Environment Outsource Artist (All Levels)

The ideal candidate would be a hardworking artist who is able to connect with the internal team and outsource partners, including detailing existing pipelines, collecting or crafting quality bar and technical example assets, collecting photo reference, crafting asset block outs, creating simple paint overs, packaging all files to send off to the external artists, reviewing external artist deliveries, integration of assets into the game engine and final polishing of assets. 

Responsibilities: 

• Work with the Art Director and Art Leads to establish visual direction and quality bar for our external partners 
• Communicate cross-discipline with artists, level designers, game designers, and production to understand needs and goals of assets being built externally 
• Collect or generate detailed documentation, video reference, and examples of art asset production, procedures, and engine requirements to support the external partners 
• Clearly presenting feedback to the external partner, and ensuring those creative notes and goals are met 
• Advising leadership of asset production progress and call out any production, quality, or scheduling issues 
• Provide prototype meshes with accurate scale and pivot placement, with understanding of the technical constraints, including vert count management, material setup, and PBR texture creation 
• Evaluate effort estimations to ensure work days are in-line with current project schedules 
• Build and/or modify existing assets as necessary, may be required to build both hard surface and soft bodied assets from scratch 
• Set Dressing: This includes placement of objects for both aesthetic and gameplay purposes; ideally should have an understanding of environmental storytelling 
• Test levels in-game and assess both aesthetics and performance in Unreal 

Requirements & Skills: 

• Completed work on several published AAA game titles preferred 
• Experienced shipping production assets for games, specifically within the Environment subject area 
• Professional understanding of tool suites such as: Photoshop, Substance Designer/Painter, Zbrush, Maya, Perforce and Unreal 
• Experience working with external outsource partners 
• Understanding of in-game art asset creation including hard surface props, soft rigid assets such as clothing items, vehicle, weapons, etc. 
• (Bonus) Experience with set dressing within a game engine (Unreal, Crytek, or proprietary) 

Qualities: 

• Excellent foundations skills, including composition, design, and color theory 
• Ability to find creative solutions for technically exciting tasks 
• Ability to critique, mentor, and improve art through written feedback loops 
• Experienced working within a team and a high pressure production environment