Sr Environment Artist (Contract)

Join the award-winning team that created God of War

This is an opportunity to contribute to the artistic vision and development of a product with a specialized focus on creating environments and level assets.

As Senior Environment Artist, you will effectively collaborate with a wide range of development team members outside of their direct discipline, such as the Art Director, Designers, Technical Artists, Animators, Programmers and Producers, to optimally achieve artistic goals and implementation as they relate to design and technological considerations.

Responsibilities

• A high-level contributor to the development of the artistic techniques and processes utilized to create environments within the studio - must be able to develop a comprehensive knowledge of the entire art production pipeline and all engine tools and systems associated with the creation of art assets and level layout
• Content creation, including 3D modeling/sculpting, 2D texture map painting, material setup/UV layout, and LOD creation according to defined quality standards, artistic styles, conceptual designs, development pipelines, technical parameters, and production goals
• Maintain the artistic direction and vision through all phases of the game development cycle from pre-production through final product release - this entails ensuring environment/level assets are of the highest artistic quality and upholding the integrity of the game's design and artistic vision of the game
• Skilled in level art workflow, including assembly, set dressing, lighting, and asset composition across levels
• Maintain a strong knowledge of the game’s design to support communication and enable early identification of issues, as well as help drive participation in discussions
• Take ownership of a specific region of the game environment and facilitate requests or info needs regarding any aspect of this environment/level art creation process as needed
• Mentoring artist who assists you in creating environments - this includes on-boarding new artists, giving timely feedback, and directing work duties
• Fully capable of resolving an assortment of moderately complex artistic development issues for both artists as well as other team members
• Scope and prioritize areas of ownership - collaborate with production to develop task list that meet overall project goals
• Clearly communicate updates and properly escalate concerns to the appropriate team member(s) and manager(s)
• Actively improves skill set and abilities by keeping aware of industry trends and techniques, evaluating competitive products, learning new software packages, and traditional art methods

Requirements

• Minimum five years industry experience or related experience
• Two or more published titles are considered a strength
• Possess strong time management and prioritization skills - entails collaborating with Production group to develop task lists to ensure assignments are progressing in alignment with schedules, milestones and overall project goals
• Strong traditional fine art skills, training, and production experience (illustration, painting, organic forms, color theory, perspective, 2D & 3D design)
• Proficient in the use of Maya, (or other 3D modeling packages) Zbrush, Substance Designer, and Substance Painter
• Familiarity with video game product development including, but not limited to, workflow, tools, lighting, high and low poly modeling, texture painting, particle systems, UV layout, in-game animation, material setup, layout, SFX and engine parameters/optimizations
• Excellent communication, organizational, time management, mentoring, and interpersonal skills
• Works under minimal direction to determine and develop approach to solutions
• B.A. in fine arts or relevant curriculum or equivalent skillset

Preferred Experience

• Houdini experience
• Previous leadership experience in games

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