Senior Character Artist

Spark is looking for an experienced Character Artist to join us in making a breakout hit called “Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z”. This is an opportunity for you to have a hand in creating a bold new take on 3rd Person slasher with Horror elements for the Ps3 and Xbox360. You must have a cutting edge skills set, utilizing your technical knowledge and classic art training to create engaging and striking characters in the stylized illustrative look of our game world. The ideal candidate is an outstanding Character Artist with thorough knowledge of classical Modeling and texturing principles and pipelines, possessing strong leadership skills, production-sensibilities, and the talent to produce and implement the highest quality work.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Lead Character Artist and Art Director to develop character goals and assets that fulfill the requirements of the project’s game and visual design.
• Work with the Character Lead on the scheduling and integration of character assets. Integrate assets with designers, engineers and animators to create compelling in-game characters and props.
• Create high-quality characters at a quality bar suitable for console development.
• Support the development of run-time game character procedures & pipelines.
• Consistently meet project deadlines in a timely manner without compromising artistic integrity.
• Create compelling and consistent models for all major characters.
• Work collaboratively with all levels of the development team, including active participation in Spark’s agile-development process. Cultivate a positive team dynamic, and exhibit a professional attitude by demonstrating a good balance between creativity and practical flexibility.

Requirements

• Demonstrated professional, exceptional visual and technical understanding in sculpting, 3D modeling & texturing (both high- & low-resolution characters).
• 4-5 years professional character modeling experience on multiple projects. Proven industry experience, including shipped game projects strongly preferred.
• Thorough understanding of Autodesk Maya, Mudbox or Zbrush.
• Experience and/or education in sculpting and drawing organic forms with an emphasis on human, biped and quadruped shapes.
• Experience sculpting facial blend shapes, facial animation and lip-synch.
• Experience with skeleton/rig creation.
• Excellent communication, time-management and organizational skills. A strong ability to work across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues. Penchant for practical innovation and the ability to bring new ideas to the table.
• Passionate player of games with an ability to analyze competitive products for their strengths and weaknesses.

Preferred Skills

• Art-related degree and/or comparable professional experience (B.A. or equivalent degree).
• Experience painting textures in place of normal maps.
• Previous Character experience on console projects.
• Third-person action genre experience.
• Unreal 3 Engine experience.
• Experience working in an Agile/Scrum development environment.

• Applicants must be able to work at our Sherman Oaks, California studios.
• Email only. No visits or phone calls, please.
• The Subject line of your email must reference the job title and your name, like this: Senior Character: Last name, First name
• Include your resume as an email attachment, preferably as a PDF or in Word 2003 or later format.
• Include links to online portfolio or send demo reel materials to Spark Unlimited, Attn: Character Dept, 15000 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 202, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. No drop offs please.
• Make sure your resume also includes your name, address, phone, and email.
• Send email to: art-jobC3231@sparkunlimited.com

 

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