Senior Environment Artist

This is a Full Time Job

Member Summary

Quick Summary (full description below):
Sony Pictures Imageworks is seeking a versatile Senior Environment Artist to create 3D environments and matte paintings for high-end VFX and animated projects. This role involves collaborating with CG and VFX supervisors and contributing to the development of environment tools and workflows.

- Salary: $45.34 to $65.10/hr
- Workplace Requirements: Vancouver, BC, CA or Montreal, QC, CA
- Years of Experience Required: 5+ years in VFX or animated feature films
- Education Requirements: Bachelor's degree or higher in Art, Illustration, Architecture, Design, Computer Graphics, or equivalent
- Hard Skills Required:
- Proficiency in Houdini, including VEX & HScript
- 3D modeling & UVing
- Texture painting, look development, and shading
- Matte painting
- Experience with Nuke, Katana, Photoshop, Arnold, and various other industry tools
- Soft Skills Required:
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills
- Ability to manage workload independently
- Proactive problem-solving abilities
- Preferred Skills/Experience:
- Experience with both animated and live-action VFX projects
- Proficiency with Unreal Engine
- Scripting skills (Python, VEX, HScript)

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Full Posting

Vancouver, BC, CA or Montreal, QC, CA

Senior Environment Artist

Sony Pictures Imageworks is looking for an experienced, versatile Senior Environment Artist to join our growing Environments team at our Vancouver or Montreal studios.

As an Environment Artist, you will use a flexible generalist workflow to create highly detailed 3D environments and matte paintings for a diverse range of high-end VFX and animated projects. You must be an accomplished matte painter as well as a generalist, ideally with experience in animated projects. This role is ideal for an experienced senior artist with aspirations to become a lead; you will be mostly flying solo on a smaller, tight-knit but fairly long-running animated project.

What you'll be doing:

Production:

- Collaborate with your CG and VFX Supervisors to achieve the creative vision of the client and the technical requirements of the Show.
- Create complete, render-ready 3D environment assets for downstream consumption by lighting teams.
- Create matte paintings to integrate with both your own 3D environments and those of the main asset pipeline.
- Help establish best practices and follow them, providing an example for the rest of the team.

Studio:

- Contribute to the testing of Environments tools, pipelines, and workflows.
- Participate in show post-mortems and work to carry over the solutions identified in them to future projects.

Leadership:

- Model and foster a culture of professional excellence based on trust, candor, and respect.
- Help inspire and motivate the team.
- Actively support the professional growth of your peer artists by participating in mentoring, training, and other initiatives.

Collaboration & Communication:

- Develop collegial partnerships with peer artists to find solutions and compromises for technical and creative challenges.

What we need to see:

- Bachelor's degree or higher in Art, Illustration, Architecture, Design, Computer Graphics, or equivalent.
- 5+ years of relevant experience in VFX or animated feature films.
- Good understanding of fundamental visual principles, including perspective, composition, form, value, and color.
- Skill and experience in a broad mix of the following areas is required to function well as an independent artist:
- Modeling & UVing (especially hard surface, landscape & foliage)
- Texture painting and mapping
- Look development and shading
- Dressing & scattering of 3D environments
- Matte Painting
- Production experience in the use of Houdini as an environment generalist is essential.
- Basic familiarity with VEX & HScript needed.
- Hands-on production experience with a broad mix of applications is desired:
- Nuke
- Katana
- Photoshop
- Arnold
- Speedtree
- Maya, Max, Modo or similar
- Gaea, Terragen, World Machine or similar
- City Engine
- ZBrush, Mudbox or similar
- Substance Designer
- Substance Painter or Mari
- Shotgrid or similar

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

- Prior experience on both Animated and live-action VFX projects.
- Experience with Unreal Engine.
- Proficiency with scripting languages such as Python, VEX, HScript, etc.

Personal Qualities we’re looking for:

- Highly organized, able to efficiently manage your own workload with minimal oversight.
- A proactive problem-solver, addressing roadblocks as they occur.
- A good communicator, able to interpret creative notes reliably and engage in productive discussions with peers and leadership.
- Willing to freely contribute your expertise and experience to help your peers.
- Always learning new skills and techniques.
- A natural collaborator, proactively reaching out to artists to find solutions.
- Calm under pressure, setting an example for the rest of your team.

Compensation:
The anticipated base salary for a Senior position is $45.34 to $65.10/hr. Benefits include healthcare, tuition reimbursement, RRSPs, sick and vacation leave, and standard increases as applicable. The actual base salary offered will depend on various factors, including the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location of the position.

Please note that you must be able to provide a demo reel that illustrates your relevant artistic and technical experience that also includes the nuances for this specific role.