Lead Concept Artist - EA Sports NHL

EA SPORTS NHL has revolutionized sports gaming for millions of players worldwide. We’ve pioneered award-winning creative technology and experiences to connect players to the speed, skill, and heart of the NHL.

The EA SPORTS NHL franchise is founded on passion and new ideas. Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, the team is composed of diverse talent dedicated to creating on-ice experiences that connect gamers around the world through play. If you're a creative pioneer with a passion for your craft, this will be more than a job. It’ll be what you love

Role Overview

As a Lead / Sr. Concept Artist, you will create amazing concept art that fuels the project. You will be a cornerstone of the art team and lead the concept department. You will partner with all the creative leaders and help bring to life our characters and the events that support them. You have great communication skills and eager to work in a collaborative environment guided by art goals and pillars

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the producer and directors regarding the vision for the project
• Focus on Fantastical characters rooted in Hockey.
• Create a cast of believable characters within immersive game environments.
• Create Production ready character concepts
• Drive A.I. Concept development.
• Work with the art team and give them aesthetic solutions through paint-overs.
• Confidently iterate using A.I.and freely manipulate the results with traditional digital painting methods.
• Support the Art Director in the style guide and feedback processes.
• Work with OS partners in a collaborative manner, delivering relevant feedback and direction.

Required Qualifications

• Strong traditional Art skills including Drawing and Painting (digital and traditional).
• Graphic design skills. Create Logos, layout fonts.
• Ability to create images from written briefs
• Understanding of visual language - texture, colour, dimension, scale, perspective, shade, composition, depth of field, proportion, spatial awareness.
• Use traditional & technological approaches for creating designs in either a 2D or 3D environment
• Skilled in Photoshop, Firefly, Substance Painter
• Experience working within game engines.
• 6+ years of concept artist experience, including some years in the gaming industry
• Create concepts from scratch and create color studies
• Create concepts/explorations at different quality outputs, from sketches to final key art
• Character, Environmental and component ideation and design
• Traditional illustration skills in multiple media and excellent drawing skills.
• An understanding of Hockey would be a plus.