Senior Level Artist

Senior Level Artist 

Would you like to work on some of the greatest franchises in gaming history? What about working on our new original IP? Certain Affinity is a game developer in Texas, based out of Austin, and we have a growing presence in Toronto, Canada. Our culture reflects the values and the vibrant nature of the cities we call home. This includes a commitment to evolution, diversity, excellence, and work-life balance. We are also excited to be a recipient of the Canadian Studio of the Year award (https://www.certainaffinity.com/certain-affinity-toronto-studio-wins-studio-of-the-year-award-from-the-canadian-game-awards-2021/). We're best known for co-developing numerous AAA FPS games, though now we are creating compelling new games of our own. We're always on the lookout for amazing talent to join our team.

As a Senior Level Artist at Certain Affinity, you’ll work with a small team of environment artists, creating highly detailed game environments and world assets. You’ll have opportunities to create and visually perfect an environment as well as working closely with the design team to enhance the gameplay experience.
 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Ensure consistency and quality of own work and able to match current established standards and production timelines
• Creatively work with the Art Director and the rest of the World Team in technical/aesthetic problem-solving efforts
• Proactively gather feedback and consistently apply the feedback to current and future tasks, building a strong and diverse set of skills along the way.
• Set Dress environments including: asset placement, terrain painting, foliage, blueprint, etc
• Able to take a portion of a level from blockout to content complete using new and pre-existing library of content
• Understand performance requirements for environments and able to understand potential tradeoffs between art, gameplay and perf
• Work across disciplines to achieve project goals while also finding opportunities to push the visuals and storytelling
• Able to take complex 3D assets and world-building content from beginning to end and create final quality art
• Represent workflows and areas of content professionally in interactions with partners
• Mentor more junior artists in quality and technique

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE:

• 4+ years experience in game industry, specifically modeling and texturing environments
• Experience using Unreal Engine or other proprietary editors, software and tools
• Experience establishing and driving new workflows for content creation
• Shipped 2+ titles as an environment artist
• Experience mentoring other artists

Plusses:

• Experience managing, scheduling, critiquing work for multiple artists
• Shipped 1+ AAA title in last 3 years

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Strong foundation knowledge in traditional arts, including but not limited to: graphic design or illustration, life drawing, environmental and/or architectural illustration or similar.
• Solid understanding of color theory, and be able to create balanced & appealing color palettes through lighting, texturing and material work
• Demonstrated grasp of scale, proportion lighting and form
• Solid understanding of the aesthetics of environment, function vs. form relationships, as well as what makes a game level fun and engaging
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills to bridge the gap between art, design, and tech.
• Ability to work within a style and effectively communicate to the rest of the team
• Expert level knowledge of MAX, Maya, or other 3D software package
• Proficient with Z-Brush or other high resolution sculpting tools
• Experience using proprietary editors, software and tools or other similar experience
• Solid grasp of performance requirements and constraints of current generation console and PC development
• Understanding of the construction and application of PBR materials and material software such as Substance Designer
• Excellent understanding of art pipelines and workflow
• Easily manages time constraints and multiple priorities
• Must be able to demonstrate a proactive attitude when it comes to problem solving, communication and project support
• Can initiate visual direction without specific concept or design

Salary Range: $85K-$100K CAD

- Ensure consistency and quality of work, meeting production timelines. - Collaborate with Art Director and World Team for technical/aesthetic problem-solving. - Proactively gather and apply feedback. - Set dress environments including asset placement, terrain painting, foliage, and blueprint. - Take a level from blockout to content complete using new and existing content. - Understand performance requirements for environments and tradeoffs between art, gameplay, and performance. - Work across disciplines to achieve project goals and push visuals/storytelling. - Create final quality 3D assets and world-building content from beginning to end. - Represent workflows professionally with partners. - Mentor junior artists in quality and technique. - 4+ years experience in the game industry, specifically modeling and texturing environments. - Experience using Unreal Engine or other proprietary editors, software, and tools. - Experience establishing and driving new workflows for content creation. - Shipped 2+ titles as an environment artist. - Experience mentoring other artists.