Associate Character Artist

📋 Description

• • Shape the faces, armor, creatures, and heroes that millions of players will remember forever. As an Associate Character Artist at Turtle Rock Studios, you will sit at the intersection of concept, design, and engineering, translating bold 2D sketches into fully-realized 3D characters that feel alive in our next AAA cooperative shooter. Every silhouette you sculpt, every texture you paint, and every joint you weight directly influences how players emotionally connect with the game world.
• • Own the end-to-end creation of stylized-to-realistic characters, from initial block-out in ZBrush or Maya through final in-engine polish in Unreal Engine 5. You will start with loose concept sheets and turn them into production-ready assets that hit memory budgets, performance targets, and the high visual bar set by Back 4 Blood and Evolve. Expect to iterate rapidly with concept artists, animators, and tech art to ensure every fold of cloth, scar, or piece of gear tells a story.
• • Collaborate daily with a cross-discipline strike team that includes riggers, animators, VFX artists, and designers. You will participate in daily stand-ups, weekly art reviews, and playtests where your characters are evaluated not just for beauty but for gameplay clarity. Your feedback loop is immediate: see a creature you modeled get mauled by four players in a test build the same afternoon you finish the sculpt.
• • Master and extend our proprietary character pipeline. We use a mix of industry-standard tools—Maya, ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, Marvelous Designer—and custom Python/Houdini workflows for cloth, hair, and facial blend-shapes. You will be expected to document your process, suggest pipeline improvements, and occasionally write simple scripts to shave minutes off repetitive tasks, multiplying your impact across the entire art team.
• • Optimize assets for both current-gen consoles and high-end PC without sacrificing artistic intent. You will create LODs, author efficient UVs, and balance texture resolution so that a 12-foot boss looks stunning up close and still runs at 60 fps when twenty of them flood the screen. Proficiency with Unreal’s Nanite and Lumen systems is a plus, but we will train the right candidate who shows strong fundamentals.
• • Contribute to the visual development of new enemy factions, hero archetypes, and cosmetic variants. You will join early blue-sky brainstorms, pitch silhouettes and mood boards, and then prototype 3D looks that can be green-lit for full production. Your voice matters: junior artists regularly pitch designs that ship in final titles.
• • Maintain the highest standards of anatomy, proportion, and material definition—even when stylized. Whether you are sculpting a grizzled veteran’s weathered face or a grotesque alien queen, you will reference real-world anatomy and material scans to ground fantasy in believability. You will also uphold our inclusive character standards, ensuring body types, ethnicities, and gear reflect the diverse player base we serve.
• • Provide mentorship and receive it in equal measure. You will pair with senior artists for weekly one-on-one critiques, present your work in monthly studio-wide art shares, and eventually mentor interns. Growth is baked into our culture: every shipped character raises the studio’s collective skill bar.
• • Participate in live service content cycles. After launch, you will shift to creating new skins, bosses, and heroes on a seasonal cadence. The turnaround is faster, but the visibility is huge—your work will headline trailers, store pages, and community showcases watched by millions.
• • Embrace the freedom of remote work without losing the camaraderie of a tight-knit studio. We use Slack, SyncSketch, and Unreal’s multi-user editing to stay connected across time zones. Monthly virtual sculpt-offs, optional in-person sculpt jams in Lake Forest, CA, and annual team retreats keep the creative spark alive.