech art and directors for improving pipelines and workflows across the studio projects.
    • Drive R&D efforts and innovations for the art craft as well as develop pipeline and workflows.
    • Work with tech and art directors for delivering environment up to performance and art directions.
    • Manage in-house libraries and resources
    • Managing and updating documentations for internal tools, software and best practices.
    • Drive feedback session in-house and external partner artists.


    (May 2018 - December 2018) Stockholm, Sweden

    Battlefield V

    3D Artist


    • •Model and texture assets and props
    • Create destruction for props and assets
    • Import and export asset
    • Test, review and create lods and collisions
    • Write documentation of inhouse tools and best practices
    • Develop pipeline for general 3d asset production workflow for inhouse and outsourcing


    Fast Travel Games 

    (March 2017 - March 2018) Stockholm, Sweden

    Apex Construct (VR Game)

    3D Artist


    • 3D Concept Design
    • Create modular environments
    • Model, stylized texturing and design weapons, hero props and characters
    • Lighting and level art placement


    Guerrilla Games

    (Jun 2015 - Jul 2016) Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Horizon: Zero Dawn

    Junior Asset Artist


    • Create benchmark asset for outsourcing
    • Manage feedback for outsourcing
    • Create asset from concapt art through a pbr pipepline
    • Import and export asset
    • Test, review and create lods and collisions


    (Oct 2014 - May 2015) Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Environment Intern


    • Create speedmodels
    • Import and export assets
    • Populate the world with assets
    • Build environment with provided modular assets

    Teotl Studios

    (Jul 2014 - Nov 2014) Remote

    The Solous Project

    Environment Intern Remote


    • Creating modular environment and textures
    • Creating props and textures


    Might And Delight

    (Sept 2013 - Nov 2013) Stockholm, Sweden

    Unnanounced Project

    2D Art Internship

    • UI 2D art rendering
    • Handpainted texturing of 3d models


    Freelance


    Infinite Dimension Games (3d printing comapny)

    Freelance 2022 - (current), remote work

    Sculpting Artist

    •  Sculpting work for miniature houses and props, ready made for 3d print support.


    Really Interactive AB - Toran (VR Game)

    Freelance (Jan 2017 - Feb 2017) Stockholm, Sweden

    Asset and Environment Artist


    • Concept and design environments
    • Model, texture, implement asset and build environment
    • Design, model and texture hero props


    Speaker


    GDS (Game Developer Summit) 2024 (15-16th Feb 2024)

    Boracay, Philippines

    Delivered the same talk as during XDS together with a co-worker


    XDS (External Developer Summit) 2023  (Sept 5- 8th 2023)

    Vancouver, Canada

    I had a talk together with a co-worker on external development during Battlefield 2024


    Dutch Game Awards 2023 (October 4th, 2023)

    Hilversum, The Netherlands

    I had the same talk as during DevGamm, Stylized vs Realism


    DevGamm 2023 Vilnius (June 20-21st 2023)

    Vilnius, Lithuania

    Stylized vs Realism talk, a newer version made from the previous older talk and article about the same subject


    Nordic Game Jam 2023 (April 13-16th 2023)

    Copenhagen, Denmark

    Talk oriented towards beginners and students, how to make fast prototypes and game jam art using 3d.


    NICHE 2019
    Student lecture, South West College
    Dublin, Ireland
    Talk oriented towards student portfolio and how to get started in the industry. Also had 1-1 portfolio reviews


    LevelUp Rome (May 9th-12th 2019)

    Developer Conference, Rome

    Speaker and portfolio reviews. Stylized vs Realism talk version 2.0

    I was also invited to do portfolio reviews of students.


    Women in Games Breakfast Lecture (Nov 2017)

    EA DICE, Stockholm

    Breakfast talk at EA DICE, Stylized vs Realism. The lecture later became an
    article at lv80.


    Gotland University Guest Lecturer 2019
    Gotland, Sweden
    Guest lecturer, talk oriented towards
    student regarding career prog


    Stockholm VR Meetup #14
    February 2018, Stockholm, Sweden
    Behind the scenes of Apex Construct, showcasing the art process


    Gotland University Alumni days 2017
    Gotland, Sweden
    Guest lecturer together with a colleague, portfolio and job hunting lecture


    Academic Work


    Futuregames

    Freelance (December 4th - Jan 22nd) 5 Week

    Environment Art Teacher


    • Preparing lectures and assignments
    • Live demostrations of tools and techniques
    • Giving feedback on milestone hand-ins
    • Feedback sessions in class



    My Education


    Futuregames (Nov 2013 - August 2015)

    Higher Vocational Education, 3D Graphics

    Stockholm, Sweden


    Campus Gotland, Uppsala University( August 2010 - June 2013)

    Bachelor's degree in Game design and Graphics

    Gotland, Sweden


    Articles & PodCasts


    Articles




    Podcasts


    Honors and Recognistion