Overview
ABOUT IMAGE ENGINE
Well known for our work on Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, Image Engine has gone on to create numerous incredible creatures, epic environments and extraordinary digital effects for a broad range of feature films! We are led by a team of creative and passionate individuals who are committed to furthering the art of visual storytelling, and helping our exceptionally talented crew to push the boundaries of artistic and technical achievement at our studio.
POSITION PURPOSE
The Senior Look Development Artist is responsible for delivering high quality assets in a quick and efficient manner. They will act as an example to and mentor junior artists and will deliver all tasks within the required timeframe. They will have practical experience in all areas of Look Development. Senior Look Dev artists will be able to apply briefing notes with minimal direction from team Leads or Supervisors. They will quality check all of their work and occasionally will assist the Leads to quality check the work of junior artists should the workload require it. Senior Look Dev artists will be complete all aspects of look development work on assets across multiple shows, and create high quality assets at varying levels of difficulty.
In addition, Senior Look Dev artists will assist the Leads and Asset Supervisor to flag issues, quality checks their work and occasionally they work of others. They will potentially assist in the Lead role on a short term basis in the event of an absence or production needs require it. They will participate in team meetings when necessary.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Create final look developed assets with minimal supervision and within the studio pipeline
Apply client notes to all assets with minimal guidance
Identify solutions and approaches to solve difficult assets without guidance
Communicate successes and challenges faced by the team to the Asset Supervisor
Process requests from other departments in the pipeline
Use time management skills to schedule meetings and tasks effectively
Manage time and resources to meet weekly targets
Write and/or modify custom Renderman shaders to realize the desired look for production integration
Define standard render passes
Assist in developing standard lighting rigs & setups for verifying aspects of look development
Work with our production team to most effectively schedule the work, including casting the work to the strengths of the individuals in the Look Dev team
Provide dailied versions for assigned tasks in an agreed upon time by your Supervisor/ Lead
Attend dailies, reviews, and team meetings as required
Work closely with Lead Lookdev Artist, Lead Lighting TD’s and supervisors to ensure that all assets work within the scope of lighting & color pipeline requirements
Work with a team of artists in a hands-on capacity to ensure technically and artistically proper implementation of look developed assets
Communicate with the R&D/ shader developer in order to ensure all necessary parameters and functionality are included in production shaders
Work closely with texture artists to create necessary texture maps for application to creatures, props and environments
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
5+ years’ of Look Development experience with high end film
Demonstrated proficiency in defining and creating photo-realistic assets
Experience with rendering large datasets
Thorough understanding of traditional art skills (Form, architecture, anatomy, topology, color theory) and how to apply those skills in a digital medium
Excellent attention to detail when finalizing, approving or quality controlling assets
Ability to balance quick turnaround while achieving a high degree of aesthetic quality
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Senior level experience in MEL / Python / C++
Proven Senior level experience in Maya
Experience with LINUX/UNIX
Ability to come up with creative and efficient rendering solutions
CORE SKILLS
Ability to help with bidding; determine the timeframe and scope required for each project
Ability to troubleshoot and deal with competing priorities and projects
Ability to take direction positively, work well within a diverse group, and thrive under the pressure of tight production deadlines
Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies and applications
Ability to teach new techniques and apply new approaches to push assets to the next level
Excellent time management and communication skills
