Senior Character Artist (Contingent)

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. Were also proud to say that The Last of Us Part I and Part II are now available for the first time on PC. Currently were busy at the kennel working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and wed 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 youll 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

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