Sucker Punch Productions creates innovative games featuring award winning characters, artwork, and technology for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. Located on the outskirts of Seattle, this Bellevue based studio released the open-world superhero game inFAMOUS, which is rapidly turning into this summer’s must-have PLAYSTATION®3 game, with excellent reviews and solid footing at the top of the PS3 sales charts. Previously, Sucker Punch developed the Sly Cooper series of games—which have received IGDA and AIAS awards for “Original Game Character of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction.” Additional information can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.suckerpunch.com/.
The Lead Character Artist works with the Art Director and Creative Director to shape the design and appearance of characters in our forthcoming AAA title, then leads the team to realize that vision. This position emphasizes the ability to make a big impact doing character modeling and texturing, while leading a small characters team.
Responsibilities:
Collaborate with the Art Director, the Creative Director and other characters team members to develop the vision and artistic direction for characters and their gear.
Ensure consistent application of the artistic vision across the entire character modeling and texturing effort. Make sure the team meets a consistently high standard of quality. Provide clear and consistent feedback on the characters team’s work.
Create in-game character assets which set an inspirational quality bar for the other members of the characters team.
Work with the game design team to create characters that reinforce and amplify our game play goals.
Work with the Technical Directors and coding team to define new bits of technology that get us closer to our vision for the game’s characters.
Identify, categorize, prioritize and schedule the work of a small characters team. Develop, maintain and manage the work schedule for the team, working to identify and manage dependencies between the characters team and other teams.
Act as a coach and mentor for the other members of the characters team, working together to grow professionally.
Qualifications:
Must have shipped a game you’re proud of, and that we’re impressed by.
Must have at least three years of commercial game experience with a strong portfolio of in-game character artwork and 2D character design artwork.
Must have experience with Maya and Zbrush, creating high-quality normal-mapped characters. Equivalent experience in other 3D environments is acceptable.
Need to have strong 2D and texturing skills.
Should be aware of current urban style and street fashion.
Team management experience is a plus.
Qualities:
Must look forward to collaborating.
Must have strong communication skills.
Must be autonomous, responsible, organized and professional.
Must enjoy seeing the other members of the art team grow and succeed.
Must be a good coach and mentor.
Portfolio:
A portfolio review is required. We prefer web-based submissions, but will evaluate DVDs if necessary. Portfolio must show low-poly models with normal maps and textures, as well as renders of your high-poly models.
