5 Wonderful Job Positions for Artists and Animators

1. Senior Animator at Romero Games

Romero Games Ltd is looking for a Senior Animator with exceptional talent and a true passion for creating cutting-edge animation to join our team on a full-time basis. As an independent development studio, you can be part of a team where developers are able to have a significant impact and contribute on multiple levels to the games they make.

Responsibilities

• Create and implement compelling animations that communicate a visual style and design information to the player
• Develop and maintain animation pipelines for real-time game assets
• Work with the art director and other team members to deliver quality animations in a timely manner
• Create hand keyed animation and work with motion capture data
• Learn and utilize custom tools and basic scripting
• Additional duties may be assigned as needed 

Requirements & Skills

• Minimum of 3 years of game development experience and 1 shipped title
• Fluent in Maya or an equivalent 3D animation software package
• Exceptional understanding of both 3D and traditional animation rules and techniques
• Animation experience ranging from realistic to more stylized approaches, including facial animation
• A good aesthetic sense of weight and timing in your animation for believable performances
• An understanding of acting principles and basic camera techniques and terminology
• Self-motivated and able to interpret design documents for additional direction
• The ability to find creative and innovative solutions to problems
• Able to give and receive constructive critiques and be an active participant in the development process
• An understanding of contemporary technology and a curiosity for the cutting edge 
• EU or UK residency and the ability to work onsite in our office in Galway, Ireland

2. UI Artist, REMOTE at Hypixel Studios

The Londonderry-based company Hypixel Studios is looking for a talented and passionate UI artist to join their team, which collaborates remotely from around the world. They are looking for applicants that are demonstrably passionate about their hobbies, have the drive and commitment to deliver results with minimal supervision, have international-level professional competency in their skill sets, and can demonstrate involvement with other interesting projects throughout their lives.

Some of your role:

• Collaborate with other artists to maintain and push the boundaries of our UI art style
• Work closely with UX to bring wireframes and prototypes to life through the use of visual design principles
• Create visually balanced and player-focused mockups that demonstrate a solid understanding of readability, clarity, typography, and visual hierarchy 
• Create, iterate, and define the iconography and UI style guide
• Communicate with other disciplines, demonstrating and defining your work

Essential Traits:

• Experience creating UI art for a shipped title
• Expert-level ability to work with Photoshop and Illustrator
• Proficiency with After Effects or other animation software to define and demonstrate UI animations
• Proven knowledge of UI design fundamentals such as layout, grids, typography, etc.
• Ambitious, assertive, and collaborative with excellent communication skills
• A personal passion for games and staying on top of the latest trends in the industry
• A strong portfolio demonstrating your artistic approach to UI

3. Full-time Animation Instructor – LTE at Madison Area Technical College

Madison Area Technical College from Madison, WI is looking for a full-time Animation Instructor. This Instructor position is a two-year LTE and will begin August 2021 until May 2023. Continuation of this position is not guaranteed beyond this date. This position is responsible for the instruction of Animation at the college level. This includes developing a relevant and progressive curriculum, designing and implementing effective learning strategies and environments, utilizing innovative teaching techniques and technology, delivering instruction of high quality, assessing student learning, advising students, and participating in college service activities at the department, school, and college levels.

Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree in Animation or related field AND Seven (7) years (14,000 hours) of an equivalent work experience directly related to the skills required for successfully performing this position,

OR

Associate degree from an accredited college or university in Animation or related field, AND Eight (8) years (16,000 hours) of an equivalent work experience directly related to the skills required for successfully performing this position,

AND

Five (5) credited shipped titles (game or film).

4. Lead Game Designer, REMOTE at Watt Studio

Watt Studio, a game company from Russia, is looking for Lead Game Designer to join their team working on the next project to create a world with a brand new IP. Their Gameplay Designer would be a generalist who wants to join them in the mission to create bright games with deep narratives.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the Creative Director to create a seamless narrative whole from gameplay and story
• Collaborate with the leads and game team to create fun and interesting gameplay experiences;
• Prototype and iterate on core game mechanics to make the product’s vision come true using UE4;
• Participate in the final implementation of gameplay systems and content;
• Proactively find problems with the gameplay and come up with solutions.

Qualifications:

• Knowledge and experience in interactive storytelling, including dialogue implementation, scenario design, and environmental storytelling
• Excellent communication skills, including both problem resolution and pitching idea
• Passion for playing and designing great narrative games, and knowledge about the leading games on the market
• Solid problem solving and critical thinking skills
• Can provide or link to projects that demonstrate successful storytelling
• Experience with Premium game development
• High level of creativity.

5. Senior Houdini Technical Artist (Games) at SideFX

SideFX is seeking an exceptional individual to join their talented Technical Consulting Team, reporting to the Technical Consulting Manager.

As a Senior Houdini Technical Artist (Games) your main role will be to develop workflows and create tools with Houdini that enable a broad community of artists to create game content procedurally. You will be a Houdini advocate, communicating Houdini’s value and features to their customers. As an experienced game industry professional with strong and well-rounded Houdini skills, you should be comfortable with on-the-spot troubleshooting.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Identify, develop, test, document, and deploy tools and workflows (mostly via SideFX Labs) that solve real production problems for our customers at games studios.
• Explore and prototype experimental workflows and share the results with our R&D team
• Learn existing tools and workflows in Houdini
• Communicate with customers both in-person and online in meetings, webinars, live streams, and the like
• Support our Sales Team as needed by providing specialized knowledge to further relationships with both prospective and existing customers
• Report on industry trends and relay customer feedback to internal teams as appropriate. Keep track of your interactions and make notes available to others at SideFX
• Be a champion of our company and represent SideFX to the larger game community
• Participate as needed in public channels where Houdini tools are discussed
• Occasionally visit games studios and provide guidance on applying Houdini to production challenges, answering questions, and solving technical problems on-site
• Occasionally create demo content to be shown at various trade shows and Houdini related events
• From time to time conduct training for customers
• Collaborate on materials to assist the sales team in communicating with games customers

Required Skills and Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years experience game industry, or related industry experience
• Minimum of 3 years Houdini experience with demonstrated competency in a production setting
• Fluency in using Houdini for a runtime context, preferably game production
• Knowledge of the game development pipeline and related tools, including demonstrated proficiency with Unity or UE4
• Must have great interaction skills and the ability to connect with others in person and online
• Strong presentation skills, must be able to create and present content in Houdini fluently
• Must be willing and able to travel occasionally (~25-35 days per year), sometimes internationally
• Ability to work and operate remotely
• Able to articulate an understanding of the business side of development and the challenges faced by developers in an evolving landscape
• A demonstrated passion for procedural processes and tools, and a drive to share that passion with artists
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills

SideFX art Houdini Laminaria is made by Ivan Larinin.