Positions for Character Artists at Top Gamedev Studios

Do you believe top game development studios could benefit from your talent? Then here is an opportunity for you to prove yourself. If you have experience as a character artist, Electronic Arts, Santa Monica Studio, and Rockstar Games would like to see what you're capable of. The companies are looking for great senior character artists who can fit in and help them deliver amazing experiences.

Here is everything you need to know about the positions. 

Responsibilities: 

• Collaborate with Art Directors, Producers, Technical Artists to build the envisioned art style and lead project completion. 
• Improve workflows, troubleshoot technical issues, and produce documentation to support the character art pipeline. 
• Realize character concepts into 3D assets, ready for animation and integration. 
• Direct both internal and external character art teams, ensuring alignment with project objectives. 
• Guide new artists, promoting their technical/artistic growth within the team.
• Conduct art reviews, providing feedback to enhance team performance and art quality.
• Establish and uphold quality standards and stylistic consistency for all character art within the game. 
• Guarantee that all character assets meet the high-quality bar for final game delivery, collaborating with other departments.
• Execute high-level modeling, texturing, and sculpting tasks, showcasing exceptional skill in creating detailed and lifelike character art. 

Experience Requirements: 

• 8+ years' experience in modeling and character art, with a focus on realistic character art. Please provide a link to your portfolio on the resume. 
• Proficient in Maya, 3ds Max, Photoshop, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and Marvelous Designer. 
• A history of collaboration within diverse teams, including technical artists, artists, engineers, and riggers. 
• Up-to-date with the latest industry-standard tools, workflows, and techniques. 
• Expert knowledge of human anatomy, clothing construction, proportion, silhouette, and topology as it relates to modeling, texturing, and shading. 
• Understanding of how rigging, animation, facial animation, and blend shapes can affect character models. 
• Experienced in presenting art direction and conducting art reviews within the team. 
• Excellent skill in converting 2D reference materials and scan data into 3D textured and surfaced models. 
• Can document workflows for team use. 
• Lead and share best practices with team artists, nurturing a positive team culture. 
• Succeeding independently without a requirement for regular oversight.

Responsibilities:

• Create industry-leading, highest-quality character assets that balance visual fidelity and game design constraints.
• Work closely with art director and leads to drive the team and evangelize the artistic vision.
• Establish and share best practices for craft and mentor less experienced, junior artists.
• Collaborate with other departments such as concept, animation, rigging, and combat to ensure art meets specifications.
• Work with outsourcing team to plan, review, and integrate character assets.
• Work with production to provide estimates, review schedules, and deliver assets on time.
• Clearly communicate regular updates and proactively voice concerns to appropriate team members and managers.
• Utilize artistic techniques and processes to define and achieve the product’s visual style and benchmarks.
• Ensure that character assets are of the highest artistic quality and uphold the integrity of the game’s design.
• Research and adopt new techniques to drive innovation and push character art quality.

Requirements:

• 5 + Years of experience as a 3D Character Artist
• Shipped AAA game/s from start to finish
• Strong Traditional Fine Art Skills with an emphasis on scale, anatomy, composition, color theory, 2D/3D design
• Advanced Understanding of Industry Standard Software such as Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush, and Texture Creation/Material Editing (Substance Painter/Mari/Houdini/Unreal/Unity)
• Capable of resolving a range of complex artistic development issues for both artists as well as other members
• Familiarity with video game development including, but not limited to workflow, tools, lighting, high and low poly modeling, texture painting, PBR material setup, UV layout, and engine parameters/optimizations desirable
• Desire to strive for greatness and improvement
• Possess strong time management and prioritization skills
• Good communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills

Responsibilities:

• Work with parameterised shaders across both Character Skin and Clothing (eg skin shader system; dermal properties, surface layering including make-up, face paint).
• Help define the workflow for material layering across the shader types and their function with other dynamic, environmental game systems.
• Work with AD to create source Art inputs to shader systems.
• Use in-engine editing tools to create library pre-sets for various skin & clothing items.
• Work collaboratively with Graphics and Engine teams to define the holistic approach to surfacing.
• Help shape the development of tools and UI to shape effective user experience.
• Work with assembly teams to ensure they have a library of available pre-sets to service all character contexts.
• Influence look-dev of shader types and tuning in an evolving materials/lighting pipeline.
• Operate as an inter-departmental point of contact between Art, Tech Art and Code Graphics to deliver features.
• Work to maintain the pipeline in terms of game asset data.
• Work within the Character team to meet budgetary constraints for engine performance.
• Works closely with the rigging team within the character pipeline for body typologies.
• Trial run, document and feedback on new tools/techniques as engines and features evolve.

Qualifications:

• 3+ years of relevant experience in a game development pipeline.
• A full understanding of all current generation production workflows as they pertain to character art asset production - including an understanding of PBR/Lighting pipelines and shader tools.
• A deep understanding of texturing suites such as Substance 3D Designer, Substance 3D Painter, and Photoshop.
• Extensive experience using 3D Studio Max, Maya, or similar 3D creation packages.
• Detailed eye for materials, pattern, and placement across items, with a focus on quality and consistency.
• Understanding of animated normal maps in a game workflow.
• Experience using game engines (e.g. Unreal/Unity or other proprietary engine tech).
• Ability to work with bespoke engine toolsets, defined asset workflows, and contribute to overall character department goals and working practices.
• Understanding of the features that hold a character together technically with the ability to debug and directly fix issues at the source.
• Understanding of the source art to in-game export pipeline and delivery of final character across Art, Technical Art, and Animation.
• Positive, solution-oriented individual with a passion for making great game art in a team setting.
• Self-motivated and flexible, with excellent communication skills.

If you think you've got what it takes, apply and check out our Job Board. Also, join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.