Hello. First of all I want you know I AM A CHARACTER ANIMATOR, I don't do architectural visualization, graphic design, etc and I say I am animator. I dedicated a lot of years to learn the art of character animation.
You can see my porfolio and if you think it is not enough (because I have not a lot of animations of animals) I am ready to make you a test animation.
The way I work is analyse references, in this case animal references. So, I start with blocking, spline and polish.
Firstly I use Maya for animation and sometimes 3ds Max. But I could use other softwares because I know the theory which is the most important.
And let me say I am so so so interested in this project. Please, if you think I am able to help with this, contact me.
Thank you very much