Hi! I’m Mason Smigel, a Technical Artist working across rigging, animation, and artist-focused tools for games.

Over the past few years, I’ve worked in the games industry building characters,  cosmetics, and designing pipelines. Most recently, I’ve been working on 2XKO, where I support character cosmetics and collaborate closely with artists and engineers to help bring new content into the game. I’ve also had the opportunity to contribute to base character work along the way, including rigging Warwick.

Before joining the 2XKO team, I worked as a Pipeline TD at Steamroller Technologies, where I helped develop a brand new Maya pipeline for interactive AR and VR experiences used in theme parks and location-based immersive entertainment.

I studied at Savannah College of Art and Design, where I completed internships with Riot Games, working on League of Legends, as well as with Mikros Animation in Paris.

Across all of my work, I’m drawn to solving complex problems in ways that remain approachable for the people using the tools. Whether it’s improving a pipeline, building rigging systems, or automating repetitive tasks, I enjoy finding solutions that let artists focus more on the creative side of their work.

Outside of work, I’ve been slowly catching up on years of missed games. Some favorites so far include Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, Elden Ring, and more recently, Sekiro. When I’m not playing games, I’m usually spending time with my two cats, Gemma and Dante, getting outdoors, thrifting for interesting furniture and art, or watching and reading sci-fi and horror.