Senior Character Artist (Contingent)

Naughty Dog; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 118,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Job summary

Naughty Dog is seeking a highly technical Senior Character Artist to help shape the next generation of AAA storytelling. You will create detailed characters and creatures, develop pipelines, and collaborate with artists, engineers and designers to push artistic and technical boundaries.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years of character art experience on at least one AAA title, a strong portfolio, and deep knowledge of PBR materials, topology, shading, and in-game pipelines.

Qualifications

• 5+ years as a character artist with AAA title experience
• Strong portfolio of high-quality characters
• Proficiency with PBR materials, topology and in-game pipelines
• Experience developing shaders with artists and programmers
• Sculpting, modeling, texturing and shading for game characters

Responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain workflows to streamline tools and shaders
• Create detailed character and creature models from concept art
• Build high-poly models, UVs, topology and textures for in-game characters
• Coordinate with rigging, animation, and design to maintain a clear workflow on schedule
• Provide direction to character artists on aesthetics and technical aspects
• Collaborate with Tool/Engine team to improve pipelines and character quality
• Ensure consistency of quality and style across all characters
• Document pipelines for internal and external artists
• Demo new software/tools from third-party developers for the pipeline

Skills

PBR materials

topology

shaders

python scripting

sculpting

modeling

texturing

hair curve & cards

AAA title exp

portfolio

Tools

None

Job description

This position is for temporary engagement through our staffing partner, Yoh Enterprise Solutions. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States for this position.

This is a hybrid / onsite position.

For nearly 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of narrative, gameplay, and technology. Naughty Dog recently released The Last of Us Part II Remastered as well as a current generation remake of The Last of Us Part I for the PS5. We're also proud to say that The Last of Us Part I and Part II are now available for the first time on PC. Currently, we’re busy at the kennel working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and we'd love to find talented individuals to join us!

Naughty Dog games have long been lauded for their evocative, character-driven stories and attention to detail. We are committed to innovation within our games and as such have curated some of the top creative and technically innovative minds in the industry. We welcome diverse candidates and believe that a broad range of cultural and life experiences contribute to the overall well-being and success of the studio and the titles we craft together.

The Character Art team is looking for a highly technical and artistic Senior Character Artist to join our team in creating the next generation of award-winning story telling! We are looking for an artist who can help create characters, creatures AND develop pipelines that help streamline and push boundaries to create compelling characters that fit seamlessly within the narrative-driven worlds we build. By working alongside other departments and disciplines to inform, inspire, collaborate and develop artistic solutions to technical obstacles, you’ll help ensure our character pipeline is at the forefront of AAA development.

What you will do:

• Work with artists, technical artists, and engineers to design, implement and maintain new workflows that will help streamline and enhance our tools, shaders, and processes
• Use provided concept art and references to create highly detailed character and creature models
• Create high poly models, UVs, in game topology and textures to ensure high quality in game characters that work within our technical constraints, while also looking for areas to develop and push past our current boundaries
• Monitor the needs of rigging, animation, and design to ensure clear characters in game Maintain a clear and consistent workflow under an established schedule Work closely to FX and Lighting artists to create characters that meet artistic and technical requirements
• Provide direction to character artists for aesthetic and technical considerations
• Work closely with the Tool and Engine Team to develop new or improve upon old techniques to improve character model quality
• Work closely with Leads, Principals and Directors to keep quality and style consistent across all characters
• Help document new and existing pipelines to streamline processes for internal and external artists
• Act as a power user to evaluate and demo new software and tools from 3rd party developers for the character pipeline

What skills will you use:

• Highly skilled at working with and defining standards for PBR materials, topology, and in game character pipelines
• Experience developing shaders with technical artists and programmers
• Intermediate knowledge of python scripting, not required, but a plus
• Highly skilled at sculpting, modeling, texturing, shading characters and assets for games
• High level knowledge of hair curve and card creation for next gen games
• Keen eye to form, lighting, colors and composition
• Very strong portfolio showing high quality characters
• At least 5 years of experience as a character artist, working on at least one AAA title

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. Click here to learn more.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate.

$69.09 — $86.35 USD

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