Taru Tillman

I'm Taru, a junior concept & creature designer who graduated with honours from South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences with a bachelor's degree in game design in the summer of 2023. I am someone who deeply loves all things storytelling and art.

My first introduction to the world of games came from watching my older brothers play on the PlayStation. I vividly remember watching them play through Silent Hill, discovering that you could enter the buses for the first time and watching them encounter the zombified dogs in Resident Evil. Eventually, I managed to convince my brother to let me try, too, and I was very quickly hooked. My love towards games went on to spark my interest in fantasy books and art.
 
It has been fascinating to watch the rapid development of games while simultaneously growing up surrounded by them. I was very lucky to have access to so many games, though I always found myself more invested in story-driven narratives. After junior high, I was accepted into a vocational college where I got to study scriptwriting, photography, editing, and filmmaking in general. 
In my last year of college, I had a year-long practical learning period, and to my absolute delight, I managed to secure a spot at a small mobile game company, BelleGames Oy. Working there was a little hectic but so much fun; the team changed several times as people came and went as their training periods started and ended. For the majority of it, I did work with a team of five coders who were all older than me but quickly took me under their wings. I will forever be thankful for how encouraging they all were towards my passion for making it as a game artist.