Lead Character Artist - Coconut Lizard
Keywords Studios
- Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
- Permanent
- Full-time
- Lead d3t's talented Character Art team in creating high quality characters and creatures in a variety of styles.
- Collaborate with art directors and concept artists in setting visual and technical benchmarks, ensuring accuracy and fidelity to the original aesthetic vision.
- Instigate regular reviews of artwork across the character art team and provide clear, concise feedback to ensure high quality and creative cohesion.
- Work closely with animators and technical artists to ensure seamless integration of characters into the game engine and work with production to help to establish priority of work and help schedule and monitor the character art workload.
- Communicate regularly with the client's art team, building relationships and assisting them in achieving their goals.
- Champion streamlined processes, working with tech artists to improve workflows and shaders and support the team with resolving technical issues.
- Ensure that the Character team is following any submission rules, including updating Jira tickets, following naming conventions etc.
- Stay up to date with industry trends and best practices, researching new tools and techniques to enhance our character art pipeline.
- Create documentation on various subjects including style, technical and onboarding guides.
- Carry out inductions and probationary reviews for new starters. Provide feedback to the art leadership regarding employee performance for all team members.
- Mentor the character art team, nurturing them to encourage their continued growth and demonstrate a willingness to keep learning and a passion for sharing that knowledge.
- Demonstrate good leadership skills of positivity, enthusiasm, leading by example & active listening.
- Strong modelling and texturing/surfacing skills.
- Versatility and the ability to adapt to different requirements and styles.
- Proficiency in industry-standard software such as ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, and Adobe Photoshop as well as at least one major game engine such as Unreal Engine.
- Excellent understanding of anatomy, form, and proportion, with the ability to create compelling human characters and creatures.
- Up-to-date knowledge of a modern character art pipeline and a strong understanding of optimisation for games.
- Strong leadership and communication skills, with experience leading a team of artists.
- At least 6 years of experience as a character artist in the video game industry, with a proven track record of delivering high-quality character assets for AAA titles.
- At least four published titles.
- At least two full project cycles in a Senior Character Art position.
- An appreciation for the artistry behind creating memorable games characters.