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Lead Character Artist - Sports

EA in Orlando, Florida is looking for a Senior Character Artist to join our successful development team working on a new IP.

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports video games, including Madden NFL football, FIFA soccer, NHL® hockey, and EA SPORTS UFC .

The EA SPORTS ART team is a global community of content creators covering Characters, Environments, Lighting, Project Management, Technical Art, and Visual Effects. Fueled by imagination and a unified passion to grow the love of sports for players worldwide, we push visual boundaries and create leading edge content. Serving our broad portfolio of sports titles, we craft amazing games for hundreds of millions of sports fans worldwide through inspiring visuals and immersive experiences. We are a diverse group that encourages team members to bring their unique perspectives and expertise to the table.

The Role

The Senior Character Artist works with the Art Director and Technical Leads to establish visual standards and technical specifications of character assets for the project. In addition to creating high-quality character models and materials, the Senior Character Artist guides junior members of the team and external partners to deliver work that meets the project standards. You look for opportunities to enhance the game, embraces constructive feedback, and excels in a collaborative environment.

Your Responsibilities

• Work with art director and technical partners to refine the look and feel of characters for the project.
• Experience in prototyping and working closely with diverse teams consisting of technical artists, artists, and engineers.
• Create high quality character models and materials (textures), including in-game and cinematic assets.
• Create 3D props as needed.
• Update style and technical documents for the character art team.
• Work with Technical Artists to create and improve tools and workflows.
• Participate in milestone planning and reviews.
• Provide mentorship for junior team members.
• You will report to the project Development Director
• Review work from external partners and provide feedback.

Your Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of production experience as a character artist.
• Have served as a Senior or Lead Character Artist on a published title and have shipping experience on multiple game titles.
• Mastery in industry standard software like Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter/Designer and Photoshop.
• Demonstrate an expert understanding of human anatomy, clothing construction (wrinkle behavior), proportion, silhouette, and topology, and how it relates to rendering and deformation.
• Demonstrate an understanding of a broad mix of character-related disciplines such as modeling, texturing, shading, rigging and binding, animation, facial animation, and blend shapes.
• Knowledge of the latest industry-standard tools, workflows, and techniques including physically based rendering, and xgen hair grooming.
• Demonstrate an expert ability to prepare assets for physical simulations such as cloth, hair, etc.
• Demonstrate an excellent ability to interpret 2D reference material and scan data into 3D textured and surfaced models.
• Experience working with remote teams (outsourcing)
• Passion for making and playing games
• Sports knowledge and enthusiasm a plus.

Materials required for Application

• Portfolio and/or Reel (via website, blog, or online gallery)
• Resume/CV

Benefits include relocation, extended health and dental, group RRSP & bonus program