Texture & Look Development Artist - Mid (Short-Term)

Image Engine Design; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 86,000 - 101,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Extended healthcare

Wellness days

Job summary

Image Engine is seeking a Look Development & Texture Artist (Mid) to deliver high-quality texture maps and production shaders for multiple shows. You will collaborate with Asset Supervisors and Look Dev Leads, manage time efficiently, and troubleshoot issues to maintain schedule and art quality.

You will contribute to developing standard rigs, lighting setups, and production shaders, ensuring assets meet pipeline requirements and client expectations while balancing speed and detail.

Qualifications

• 3+ years texture painting and look development experience with high end film.
• Proven proficiency in defining and creating photo-realistic assets.
• Experience rendering large datasets.
• Strong understanding of traditional art foundations (form, anatomy, color theory) and applying them digitally.
• Excellent attention to detail during finalization and QA of assets.
• Ability to balance quick turnaround with high aesthetic quality.

Responsibilities

• Address Lead’s feedback while proposing solutions to improve assets and maintain high quality.
• Process requests from other departments in the pipeline.
• Manage time and resources to meet weekly targets.
• Paint textures for multiple shows simultaneously.
• Write/modify Arnold/OSL shaders to realize production look.
• Define standard render passes and lighting rigs for look development.
• Assist in developing standard lighting setups for look development.
• Provide daily Versions for assigned tasks as per supervisor instruction.
• Attend dailies, reviews, and team meetings as required.
• Keep supervisors informed of issues arising in pre-production and shot production and offer solutions.
• Collaborate with Lead Texture/Lookdev artists and supervisors to ensure assets fit lighting & color pipelines.
• Work with R&D shader developers to include necessary parameters in production shaders.
• Collaborate with texture/look teams to create required texture maps for creatures, props, environments.

Skills

Python

OSL

Arnold

MEL

C++

Maya

Mari

Photoshop

UVLayout

Katana

Gaffer

Tools

Maya

Mari

Photoshop

UVLayout

Katana

Gaffer

Job description

Position

Look Development & Texture Artist - Mid

Hiring Range

$85,800 to 101,400/year for a 40 hour work week

Project Contract

$Start as soon as possible - 3month contract

Company Benefits

Extended healthcare from day 1, premiums 100% covered by Image Engine, up to 8 paid Health and Wellness days per year.

*Candidates are required to be based in British Columbia and eligible to work in Canada.*

ABOUT IMAGE ENGINE

Image Engine is a world-class VFX studio based in Vancouver, BC, that has built a reputation for excellence in the visual effects industry since 1995. We specialize in crafting stunning visual effects for feature films and television with an award-winning portfolio that includes Skeleton Crew, The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, Lost in Space, Jurassic World, and District 9. We offer a full range of visual effects services, from concept designs and pre-visualization to CG animation, compositing, and explosive volumetric digital effects. Our crew is passionate about storytelling and pushing the artistic and technical boundaries to deliver the highest quality work on every project. R&D is central to our philosophy of driving creativity through innovation and we're committed to continually evolving our robust production pipelines. At Image Engine, we value diversity and teamwork, and we're proud to foster a workplace culture that is supportive, respectful, and empowering. We believe that our success is a reflection of our exceptionally talented team, and we're always looking for passionate and dedicated individuals to join us on our mission to create unforgettable visual experiences. Join our team and be part of something extraordinary.

POSITION PURPOSE

The Texture/Look Development Artist is responsible for delivering high quality assets across multiple shows in a quick and efficient manner. They will apply notes provided by the Asset Supervisors/Texture and Look Dev Leads. They will manage their time effectively to ensure tasks are completed within the assigned timeframe and to the specifications required by Image Engine clients. They will identify and troubleshoot problems as needed and will ask for assistance when necessary to ensure effective use of time and resources. They will begin quality checking their own work and assisting Senior artists to develop new concepts and approaches to improve work quality. They will participate in team meetings when necessary.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Address your Lead’s feedback while providing solutions to improve the assets, and maintaining a high level of quality.
• Process requests from other departments in the pipeline.
• Manage time and resources to meet weekly targets.
• Responsible for painting characters or assets for multiple shows simultaneously.
• Write and/or modify custom Arnold/OSL shaders to realize the desired look for production integration.
• Define standard render passes.
• Assist in developing standard lighting rigs & setups for look development.
• Provide dailied versions for assigned tasks in an agreed upon time by your Supervisor/ Lead.
• Attend dailies, reviews, and team meetings as required.
• Keep supervisors apprised of issues arising in pre-production and shot production and offer creative solutions to those issues.
• Work closely with Lead Texture Artist, Lead Lookdev Artist, Lead Lighting TD's and supervisors to ensure that all assets work within the scope of lighting & color pipeline requirements.
• Work with a team of artists in a hands-on capacity to ensure technically and artistically proper implementation of textured and look developed assets.
• Communicate with the R&D/ shader developer in order to ensure all necessary parameters and functionality are included in production shaders.
• Work closely with texture and look development artists to create necessary texture maps for application to creatures, props and environments.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• 3+ years’ of texture painting and look development experience with high end film.
• Demonstrated proficiency in defining and creating photo-realistic assets.
• Experience with rendering large datasets.
• Thorough understanding of traditional art skills (Form, architecture, anatomy, topology, color theory) and how to apply those skills in a digital medium.
• Excellent attention to detail when finalizing, approving or quality controlling assets.
• Ability to balance quick turnaround while achieving a high degree of aesthetic quality.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Technical skills

• Intermediate level experience in Python / OSL / Arnold / MEL / C++.
• Proven experience in Maya / Mari / Photoshop / UVlayout / Node based lighting and lookdev package ( Katana / Gaffer).
• Experience with Linux/UNIX.

Core skills

• Ability to troubleshoot and deal with competing priorities and projects.
• Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies and applications.
• Ability to push assets to the next level.
• Excellent time management and communication skills.