Senior Technical 3D Character Artist (Comedy)

Proxima; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Creative freedom

Job summary

Proxima Studio is seeking a Senior Technical 3D Character Artist to lead our character pipeline, crafting modular, swappable features and a unified rig that supports countless NPCs. Your work will emphasize bold silhouettes, comedic physicality, and a systems-first approach within a stylized aesthetic.

You will architect the pipeline from the ground up, build plug-and-play facial features and clothing kits, and integrate with Unity using Mecanim and C# scripting for procedural animation and IK.

Qualifications

• Must design reusable, modular kits for hundreds of variations.
• Strong understanding of silhouette, exaggerated postures, and slapstick.
• Experience with stylized, non-photorealistic art.

Responsibilities

• Model, texture, and rig stylized low-poly characters.
• Build modular heads, facial features, and clothing.
• Configure Unity humanoid avatars, prefabs, animator controllers.
• Create reusable component systems for character pipelines.

Skills

Cartoon silhouette

Modular design

Procedural animation

C# scripting

Tools

Blender

Unity

Mecanim

Job description

Proxima Studio

Location: Remote / Flexible

Role Type: Full-Time Contract or Permanent

About Us

We are the indie team behind Suck Up!, where we turned goofy social deduction and conversational AI into pure comedic chaos (with over 200m views on YouTube). Now, we are building our next title: a management simulation that sits between the sandbox of The Sims and the chaotic/comedy of Schedule 1.

We operate small, fast, and scrappy. We value creative ownership, rapid prototyping, and people who can establish a cohesive, signature visual language from the ground up.

The Role

We are seeking a Senior Technical 3D Character Artist who specialize in character pipelines and animations, with a cartoonist’s comedic timing and a systems-first mindset.

You will architect our character pipeline from the ground up. You will build a scalable, modular character system: designing plug-and-play facial features, swappable clothing kits, and a unified rig that lets code drive endless distinct NPCs. Your characters must prioritize bold silhouettes and comedic physicality, extreme emotional states, physical impairment, and chaotic meltdowns instantly readable in first person.

Key Responsibilities

• Modular Character Pipeline: Model, texture, and rig a stylized, low-poly character kit with modular heads, socketed facial features, and swappable clothing that read clearly across extreme states (drunkenness, rage, distress) and across actions.
• Master Rigging & Retargeting: Build and maintain a unified humanoid skeleton with standardized attachment sockets (hands, eyes, accessories, seats) to share animations seamlessly across all roles.
• Smart Objects & Environments: Model modular furniture, stages, and props adhering strictly to interaction metrics, snap grids, and navmesh constraints.
• Unity Integration: Configure character prefabs, Mecanim, rigging, animation states
• Visual Direction: Establish character style, master visual language across the game

What We Are Looking For

Artistic & Design Sense

• Cartoonist's Comedic Instinct: Strong grasp of silhouette, exaggerated postures, and physical slapstick (Schedule I The Sims). You favor punchy readability over photorealism.
• Systemic Thinking: Experience designing reusable, modular kits meant to be mixed and matched hundreds of times.

Technical Competencies

• Full Stylized 3D Pipeline: End-to-end expertise in Blender (or equivalent) for low-poly modeling, texturing, rigging, and skinning with clean optimization.
• Deep Unity Proficiency: Direct experience setting up Humanoid Avatars, Prefabs, Animator Controllers, and collision hulls.
• Sockets & Retargeting: Proven workflow for modular prop attachment, socket hierarchies, and retargeting shared animations across varied body types.
• Code based animations: Unity C# scripting for procedural animation/IK, animation blending, target tracking, and more.