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Lead Character Artist

Would you like to work on some of the greatest franchises in gaming history? Certain Affinity brings an exceptionally talented group together to form the largest independent developer in Austin, Texas, and we opened a second studio in Toronto, Canada last year. Our company culture reflects the vibrant nature of the cities we call home. This includes a commitment to our evolution, excellence, and work-life balance. We’re best known for co-developing numerous AAA FPS games, though we are also creating compelling new games of our own.

The Lead Character Artist will report to the Director of Character Art and will provide direction and team leadership for the Character Art department. In this role, you will build and maintain qualitative goals and artistic consistency for character art, setting high visual standards, and defining project style and tone. You will evaluate a wide range of artistic skills from modeling realistic anatomy and likeness through organic modeling to hard surface development of weapon, gear, and prop models. You'll collaborate with art direction, concept art, and production to communicate the vision to your team and provide them feedback on a variety of assets, from clothing and creatures to weapons and vehicles.

If you enjoy working collaboratively across departments and thrive on the challenge of building and growing a character team that focused on creating a wide variety of stunning characters and creatures - apply now!

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the project Art Director to develop a style and provide consistent quality across all characters, creatures, and related models
• Develop, support, and challenge the individuals on the character art team to foster growth, satisfaction, and contribution
• Contribute a wide range of skills with the ability to lead by example while helping to grow a team's skills
• Provide clear and consistent feedback, direction, and critique to character artists for aesthetic and technical considerations
• Help build and define the process and workflow for character creation
• Collaborate with the technical team to optimize and maintain optimal performance across all art assets
• Build and maintain partner and client relationships, trust, and communication
• Work with development leads and directors to develop a strategy that provides strong character art resources to cover the studio's diverse project needs
• Collaborate with art and project leadership to coordinate character art resources, schedules, and priorities across multiple projects
• Carry out key department responsibilities that include interviewing, hiring, and training employees, reviewing work for quality, appraising performance and resolving issues
• Serve as the external face of Certain Affinity's character art team in professional and recruiting events

Requirements

• 10+ years in game development, 3+ years specifically in a lead character artist role
• Multiple shipped AAA titles, with at least one in a Lead Character Artist role
• Superb communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven history of leading and growing a team of highly skilled artists
• Experience successfully collaborating and problem-solving issues that involve multiple disciplines
• Excellent understanding of art pipelines and workflows and how they connect with multiple disciplines
• Strong foundational knowledge in traditional arts, including, but not limited to, anatomy, figure drawing, and illustration
• Expert-level proficiency with Z-Brush, Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, and/or other 3D software packages
• Proficiency with Algorithmic Substance, Quixel Suite, Adobe Photoshop, and/or other material and texture creation tools
• Broad experience working in a wide range of proprietary and third-party 3D game engines (Unreal, Unity, etc.)
• Ability to understand and communicate visual direction through words and images
• Understanding of how character design and construction facilitates and impact animation
• Portfolio showing off your work
• A desire to work in a diverse and inclusive environment

Extra Credit

• Solid understanding of core principles of motion and how they impact character personality, action, and emotion
• Ability to provide constructive input and feedback in terms of character authorizing

Certain Affinity or its partners or affiliates run background checks on candidates or employees with written authorization from the candidates or employees. These may be done for the purposes of offering employment or determining eligibility to work on a specific project. Multiple searches may be required.

Certain Affinity is authorized to do business in many, but not all, of the states in the US and the Canadian provinces. If you are not located in or able to work from a state where Certain Affinity is registered, you may not be eligible for employment as a fully remote employee. Please speak with your recruiter to learn more about where we are registered.