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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 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. Our Toronto studio will collaborate with our Austin location, and together we’ll be co-developing AAA FPS games and creating our own compelling new IP.

The Lead Character Artist reports 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 be asked to exercise 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 character and concept artists in designing and iterating on all aspects of characters and associated clothing, weapons, gear, and props.

If you enjoy leading the character art studio-wide and the challenge of building a wide variety of stunning characters and creatures – apply now!

Responsibilities

• Create high-resolution photo-realistic 3D sculpts of organic/hard surface characters/creatures/weapons/props
• 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 as a hands-on character artist, with the ability to lead by example while helping to grow a team's individual skills
• Provide clear and consistent feedback, direction and critique to character artists for aesthetic and technical considerations
• Build and define the process and workflow for character creation
• Collaborate with the technical team to optimize the art environment 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 which 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, and 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 game industry production experience, 3+ years specifically in a lead character artist role
• Multiple shipped AAA titles, with at least one in a Lead Character Artist role
• 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
• Superb communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven history of leading and growing a team of highly skilled and technical artists
• Ability to present (internally and externally) a clear vision of how work addresses problems and requirements
• Strong foundational knowledge in traditional arts, including, but not limited to, anatomy, figure drawing, and illustration
• Excellent understanding of art pipelines and workflows
• Ability to create current-gen as well as next-gen texture sets and materials
• Broad experience working in a wide range of proprietary and third-party 3D game engines (Unreal, Unity, etc.)
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills and the ability to problem-solve issues that involve multiple disciplines
• Ability to understand, and communicate visual direction through words and images
• Understanding of how character design and construction facilitates and impacts 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