Senior Character Modeling Artist – Temp

Job Description :

Blizzards award-winning Cinematics Department has an open position for a Senior Character Modeling Artist to join our team and help contribute to our numerous pre-rendered cinematic projects.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA. However, we understand each persons circumstances may be unique and will work with you to explore other possible options, including remote work arrangements.

This is a 12-month temporary position.

What you bring to the table :

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities :

The Modeling Artist is responsible for creating AAA quality characters (both organic and / or hard surface) including weapons, costumes, and props of multiple visual styles (from photo-realistic to stylized) across all of Blizzards franchises. The applicant should be comfortable working within a small team environment and eager to work closely with other artists, production staff, TDs, and across departments to help achieve our collective goals on time, within budget and to the highest quality possible.

In the day-to-day, the artist will frequently work as the primary modeler on an asset, completing it from start to finish. In other instances, the artist may work side-by-side with another modeler, collaborating to steer the final look of the asset together, or assisting in the final publish for downstream departments. You may be working on a single cinematic or multiple projects at once.

The team thrives on teamwork and a growth mindset, actively pushing ourselves to learn new tools, techniques, software, and workflows to keep up with the evolving industry. All in all, we are looking for a hard-working artist who is as passionate and inspired as we are by the opportunity to create and bring new iconic Blizzard Cinematic characters to life.

Minimum Requirements

Experience

5 years of working on feature films (VFX or Animated) or pre-render Cinematic production experience as a character modeling artist, including hard-surface modeling and design skills

5 years of experience using current animation programs, such as Maya, Zbrush / Mudbox

Knowledge & Skills

Possess exceptional modeling and sculpting skills to create AAA-quality character assets of any style - from realistic humans / creatures and hard-surface robots to stylized cartoony characters

Capable of working from a variety of starting points - from concept art, a Previs model or library / game asset, or simply running with a freshly pitched idea

Partner across departments including Concepting, Previs, Rigging, Surfacing and Animation, as well as our Production and Tech teams to collaborate on creative solutions to address complex character pipeline issues while bringing assets to life

Thorough understanding of anatomy, form, proportions, shape language, design, and silhouette

Knowledge of current technical production pipeline standards for film / cinematic character asset creation including Sub-D modeling with high poly / low poly meshes, clean and optimized topology for animation, UVs and displacement map baking

Passionate and self-motivated to stay current of industry trends, software, techniques, and workflows regarding modeling and 3D asset creation

Key Attributes

Proactively communicate with our team of supervisors / producers / leads to creatively problem solve and shift priorities to maintain production deadlines, highlighting concerns along the way

Capacity to navigate the fast pace of Game / Cinematic production environments

Excellent communication, multi-tasking, troubleshooting and time management skills

Ability to filter and evaluate artistic feedback and adapt to changing production schedules on a professional level

Extra Points

Experience mentoring and providing artistic feedback, and / or leading projects to meet the demands of production schedules

Experience using 3ds Max, Blender, Wrap3D, Marvelous Designer, Roadkill or Rizom UV, current AAA Real-Time Game Engines (Unreal / Unity equivalent), Substance, Mari, Photoshop

Knowledge of FACS and the ability to create facial blend shapes and / or shot sculpting

Passion for Look Development and the presentation of your work

Possess a thorough understanding of current real-time PBR asset pipelines

Familiarity with the Blizzards IPs and associated lore

Familiarity with motion capture and character scanning pipelines

Your Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ : MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industrys most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush and Bubble Witch. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for Every World - weve got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for Every World - weve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including :

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.