Principal Environment Artist

Giant Skull is a new independent studio dedicated to building stunning single-player, gameplay-driven, action-adventures in captivating worlds. Our small team is composed of highly experienced and passionate developers, and we are building a new IP that we are incredibly excited about. We are just embarking on our journey, and we invite you to explore the opportunity of building something remarkable with us from the ground up.

The Role:

As a Principal Environment Artist you will create stunning game environments that immerse players in unique worlds. You will help establish quality bars for environments and collaborate to discover what is artistically possible. You will partner closely within interdisciplinary teams, help solve problems and improve processes, and execute on the creation of high quality landscapes, architecture, biomes, and more.

Impact and Ownership:

• You will create and iterate on high-quality environmental assets using a combination of 3D modeling, texturing, and other techniques
• You will collaborate with the art director, concept artists, and other environment artists to develop and iterate on visually compelling environments that align with the overall artistic vision
• You will collaborate closely with level designers to build environments that are gameplay-driven and enhance the player experience
• You will advise on and help maintain efficient workflows, tools, and processes for environment art production, ensuring high productivity and quality standards
• You will stay updated on industry trends, tools, and techniques, and explore new artistic styles and approaches to push the boundaries of visual storytelling in games
• You will participate in regular reviews and show-and-tells of environmental art assets, proactively seeking and sharing feedback to ensure they meet artistic, gameplay, and technical standards
  
  
  
  
  

Qualifications:

• You have 7+ years of experience as an environment artist in the game industry
• You have a strong understanding of environmental design principles, composition, lighting, and color theory. Your portfolio demonstrates high quality artistic and creative skills
• You have a keen eye for detail and a passion for creating visually stunning and immersive game environments
• You have extensive experience with 3D modeling and texturing software such as 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Design/ Painter, and Photoshop. You may have experience with tools such as Houdini, Gaia, World Generator, or other software, and ideally you have relevant experience with Unreal 5 Engine
• You have experience with environment art pipelines and workflows, and aim to build and deliver your work efficiently.
• You are team-focused and have excellent communication and collaboration skills. You prioritize doing what is best for the player experience and work in partnership with other disciplines such as level design, tech art, and engineering.
• You are a proactive problem solver, you take initiative to help drive improvements and make things better
• You value an open feedback culture and have the ability to give and receive constructive feedback. You have a learner’s mindset and leverage feedback and failures to grow and improve
• You may have experience contributing to level design or scripting
• You may have experience mentoring and growing artists to become stronger in their craft
  
  
  
  
  

Why Join Giant Skull:

• At Giant Skull you will work on exciting and ambitious gaming projects with a talented and passionate team of AAA veterans coming from studios such as Epic, Respawn, Rocksteady, Riot and others
• Our approach to game development is focused on inclusive teamwork as well as individual autonomy. We aspire for every team member at Giant Skull to feel their impact across the game, studio, and team - to freely contribute their ideas and feedback - and to make their mark on the game we create together
• We offer competitive compensation, access to cutting edge technology and resources to support your work, and opportunities for career growth as well as professional and personal development
• We value extending trust and choice to our team members. To help support each individual’s unique circumstances, we offer remote and hybrid work options as well as open PTO. Our developers have the flexibility and support to help ensure a healthy balance between their work and personal lives
• Your ultimate impact is unconstrained by your focus areas. You will have the opportunity to shape not only the game we are making but the foundation of our studio and development cultures, best practices, team collaboration, and beyond
• We are deeply committed to creating and nurturing an inclusive, diverse workplace where all team members feel valued and respected
  
  
  
  
  

We are a hybrid studio with a physical space in Encino, California. Our target base salary range for this position is 150k to 250k. Base salary doesn't tell the whole story, we also have a bonus plan and other benefits, and the salary range may expand based on experience and location. We are happy to discuss more about compensation at Giant Skull during our interview process.