Head (Face Likeness) Artist

Lakshya, a Keywords Studios company, is seeking a highly skilled Head (Face Likeness) Artist. This role involves creating high-quality, lifelike digital faces using scan data, sculpting, and advanced texturing. The artist will be responsible for refining 3D scan heads, developing realistic facial textures, baking texture maps, and ensuring accurate anatomy and likeness. Collaboration with rigging and character teams is essential to deliver production-ready assets optimized for facial blendshapes and animation.

Must Have

• Strong understanding of facial anatomy and proportions
• Experience with face and head scan cleanup and retopology
• Knowledge of creating realistic skin textures and material responses
• Proficiency in baking maps for high-to-low poly workflows
• Expert-level proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Substance Painter
• Strong knowledge of ZBrush, Maya/Blender
• Ability to interpret references and match likeness with high precision
• Create highly realistic face likeness models
• Refine 3D scan heads for production
• Develop and paint realistic facial textures
• Perform baking of texture maps for facial assets
• Collaborate with rigging teams for facial blendshapes and animation
• Maintain accuracy in anatomy, proportions, and likeness

Good to Have

• Experience with real-time game engines (Unreal Engine, Unity)
• Knowledge of shader setups for realistic skin materials
• Understanding of photogrammetry pipelines

Perks & Benefits

• Opportunity to work on some of the best-known game titles in the world
• Competitive salaries and annual performance-based bonuses
• Remote work opportunity for experienced artists
• Generous paid time off (26 Annual leaves and additional paid time off at the year-end)
• Term Insurance and Personal accidental insurance
• Free Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental and emotional wellbeing
• Special Education Assistance Scheme to further develop your career

Lakshya, a Keywords Studios company, in India is headquartered in Gurgaon and has a team of over 700 employees spread across studio facilities in Gurgaon, Pune and Seattle, and sales offices in San Diego and Tokyo. Setup in 2004, Lakshya has, over the last 20 years, created a reputation in the game development industry for being a highly talented and dependable game art studio. During this time, Lakshya has created art for over a hundred game titles, including hugely successful global hits such as Bloodborne, Dark Souls II, Just Cause 3, WWE 2K16, Uncharted 2, Farmville and Cityville. Lakshya’s senior team, which comprises of top-notch International and Indian talent, has a huge amount of experience of creating art for different game platforms and genres. Lakshya blends artistic creativity with strong process orientation in order to deliver best in class services. Lakshya works closely with NASSCOM to help in the growth of the game development eco-system in India.

For more info, please refer to https://lakshyadigital.com/

About the Role:

We are looking for a highly skilled Head (Face Likeness) Artist with a strong understanding of human facial anatomy and an excellent eye for realistic character detailing. The ideal candidate will be responsible for creating high-quality, lifelike digital faces using scan data, sculpting tools, and advanced texturing techniques. This role requires both artistic sensibility and technical expertise to ensure accurate likeness and production-ready assets.

Requirements

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Strong understanding of facial anatomy, proportions, and fine surface details.
• Hands-on experience with face and head scan cleanup, retopology, and detailing.
• Deep knowledge of creating realistic skin textures and material responses.
• Proficiency in baking maps for high-to-low poly workflows (normal, AO, curvature, etc.).
• Familiarity with blendshape workflows and facial deformation processes (plus point).
• Expert-level proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Substance Painter for texturing.
• Strong knowledge of industry-standard tools like ZBrush, Maya/Blender, Mari (optional).
• Ability to interpret reference images and match likeness with high precision.
• Excellent attention to detail and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced production environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Create highly realistic face likeness models based on scan data, photo references, or concept art.
• Work with 3D scan heads and refine them for production-quality modeling and texturing.
• Develop and paint realistic facial textures using advanced skin detailing techniques.
• Perform baking of texture maps (normal, displacement, cavity, AO, etc.) for facial assets.
• Collaborate with rigging teams and provide assets optimized for facial blendshapes and animation.
• Create and refine textures using Photoshop and Substance Painter.
• Maintain accuracy in anatomy, proportions, and likeness throughout the production pipeline.
• Work closely with the character team to maintain consistent quality and style.
• Troubleshoot technical issues related to models, textures, and shading.

Preferred Skills (Bonus)

• Experience with real-time game engines (Unreal Engine, Unity).
• Knowledge of shader setups for realistic skin materials.
• Understanding of photogrammetry pipelines.

Benefits

• We offer the opportunity to work on some of the best-known game titles in the world.
• We offer competitive salaries and annual performance-based bonuses.
• Experienced artists may get the opportunity to work remotely.
• We offer generous paid time off. You get 26 Annual leaves and additional paid time off at the year-end (from 25th December to 1st January).
• We cover Term Insurance and Personal accidental insurance for you.
• Benefit from our free Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental and emotional wellbeing.
• You can also avail our Special Education Assistance Scheme to further develop your career.
• … And a lot more!