Behind the Scenes at Deep Sky Studios

Go inside Deep Sky Studios: See their workspace, learn their design philosophies, and discover what they look for when adding new players to their team.

Deep Sky Studios works with everyone from Nike to System of a Down to Amazon AWS...and they make it all work.

This Portland studio has something figured out that most places don't: how to actually thrive on variety instead of just surviving it. Jared Hobbs began his career as an artist 26 years ago, launched Deep Sky Studios in 2006, and has since grown it into a 25-person team that moves between wildly different projects without losing stride.

Their secret? They think about every brief as a puzzle to solve, not just pretty pictures to make.

How Deep Sky Does Things

Their tech stack covers all the major animation and design tools—3ds Max, Substance Painter, Cinema 4D, Houdini, you name it. But their hiring advice? Master one thing instead of being just so-so at everything.

The constraint thing is interesting too. Most people see tight budgets and killer deadlines as creativity killers. Deep Sky treats them like the best part...the sandbox they get to play in. Every limitation becomes a creative framework that pushes them to try something new.

What Deep Sky Values

Their philosophies: Build modular toolkits for repeat clients to gain flexibility and speed. Develop refined design taste instead of obsessing over technical wizardry. And those "happy accidents" in animation? They often become the best parts of the final piece.

But honestly, the most valuable part of our little tour might be seeing how they communicate, especially translating complex, dry concepts into something people want to watch. That skill works whether you're freelancing or trying to move up in a studio.

Watch the full Deep Sky Studios tour for 10 minutes of actual studio insights—from how they rig custom animations to their approach to translating complex concepts into compelling stories. Plus you'll see their workspace and hear directly from the team about what they look for when adding new players to their killer team. Dive into the inner workings of Deep Sky.