2D Character Animation design - (Moho and Harmony preferred)
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2026 3:11 pm
## Contract 2D Character Animator — Ongoing (~5 hrs/week) — Remote
**Surlamer Investments**, a Newport Beach-based private investment firm, is incubating a FinTech startup at the intersection of AI and public markets. We're looking for an animator to own our octopus mascot/AI assistant character on an ongoing basis.
### The gig
- **Type:** Ongoing contract, remote, work-for-hire
- **Hours:** ~5 hrs/week average, front-loaded (heavier during initial build, then a steady trickle)
- **Not exclusive** — keep your other clients
- **Pay:** Hourly, rate negotiable
- **Process:** Paid test shot → first project → ongoing work
- **Tools:** Moho Pro 14 or Toon Boom Harmony Premium strongly preferred
### The role
You'd be animating an existing character — we own the design and artwork outright, so no character creation from scratch. The octopus lives inside our product UI as vector/PNG artwork plus expression clips. You'll build and hold the rig, then produce new poses, expressions, and interface states as the product grows. **The rig you build gets reused for years.**
### First project: "tentacle tabs"
The octopus becomes an interactive UI element — holding and presenting 1–6 clickable items on his tentacles, reaching to pick items up from a side panel, and pointing things out. You'd deliver the tentacle choreography, holding poses, point-out treatment, and transitions.
### The core technical ask
This is the heart of the job: **curve/deformer-based rigging for muscular, hydrostat-style tentacle motion** — not a bone-chain rig. Think Moho's Curver/Compressible Curver or Harmony's Curve Deformer + Deformation-Scale. A 4–6 bone FK chain is a hard no — it reads hinged, and it's the most common way this gets done wrong.
Judged on three criteria:
1. **Continuous curvature** — no kinks or joints anywhere along the arm
2. **Variable thickness** — line width animates along the length, thinning on extension (most-skipped criterion — be ready to explain your approach)
3. **Curl and grip** — the tentacle wraps and holds objects, not just sways
### Paid test shot (first step)
One short clip, paid at your hourly rate: octopus reaches with one tentacle to a side panel, grabs a tab, brings it forward, and holds it. Transparent background, placeholder props — we're judging the tentacle work.
### Terms
- Work-for-hire — full ownership/rights transfer, including source and rig files
- NDA required before working files are shared
- Hours logged and invoiced monthly, with estimates agreed per batch
- Team is PST-based, working hours 8am–5pm; occasional meeting overlap expected
### How to apply
1. **One link, one clip** — show a bendy appendage you've animated (tentacle, tail, trunk, snake, rope, hair). Name the tool and deformer used.
2. Briefly explain how you'd make a tentacle thinner as it extends, in your tool.
3. Your hourly rate + confirmation you can sustain ~5 hrs/week with a heavier start.
4. Rough estimate (hours + calendar time) for the test shot.
Upwork link: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022080052843936314037
**Contact:** mjafarinodeh@surlamer.com
**Surlamer Investments**, a Newport Beach-based private investment firm, is incubating a FinTech startup at the intersection of AI and public markets. We're looking for an animator to own our octopus mascot/AI assistant character on an ongoing basis.
### The gig
- **Type:** Ongoing contract, remote, work-for-hire
- **Hours:** ~5 hrs/week average, front-loaded (heavier during initial build, then a steady trickle)
- **Not exclusive** — keep your other clients
- **Pay:** Hourly, rate negotiable
- **Process:** Paid test shot → first project → ongoing work
- **Tools:** Moho Pro 14 or Toon Boom Harmony Premium strongly preferred
### The role
You'd be animating an existing character — we own the design and artwork outright, so no character creation from scratch. The octopus lives inside our product UI as vector/PNG artwork plus expression clips. You'll build and hold the rig, then produce new poses, expressions, and interface states as the product grows. **The rig you build gets reused for years.**
### First project: "tentacle tabs"
The octopus becomes an interactive UI element — holding and presenting 1–6 clickable items on his tentacles, reaching to pick items up from a side panel, and pointing things out. You'd deliver the tentacle choreography, holding poses, point-out treatment, and transitions.
### The core technical ask
This is the heart of the job: **curve/deformer-based rigging for muscular, hydrostat-style tentacle motion** — not a bone-chain rig. Think Moho's Curver/Compressible Curver or Harmony's Curve Deformer + Deformation-Scale. A 4–6 bone FK chain is a hard no — it reads hinged, and it's the most common way this gets done wrong.
Judged on three criteria:
1. **Continuous curvature** — no kinks or joints anywhere along the arm
2. **Variable thickness** — line width animates along the length, thinning on extension (most-skipped criterion — be ready to explain your approach)
3. **Curl and grip** — the tentacle wraps and holds objects, not just sways
### Paid test shot (first step)
One short clip, paid at your hourly rate: octopus reaches with one tentacle to a side panel, grabs a tab, brings it forward, and holds it. Transparent background, placeholder props — we're judging the tentacle work.
### Terms
- Work-for-hire — full ownership/rights transfer, including source and rig files
- NDA required before working files are shared
- Hours logged and invoiced monthly, with estimates agreed per batch
- Team is PST-based, working hours 8am–5pm; occasional meeting overlap expected
### How to apply
1. **One link, one clip** — show a bendy appendage you've animated (tentacle, tail, trunk, snake, rope, hair). Name the tool and deformer used.
2. Briefly explain how you'd make a tentacle thinner as it extends, in your tool.
3. Your hourly rate + confirmation you can sustain ~5 hrs/week with a heavier start.
4. Rough estimate (hours + calendar time) for the test shot.
Upwork link: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022080052843936314037
**Contact:** mjafarinodeh@surlamer.com