Lead Character Artist - New IP

Art SF Bay Area, CA Vancouver, BC

Greetings from Phoenix Labs!

Whether you’re hunting behemoths with your friends in Dauntless or rekindling the magical energy of Azoria in Fae Farm, our worlds empower players to share enduring stories like never before. Around here, we believe people are the ends, not the means. It’s how we strive to be a destination for developers who wish to collaborate on making timeless games enjoyed by players all over the world.

Right now, we are looking for a Lead Character Artist with an eye for detail and a passion for finding the sweet spot between realism and exaggeration to create believable characters while avoiding the uncanny valley, to join one of our unannounced original IPs. In this role, you will use your talents to collaborate with our art team in the creation of characters and game-ready assets. You will help drive quality and accountability of characters to meet the visual goals of the project. 

The ideal candidate has a strong artistic background, passionate about creating high quality assets that help push the visual quality of our game worlds, and is a strong collaborator who is willing to solve a variety of production challenges.

Responsibilities:

  • As the Lead Character Artist, you will use provided concept art and references to create highly detailed character models and outfits
  • You will create high poly models, UV’s, in game topology, and textures to ensure high quality in game characters
  • You will monitor the needs of rigging, animation, and design to ensure clear characters in game
  • You will build and manage a team of Character Artists
  • You will provide direction to your team for aesthetic and technical considerations
  • You will work closely with the Art Director to keep quality and style consistent across all characters
  • You will help contribute to any documentation and style guides as well as provide feedback to external art partners
  • You will set quality standards and contribute to the studio character art community of practice to raise the bar of quality at the studio

Requirements: 

  • Several years experience as a Lead, Senior, or Principal Character Artist
  • Experience building, managing, and mentoring a team
  • Experience within the film, TV, or gaming industry
  • A strong portfolio demonstrating your character artwork to very high standards
  • A strong sensibility for appeal and design when it comes to character proportions and shape language
  • Solid understanding of realism and stylized anatomy, sculpting of clothing, and hard surface skills to achieve the visual look established by the art direction of the game
  • Ability and willingness to tackle technical problems and quickly learn new tools and workflows
  • Familiarity with Maya, Photoshop, and ZBrush

Who We Are

We make games because we love them, and we love the way they inspire us, bring us together, and enrich our lives. Our mosaic community of game developers is united by shared values and a desire to innovate and create new kinds of core, lifestyle, multiplayer games. Phoenix Labs has teams located in Vancouver (BC), Montreal, and San Mateo.  We offer relocation + visa sponsorship as needed.