Background Colour Artist

Cartoon Saloon, established in 1999 by Paul Young, Tomm Moore, and Nora Twomey, is a world renowned animation studio with five Academy Award® and two Golden Globe® nominations and many award wins including BAFTA® and Emmy®. Located in Kilkenny, Ireland, the studio produces brave and beautiful shorts, feature films, and TV series. Cartoon Saloon is the founder and host of Kilkenny Animated, an annual festival of visual storytelling incorporating exhibitions, talks and performances celebrating the creativity of the animation craft.

• Creation of fully painted backgrounds, following the style and technical guidelines established by the Art Director (s) and Background Supervisor
• Work closely with Background Supervisor to complete assignments and meet your weekly quota and deadlines as assigned by the Production Crew
• Ability to closely follow the brief provided by Background Supervisor
• Ability to take direction and respond well to notes from Background Supervisor
• Ensuring all backgrounds closely represent and are true to the style of the Location designs provided
• Ensuring consistency and continuity between backgrounds per established artwork;
• Completion of creative and technical revisions as requested by the Background Supervisor in addition to the background quota
• Adhering to the work flow structure of the project as requested by the Art Director (s) and Background Supervisor, including a clean and orderly delivery of assets and layers to the animation and compositing teams
• Open to share with the team processes and assets that could help with continuity and productivity
• To work cohesively within a team environment ensuring high levels of communication at all times
• To work under the supervision and guidance of the Art Director (s) , BG Supervisor and Production Manager
• To work with relevant Production Coordinator/s to ensure the status of your work is known, allowing them to track the progression of assets
• To deliver technically clearly named and well layered files to the compositing department following established protocols
• To attend departmental kick-off meetings and reviews as needed.
• Work according to the expected schedule
• Address any problems and communicate progress of work to the Supervisor and Coordinator
• Maintain well structured files and adhere to established layer and naming conventions.
• Work closely with the Director, Art Director and Production teams to complete assigned tasks
• Lead and guide the team, alongside Production, in developing solutions if limitations of schedule are flagged as a possible issue
• Maintain effective communication with all crew members
• Promote a good work ethic and positive atmosphere within the team
• Assist in keeping information relation to the projects confidential and secure
• Attend and contribute to relevant meetings and trainings as needed
• Be available on Google Chat and by emails during working hours
• This list is not exhaustive and might be complemented by reasonable and related tasks that are requested of you

• Minimum 2 years experience of 2D feature film/ high quality TV Series work experience as a BG Artist required
• Highly motivated and enthusiastic artist with strong drawing and painting skills
• Excellent sensibility to colour
• Highly capable of adapting colour script and scene illustrations to generate background paintings
• Excellent drawing skills and understanding of composition, colour and lighting.
• Excellent organisational and communication skills
• Ensure quality and style consistency with project
• Ability to meet deadlines as established by production management
• Ability to multitask and prioritise
• Strong team player, capable of motivating and leading teams with enthusiasm
• An ability to work collaboratively & efficiently in a fast paced quality driven team
• Knowledge of asset tracking and database software (such as Shotgrid) is a distinct advantage

Cartoon Saloon is an equal opportunities employer. Diversity and Inclusion are core to who we are, and we recognise the great value each one of us brings to the team. If you require an accommodation due to a disability with your application or recruitment process, please contact jobs@cartoonsaloon.ie and we will be happy to accommodate you as best as we can.

Please note this position requires the candidate to work full time in-house in Kilkenny, Ireland.

Please note that Testing can be a part of our selection process. If you reach that stage we will give you further details

Closing date for applications for this position is Thursday 15th May at 5pm