Graduate Character Artist

Frontier; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading gaming company in Cambridge is seeking a Graduate Character Artist to join their team. This role involves creating game-ready 3D models and collaborating with artists to ensure high quality in game development. Ideal candidates should have strong sculpting skills, experience with relevant software, and a collaborative attitude. The company offers a competitive salary, annual bonus, and a focus on employee wellbeing.

Benefits

Success-based annual bonus

Share option schemes

Life assurance

Private family healthcare

Flexitime working hours

Enhanced maternity/paternity leave

In-house subsidised catering

Cycle to Work scheme

Free bike servicing

Social activities and events

Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to create game-ready 3D models and textures.
• Ability to translate 2D concepts into 3D models.
• Extensive experience with real-time character pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Create game-ready 3D models using provided tools.
• Collaborate with team for quality and style consistency.
• Participate in team meetings and suggest improvements.

Skills

Anatomical and organic sculpting

Collaborative work

3D character modeling

Excellent communication skills

Texturing skills

Education

Art degree or relevant game art course

Tools

Maya

ZBrush

Substance Painter

Job description

WHAT’S THE ROLE?

We’re looking for a Graduate Character Artist to join our team. As a company we produce a wide spectrum of subject matter from stunningly photorealistic animals to beautifully stylised characters, so populating our games is always a rewarding experience. As a Graduate Character Artist in our world-class team, you will be building the cast for the next generation of Frontier games.

This is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to our ambitious future roadmap of games.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING

• Creating game-ready 3D models and textures using Maya, ZBrush and Substance Painter.
• Collaborating with fellow Character Artists to maintain the highest quality throughout development, delivering models on budget, on time and in the appropriate art style.
• Bringing a new perspective, and where appropriate, suggesting potential improvements to existing pipelines.
• Actively participating in team meetings and contributing to the overall development process.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Demonstrated expertise in anatomical and organic sculpting from reference, with a portfolio showcasing work across both stylised and realistic art styles.
• Ability to work collaboratively and take on feedback and guidance from the rest of the team.
• Experience with translating 2D concepts or reference into 3D Character models. Making artistic decisions to troubleshoot the transformative process and refine the final 3D design.
• Ability to adapt to and work within established art styles, ensuring consistency with the concept art.
• An exceptional level of character modelling in ZBrush.
• Extensive knowledge of preferred 3D packages such as Maya.
• Excellent Substance Painter texturing skills and hand painting.
• Familiarity with the entire real-time character pipeline from high-poly sculpting, retopology, UV mapping, baking, texture creation and ending in the setup and exporting of assets to game.
• An awareness of the importance of efficient UV layouts and mesh topology, to ensure that character models are optimised for performance, budgets and deform well when animated.
• Experience with PBR materials and real-time engines.
• An understanding of development pipelines, including how your work will be used in dependent disciplines.
• Excellent communication skills are essential.

BONUS IF YOU HAVE

• Solid foundational art skills such as 2D drawing.
• An Art degree or relevant game art course.
• Genuine passion for sculpting creatures.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

You will work with talented and passionate people to support, develop or publish our sophisticated and enduring games, in a creative, collaborative and inclusive environment. We love what we do, and we work hard to provide outstanding experiences for our players.

Wellbeing is a big focus at Frontier, and we are continually evolving how we can support our people. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and provide a range of wellbeing activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes a success-based annual bonus, share option schemes, life assurance, private family healthcare, flexitime working hours, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, in-house subsidised catering, support with relocation, a Cycle to Work scheme, free bike servicing, and social activities and events.

We strive to create an environment where everyone can fully demonstrate their capability and potential. If you therefore need any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition representative.