Melee expert and animator Lee Davis has found his way home to Naughty Dog after a four-year excursion. During that time, he worked at Microsoft's The Initiative (Perfect Dark) and the now-defunct PlayStation-backed studio Deviation Games.
Beginning his Naughty Dog career in 2010, Davis worked as an animator on The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part II, and Uncharted spinoff, The Lost Legacy. On LinkedIn, Davis revealed that this time around, he's been given some extra responsibility: "I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as Senior Animator at Naughty Dog." What project he will be working on, of course, remains unknown, but probably one of the several single-player games currently in the works at the storied studio.
Davis's speciality, as it happens, is in bringing brutal, UFC-inspired combat to life, and he was likely involved any time a Naughty Dog game has made you cringe in sympathy. If you need a reminder, check out his harrowing demo reel, which, to date, probably features the most incredible character animation work we've witnessed, before or since, and makes for one hell of a resume.
