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Lead Character Artist
4 years ago
About Splash Damage
At Splash Damage, we’re dedicated to crafting team-based multiplayer games that ignite friendships as much as they do healthy competition and teamwork.
Our teams celebrated the launch of Gears Tactics earlier this year, and we’re currently developing Outcasters for Stadia along with several unannounced titles.
As an UnrealEngine focused studio, we're excited to be transitioning our teams to the latest in UE5 technology and we're looking for skilled and passionate developers to help us drive this.
We're advocates for work-life balance and offer a comprehensive benefits package focused on the well-being of our staff and their families.
We believe that teams create the best work when they have a range of perspectives and experiences to draw from. Therefore we're committed to increasing diversity across our studio, fostering an inclusive environment to ensure everyone's voices are heard.
Due to the on-going COVID-19 outbreak, we're all currently working from home. We’re still looking to welcome new team members, who'll join us remotely until we return to the studio
The Role
We’re kicking off an exciting new project here at Splash Damage and so we’re looking for a Lead Character Artist to join the leadership team to define the look and feel of our heroes and villains.
As Lead Character Artist, you will work closely with the Art Director and Creative Director and be responsible for creating, establishing and maintaining high-quality characters for our project.
Our ideal candidate should exhibit strong mentoring capabilities and lead by example: displaying a mastery of Anatomy, Sculpting and Texturing with strong overall artistic abilities.
Responsibilities
- Lead, motivate and inspire a team of creative artists to help them to maintain quality, efficiency and consistency through feedback and mentoring.
- Drive the visual quality in conjunction with other Lead Artists
- Collaborate with Art and Design Directors to create technically sound, engaging and memorable characters
Essential Skills and Experience
- Management of an experienced Character Art Team: including holding regular 121s, setting objectives, looking after the team’s welfare and providing mentoring
- Highly experienced and proficient with 3D Studio MAX or Maya, Zbrush and Photoshop
- Superb 3D modelling and texturing skills with both organics & hard-surface
- Strong knowledge and understanding of human anatomy, proportions, mechanics, characterisation & archetypes
- Strong knowledge of mechanical construction and functionality (gear, weapons & robotics)
- Experience of character pipelines and efficient memory management of UVs, textures and vertices
- Highly experienced working with multiple texturing workflows for current (PBR) and previous generations, capable of creating well defined and readable realistic materials.
- Substantial examples of current and past work demonstrating a strong understanding of form, silhouette, shape, texture, colour and lighting
- Understanding of character modelling, rigging and skinning in preparation for animation
- A proactive drive for efficiency in work methods & the maintenance of high standards
- A great team player, able to communicate, learn from and to teach
- Excellent communication and collaborative problem-solving skills
Desirable Skills and Experience
- Extensive experience in developing character models and textures in a variety of styles
- Minimum 3 shipped titles where credited as a character artist
- Knowledge of real-time shaders
- Strong traditional art foundations including but not limited to sculpture, conceptual design and illustration including lighting or colour keys
- Keen interest in games and game design beyond art
- Experience working within Unreal Engine 4
- Knowledge of Substance Painter and Marvelous Designer a plus
As this is a key leadership position, please include a cover letter with your application.
Splash Damage is an equal opportunity employer. We believe our teams create better work when they have a range of perspectives to draw from, and we are committed to creating an inclusive working environment that celebrates diversity.
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