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Lighting Artist

The EA Create Art team creates compelling visual experiences across multiple genres and art styles. Visual art and technical art unite to create incredible characters and the worlds they inhabit. The Art team encompasses animation, characters, lighting, rigging, technical art, visual effects, and worlds.

Lighting Artist

Position Overview

Lighters add the lighting to games that create atmosphere and adds realism, tone, and depth to a scene, using their craft, Lighters create visually balancing individual elements that enable game artists to produce a convincing image or environment. You will need to use your technical skill as well as your aesthetic judgment to create images that not only look good but are easy to render. Lighters make sure there is consistency in lighting, color balance, and mood between the various elements of a shot or scene in the game. When appropriate, they ensure the CG looks photorealistic. Lighters emphasize drama or narrative, and also establish and clarify location, weather, time of day, etc. Lighters will be expected to respect and follow an established design theme for a sequence or project. They must be able to refer to the relevant production designs and apply that visual style as faithfully as possible, taking care to maintain continuity throughout the scene and game.

What skills does EA look for?

Ideally, Lighters will have a background that combines art and math. They typically have a degree in Computer Graphics, Computer Science, and Art-related subjects such as Photography or Computer Animation, Math, or Physics. They will also have solid experience in at least one of the 3D packages currently in use by the industry. These include Maya, Houdini, XSI, 3D Studio Max, and Lightwave. Familiarity with other relevant programs are also a plus.

Required Skills:

• Possess solid artistic skills, including a thorough understanding of color theory, composition, light, and form.
• Experience with a 3D CG package (e.g., Maya, Mental Ray),
• Demonstrated understanding of rendering, lighting, shading networks, polygonal modeling, and texture UV's.
• Lighters should also understand the characteristics of light and how it is simulated in a CG environment
• Able to work from reference materials, identifying and translating key lighting details into applicable information
• Should be able to light-moderate to complex interior and exterior scenes.
• Experience with film, photography or theater lighting is a plus.