This job might no longer be available.
Lighting Artist
2 years ago
Free Range Games grows games the old fashioned way: we don’t put our team in cages, we work distributedly, and we don’t use toxic work/life trade-offs. Some of our crafters have worked together from PS1 to PS5 and will tell you about carving games one triangle at a time from punch cards.
We are some of the folk behind Spider-man, Tony Hawk, Lord of the Rings, Twitch Sings, Oddworld, Shrek Super Slam, and dozens of mobile and web games. We believe every member of the team has a voice in what the game should be.
We prioritize community, family, and love-of-gaming over process, crunching, and TPS reports. And maybe that’s what you want too.
Free Range Games is seeking a talented, focused and creative Lighting Artist to utilize their talents and keen eye to manipulate color and light to help bring our stories of our games to life.
You are someone who has developed AAA games, has thrived in a dynamic team environment, and has been responsible for bringing scenes to life with your lighting magic skills. You can work with a team of artists helping to define lighting goals and owning the lighting effort for a small open world with both authentic and mythological locations.
EXPERIENCE
- At least 3 years of experience as a lighting artist or equivalent senior artist role, working on at least one AAA title.
- In-depth understanding and practical experience of lighting in either real-time gaming engines or in high-end CGI productions.
- A strong portfolio of work which demonstrates the ability to work with both realistic and stylised lighting/visual styles.
- An excellent understanding of composition and color theory.
- Experience using Unreal Engine 4/5 would be essential.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The main routine tasks of this position are:
- Taking game scenes and lighting them to both a creative and technical brief.
- Create and maintain all elements of lighting i.e. dynamic, prebaked, interior and exterior setups, cinematic set and character lighting.
- Help to drive narrative storytelling through effective use of color, light and mood. Using lighting to help convey emotional experiences.
- Work with the design team to make sure lighting accentuates missions, objectives and game flow.
- Maintain a balance between visual quality and performance requirements for real time game application.
- Collaborating with other disciplines such as 3D modelers and VFX artists, graphics programmers and level designers to create great AAA game experiences.
- Working closely with the art team to improve workflows and processes.
TECHNICAL SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE
- Strong technical background and understanding of how In-Game lighting in Unreal Engine, or similar (UNITY, CryEngine, Frostbite, etc.)work. Maya.
- Baked and real-time lighting techniques in modern game engines.
- Working knowledge of rendering engines such as Renderman, VRay, Mental Ray or Arnold would be useful.
- Compositing and color grading experience is preferred.
Qualifications
- Must provide a portfolio through a web-page and/or other digital media to be considered (show reel).
- A drive to constantly push art quality and try out new ideas.
- Proven industry experience having shipped titles as a Lighting Artist that demonstrate a high level of ability.
- A highly positive and proactive work ethic, with excellent communication skills.
- Sound knowledge and use of lighting techniques in the video game or VFX industries.
- Ability to work with a high degree of self-direction and motivation.
- Able to prioritize and multitask.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement
Free Range Games is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Free Range Games makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
E-Verify participant
Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States. Free Range Games participates in E-Verify.