Character Artist — AAA Game Studio (Santa Monica)

Naughty Dog; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Naughty Dog in Santa Monica, CA, seeks a skilled Character Artist for an on-site role. You will sculpt outfits, characters, and animals, texture clothing with grime to add backstory, and support skin shading to achieve realism.

You’ll collaborate with concept art, shading, and rigging to keep a high-quality production pipeline. Required: a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 2+ years in character art for AAA games, and proficiency in ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, and Photoshop.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required.
• Minimum 2 years as a character artist or related role.
• Experience on AAA titles as a character artist.
• Knowledge of clothing folds and human anatomy.
• Understanding of game production pipeline.
• Ability to texture clothing with wear and grime.
• Ability to create natural skin shading with color variation.
• Proficient in ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, Photoshop.

Responsibilities

• Sculpt outfits, people and animals for realistic world setting.
• Texture clothing with grime and wear to tell a story.
• Texture skin with subsurface scattering, discoloration, imperfections.
• Perform retopology and UV layout for efficient pipelines.
• Create hair cards/fur and set up shaders.
• Collaborate with Concept art, shading and rigging to develop a high-quality pipeline.

Skills

AAA titles experience

2+ years experience

Clothing & anatomy knowledge

Game production pipeline

Texturing worn clothing

Skin shading realism

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

ZBrush

Maya

Substance Painter

Photoshop

Job description

Naughty Dog in Santa Monica, CA, seeks a skilled Character Artist for an on-site role. You will sculpt outfits, characters, and animals, texture clothing with grime to add backstory, and support skin shading to achieve realism.

You’ll collaborate with concept art, shading, and rigging to keep a high-quality production pipeline. Required: a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 2+ years in character art for AAA games, and proficiency in ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, and Photoshop.