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Senior Character Artist

A leader in creating deep and engaging experiences on PC and mobile, Jagex was founded in 2001 and is today one of the UK’s biggest and most respected video game developers and publishers.

Famed for its flagship MMOs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, Jagex has welcomed more than 260million player accounts to its world and created a $1bn lifetime franchise revenue. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds.

Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly-active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped.

Jagex is expanding and extending its portfolio with fresh franchise titles, new IP and, in 2018 launched Jagex Partners, delivering third-party publishing and operational services exclusively for the living games of the future.

Jagex employs more than 400 people at its Cambridge headquarters and is on the hunt for talented people to work across the business to help the company to achieve yet another year of record growth and player satisfaction.

We have an exciting and rare opportunity for a Senior Character Artist to join our Old School RuneScape title. Boasting millions of players across PC and mobile this game continues to grow in popularity and requires a Senior Character Artist to maximize its potential. In this role you will have the opportunity to get your hands on every aspect of art production pipeline. The Senior Character Artist works closely with the Art Director and Technical Leads to define visual standards and technical specifications of characters for the project.

The Senior Character Artist ensures that the creative content of our projects is delivered to the highest standards. In most cases, you collaborate closely with colleagues from other disciplines to ensure on-time and high-quality achievement of our milestone goals. In addition to creating character models, the Senior Character Artist guides junior members of the team to deliver work that meets the project standards.

The team are a highly functioning, agile and small team so you must show abilities in open communication, collaboration, self-awareness and respect to safeguard our creative culture.

The ideal candidate proactively seeks opportunities to elevate the game, embraces constructive feedback, and thrives in a highly collaborative and open environment.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work with Associate Art Director to refine the look and feel for the project.
• Work with Technical Art, Engineering and other artists to develop the character art and animation creation and integration pipeline.
• Completing 3D characters to a high standard without technical supervision.
• Reviewing of work to maintain consistent quality level and artist feedback.
• Document and communicate technical specifications and visual guides to support game vision.
• Collaborate with Technical Artists to create and improve tools and workflows.
• Being completely self-critical in assessing the quality of your output and doing so at every stage of the art creation process.
• Actively participate in milestone planning and reviews.
• Provide mentorship for junior team members.

What we are looking for:

• Very good sense of human and animal anatomy and proportions
• Great sense of form, shape and silhouette
• Strong knowledge of low poly modeling techniques
• Strong ability to create stylized interpretations of characters
• Mastery in industry standard software like Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter/Designer and Photoshop
• Knowledge of character animation setup and rigging
• Strong knowledge of art creation within a realtime development environment, including modelling
• Experience working with realtime engines
• Experience working on large and short form projects from start to finish
• Experience working with game engines (UE4, Unity, Lumberyard etc)
• Practiced game or real-time product content development process and pipelines having shipped several products as a Senior Character Artist (portfolio evidence required)
• Have a passion for games and understand game development processes

Desirable but non-essential requirements:

• Animation Skills
• Technical Art Skills (Rigging, skinning, scripting)
• Traditional art skills (painting, drawing, sculpture)

- Flexible Working

- Bonus Scheme

- Private Health Care

- Gym Membership

- Generous Pension Contributions

- Life Insurance

- Free Cycle Repair

- Income Protection

- Dental Plan

- Free Fruit and Drinks

- Subsidised Canteen

Feel like you fit this role, but don’t meet all the requirements? We strive for fresh perspectives, so as long as you can demonstrate how your attitude and other abilities might make up for any gaps we would welcome your application!

Jagex are an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.