This job might no longer be available.

Character Artist - Maxis

Character Artist - Maxis Studios

Location: Open to Remote for most North America locations

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of the Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be. Read on to see how you can join our team and dream big.

We are looking for a Character Artist to work closely with the Art Director, Concept team, Senior Character Artist, and Technical Leads to define visual standards and support the technical development of characters for the project. You will actively participate in the research and development of the asset creation methods and pipelines designed to add new design-driven features unique to the project. In addition to creating high-quality character models and materials, you will guide external partners to deliver work that meets the project standards. The ideal candidate proactively seeks opportunities to elevate the game, enjoys learning emerging technologies that improve the pipeline, embraces constructive feedback, and thrives in a highly collaborative environment. You will report to a Development Director of the Creative team.

Responsibilities:

• Create visually appealing character assets with the Art Director, Concept and Character teams
• Create both high resolution and low polygon 3D sculpts along with texturing game assets
• Solve for aesthetic and technical challenges with the Character and Technical Art teams
• Participate in critiquing your work and the work of other artists

Qualifications:

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of and experience sculpting human anatomy regarding scale, proportion, and surface properties
• Demonstrates ability in character stylization
• Proficient in industry-standard software like Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter/Designer, and Photoshop
• Understands current-gen video game tech methods and their implications for the character creation pipeline. For example: PBR, dynamics, displacement, parallax, SSS, shader animation
• Able to use and understand shaders in Unreal Engine
• Ability to learn new tools and techniques.

Soft Skills

• Articulates pipeline needs for developing new technologies to improve character team workflows
• Ability to solve problems creatively
• Demonstrates comfort with uncertainty and complexity and adapts to change efficiently and effectively
• Achieves with and through others, partners well, and communicates and listens effectively to focus on team goals
• Champions diversity and creates an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive

Other

• Has served as a Character Artist on a published title using Unreal Engine
• 3+ years of professional industry experience as a Character Artist
• Mobile game development experience
• Experience working in a distributed development environment
• Experience working with player-facing character creators
• Experience with Marvelous Designer