Todor Hlebarov

Experience

• 
  Co-founder & Motion Designer2020–present

  Cosmonavt Studio

  I lead animation and motion design at the studio — from concept to final frame, specializing in 2D/3D animation, storyboarding, and visual storytelling that brings brands to life. I set the creative direction, lead teams on larger projects, and build the studio's creative tool stack.

• 
  Motion Design Instructor2022–2025

  SoftUni Creative

  I taught Adobe After Effects to aspiring animators and motion designers in SoftUni Creative's Fundamentals and Advanced courses — over 4,000 students so far. I built the curriculum and custom teaching materials myself, focusing on giving students a practical, industry-ready skill set from day one.

• 
  Design Systems & Motion Lead2016–2025

  Lion Heart Ultra

  At Lion Heart Ultra Cross Triathlon, I worked across a 15-edition, decade-long brand partnership (2016–2025), building and owning several of the event's core design systems: Medal system — concept, matrix, and 3D models used for both production moulds and presentation renders; Personalised finisher videos — a custom motion pipeline I built to auto-generate 500 unique videos, delivered within two weeks of race day with zero manual editing per video; T-shirt design system — the process and framework behind the event's apparel; Logo refinement — developed the brand's tattoo-born mark into the identity athletes later tattooed back onto themselves;

• 
  Motion Graphic Designer2019–2022

  Tech Tour

  I built the visual identity system behind four connected event tracks — Healthtech, Sustainability & Energy, and Growth — plus the Contest Final, the flagship where winners from all 24 of Tech Tour's annual events convene. Each track needed its own distinct look while reading as one coherent system — cover graphics, announcement videos, and a templated winner-reveal video used across every event. I also built a motion graphics system for explainer content used across Tech Tour's work with European startup and investor projects. The Healthtech identity is still in production use today.

• 
  Product Trainer2017–2019

  Nokia

  I built the internal training curriculum and interactive, gamified learning content used by Nokia teams globally. Drawing on game design principles — progression, feedback loops, reward pacing, alongside my motion design background, I turned dense technical product training into courses that didn't feel like a chore.

• 
  Animation MentorOct 2016–Jan 2017

  Able Mentor

  I guided a student from Sofia through their first steps into animation — the craft, the industry, and what the day-to-day experience of being an animator is actually like. It was my first time mentoring and teaching in the field.

Education

• BA Animated Film2015–2019

  New Bulgarian University

  I studied to become an animated film director: taking a film from idea to script, character and environment design, storyboarding, production, compositing and delivery. The first two years built the foundations: drawing, composition, art history and theory, classical animation and the principles of movement. The later years moved into specialised courses and hands-on work in the university's animation lab. I graduated with a 5.95 (A), and along the way took part in a gallery showing and an animation workshop in Varvara, Bourgas (both 2016).

• 3D Animation Masterclass in Maya2018–2018

  SoftUni

  An online course covering the full 3D character pipeline in Maya. We modelled a hard-surface character, then rigged and animated it. Along the way I learned texturing, faster rigging methods and how to build animation cycles for use in a game engine, a production-minded approach to 3D that I still use today. Years later, I came back to SoftUni as a lecturer, teaching After Effects.

• BA Hons Contemporary Art2014–2015

  Lancaster University

  I studied contemporary art at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, on a course that combines studio practice (painting, sculpture, digital art, drawing) with art history and theory, and has no house style. The most valuable thing it taught me was how to present the process of my work, and how to take an idea and keep improving it. Lectures were shared across art, film, theatre and design, and an optional design lecture showed me I thought like a designer, not only as an artist. That realisation shaped everything that came after.

• Informatics, Mathematics, Physics & English2006–2014

  High-school of Mathematics "Geo Milev" - Pleven

  I joined in 5th grade and stayed through 12th, studying Informatics, Mathematics, Physics and English. I graduated with a 5.96 (A). From middle school I competed in national informatics competitions, programming in C++, and ranked 11th among 5th graders (2006–07) and 10th among 6th graders (2007–08) in the national informatics ranking. I was also part of the game-dev club, where we taught each other how to build games.

Skills

Tools

• MotionAfter EffectsBlenderCavalry
• DesignAffinityFigma
• VideoPremiere ProDa Vinci Resolve
• 3DBlender
• IllustrationProcreateAffinity
• AIClaudeNano Banana

Clients