Lead Character Artist
16 days ago
Crystal Dynamics is constantly seeking the best gaming talent worldwide to add to our 30-plus year legacy of AAAA game development creating new and iconic franchises. We are committed to making great games with great people and living the dream while doing it.
Benefits for our full-time positions include, but are not limited to, a competitive regional salary, 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance options, professional development reimbursement perk, flexible hybrid on-site/off-site work opportunities, 12 company paid holidays, additional 10 paid days in December when the studio is closed for holiday break, and the ability to accrue weeks of personal paid time-off.
Join us and shape the future of an amazing studio culture committed to creating award-winning franchises like Tomb Raider, the next Perfect Dark , and more!
Crystal Dynamics is seeking a Lead Character Artist for our growing team! In this role you will partner closely with creative leadership including Art Directors, Lead Artists, and Designers to create quality high-fidelity worlds for future AAA experiences. As a Lead Character Artist you are a highly collaborative and self-motivated professional, with demonstrated excellence in character modeling, and texturing. As a Lead, you will ensure the quality bar of art created both internally and externally stays consistent with project standards.
As a Lead Character Artist, you will…
- Lead a team of highly skilled internal and external character artists in the development of high-fidelity assets
- Conceptualize, present, and execute ideas within a schedule, while actively participating in technical and artistic problem solving
- Use industry standard as well as custom toolsets to create optimized real-time character meshes and materials
- Optimization of mesh and materials for real-time rendered characters
- Collaborate with other artists, designers, engineers, and production teams internally
- Work with technical art and engineering to define character art pipeline and procedures
- Partner with outsourcing manager and provide feedback to outsource artist to ensure external asset quality stays consistent with project standards
As a Lead Character Artist, you must have…
- Experience as Senior, Lead, or Principal Character Artist having contributed to 1+ AAA title (or comparable high-fidelity title)
- Proven ability to manage both internal and external artists and demonstrable experience holding others to quality standards
- Expertise in 3D modeling and sculpting, utilizing packages such as Maya, 3DS Max, Zbrush, Photoshop, and Substance Painter
- Strong knowledge of physically based rendered art pipelines and related tools (Houdini, Quixel, Substance, etc.)
- Examples of work demonstrating holistic understanding of the following:
- Current-gen 3D art techniques and quality bar required for creation of high-fidelity, realistic work
- Strong understanding of anatomy and ability to create 3D character models and materials, such as clothing, armor and other types of hard-surface objects
- UV layouts, textures, and bake work
The pay range for this role includes the annual base salary, not including bonus and the generous benefits package that Crystal Dynamics provides all full-time employees. Individual compensation is determined by work location within our approved states, as well as additional factors, including job related skills, experience, and relevant education. Your recruiter will be able to share more information about total compensation.
Pay Range
$110,000 — $160,000 USD
Not sure if you are qualified? We hope that you will still choose to apply so we may review your application!
Crystal Dynamics is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to identifying and implementing positive and persistent measures to ensure equal opportunity in the recruitment, hiring, development, training, promotion and compensation of a diverse team employee group. This includes persons of different race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity or gender expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or medical conditions related to breastfeeding, genetic characteristic, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, medical condition, political affiliation, age, veteran status, uniform service member status, marital status, physical or mental disability, or citizenship, as well as any other classifications protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.
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