About
Bringing creatures to life, perfectly crafted to their project infused with memorable design, charm and exceptional storytelling.
Irish-born Molly Heady-Carroll is a 2D artist and animator based in the Netherlands who specializes in all things creatures. Always obsessed with studying animals (especially reptiles), she now makes up her own as a Creature Consultant in the games and animation industry.
In 2013, Molly co-founded Arcane Circus, the game studio behind "Crap! I'm Broke" and the Kaiju-based pan media IP "Zenibeasts", whose recently released animated short “Kaiju Cutie” just blew up on YouTube. Molly freelances for clients such as Netflix, Universal Pictures, Night School Studios, BBC, Impact Gameworks, Crackshell Games and Anikey Studios. She also gives lectures about creature design at conferences, schools and studios all over the world.
Get in touch at molly@creatureconsultant.com
TESTIMONIALS
" Molly visited 3D Realms / Slipgate Ironworks HQ in Aalborg, Denmark where she presented her seminar on Creature Design to our team. We were all very impressed and gained a plethora of knowledge that has already begun to influence and improve our artistic processes, design culture, and morale. In addition, Molly escorted a team of our designers to the Aalborg Zoo in order to demonstrate the principals of live creature drawing and real-world animal motion mechanics in relation to animation. I highly recommend attending her lecture or bringing her to your studio/talk whenever you can. 5/5 *s! "
- Tyler Brannan, Brand Manager at 3D Realms
" Molly did a fantastic job working on both concepts & pixel art for Tangledeep! She created an array of fun and unique designs while still staying consistent to our established art style and tone. It was a great experience working with her and I look forward to doing so again. "
- Andrew Aversa, Founder of Impact Gameworks
" Molly is such a fantastic creator and educator and has a real flair for championing the values and pillars of thoughtful creature design! We invited Molly to speak to our small startup team working on developing new IP which contains creature based elements, and her talk was a huge success with the team! Molly's extensive background and obvious lifelong passion for creatures and zoology and ecology really shine in her talk on creature design fundamentals, and it really challenged our team to consider the our own intentionality with what we are creating. If anyone is considering having Molly on to speak to their teams on this subject I can't recommend Molly enough!!!"
- Dave Gomes, Glindalohki Studios
" For our project Wyvern Tales 2 for the Atari Jaguar, we need a collection of specific monster designs that are rooted in lore and environments. On top of that the designs that we need are very strict in size and colors due to the hardware limitations in which we develop our game. Working with Molly, she quickly grasps the essence of the requirements and limitations, and keeps delivering fresh designs and ideas. We are very happy with her work and are excited to show the results in our final product! "
- Jasper van Turnhout, Independent Developer
" It was a pleasure to have Molly Heady-Carroll as a speaker at THU Career Camp, our online event that empowers the careers of digital entertainment industry professionals all around the globe. During her talks, "The Weird Science of Creature Design" and "Creature Design for IP Development", she inspired participants to delve into the worlds of creature design and shared precious insights to help them create great fictional animals. Thank you for being a part of Career Camp and for joining our mission of making education and opportunities more accessible. "
- André Luís, Trojan Horse was a Unicorn Co-founder and CEO
Resume PDF
ViewSkills
Software proficiency
Reel
Experience
Art Director/Concept Artist for cartoon pan-media IP Zenibeasts (animation, comic, board game, mobile game). Indie animated short Zenibeasts: Kaiju Cutie got 155.000+ views. https://youtu.be/B3X7KWjDn4E?si=hS5UVwY6spPhBQQm
Highlights include: Digital Dragons, Devcom, Develop Brighton, BLON Lithuania, Framed Groningen, SAE Alumi Convention, Indigo, Trojan Horse was a Unicorn: Career Camp, AMAZE Festival Berlin, Ted X Talks Amsterdam, Tokyo Indies and Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki & London
- In-studio lectures given for studios such as 3D Realms / Slipgate Ironworks and Glindalohki Studios and educational institutes such as SAE Zurich, SAE Amsterdam, Utrecht University of the Arts, Breda University of Applied Sciences
- Presenter of Animating Creatures in Clip Studio Paint with Molly Heady Carroll (2024) https://youtu.be/2nD00es-Ii8?si=Fw3R21fIkd22_A2o
- Presenter of Clip Studio Webinar Make a Hit Indie Animation in Clip Studio Paint with Molly Heady Carroll (2024) https://youtu.be/02RvzVm9ERQ?si=wWBvxGGuVzMwwjxk
- Host for Adobe Live Masterclass "Bring Your Own Hero: Comic Illustration with Klaus Scherwinski" (2023) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nExvE6UgYVU&ab_channel=AdobeLive
- Host for Playgrounds The Art Department Eindhoven Mainstage (2024) https://youtu.be/9OiUrcPaGVk?si=X9vgxTooXEEFQ56-
- Host for Playground: In Motion Festival, Breda (2023) https://youtu.be/WmGU4bS3VhE?si=WkjjQI92_DAazJa7
- Creature Design module teacher at Utrecht University of the Arts (2023-2024)
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