Character Artist : Materials and Customisation

At Rockstar Games, we create world‑class entertainment experiences.

A career at Rockstar Games is about being part of a team working on some of the most creatively rewarding and ambitious projects to be found in any entertainment medium. You would be welcomed to a dedicated and inclusive environment where you can learn, and collaborate with some of the most talented people in the industry.

Rockstar North’s looking for a Character Artist with specific knowledge and experience of real‑time creative pipelines, and who has a proven track record working with Materials and Parameterized Customisation systems on AAA titles. They will have a passion for working in a specialised team setting - helping create humans, creatures, clothing and accessories to the highest visual standards.

This is a full‑time, permanent and in‑office position based in Rockstar’s state‑of‑the‑art game development studio in Edinburgh, Scotland.

• We design, create and populate the world with the people and creatures that bring the story and play to life, for both our story‑driven and online game worlds.
• Our characters are the embodiment of the player’s experiences and their interactions when they play - how they look, feel and interact with other living things.
• We design in‑deep customisation and functionality to character assets for the game’s specific needs.
• We work with a broad range of digital tools for sculpting, modelling and texture painting, with fundamental basis in observational art creation and an explicit attention to detail.
• We use other technical tools for cloth simulations, photogrammetry and physically based shader pipelines to help us create believable characters.
• You’ll join a global team setting high standards across all of our projects, who have an exacting production focus and an obsession for getting the minutiae right.

• Work within the Character Art asset creation pipeline for all our global titles.
• Work with Art Direction and Leadership Team to achieve creative and production goals whilst working under your own initiative.
• Work with the Character and Technical Art teams to create balanced, pragmatic and timely solutions to all related technical and aesthetic issues.

• 3+ years of development experience, having shipped AAA console titles as part of a character art team.
• A comprehensive portfolio showing final art 3D character assets - ideally created as part of a specialised development team - highlighting specific abilities in the representation of realistic surfacing treatments on clothing, accessories and skin, and other current‑generation technical character features.

• Extensive experience and understanding of material pipelines, including material generation using Substance Designer and Substance Painter.
• A deep knowledge of the utilisation of tiled texture inputs to achieve high resolution assets at runtime.
• Experience in creating and organising the art and assets that facilitate the asset creation and subsequent customisation of characters in editor tools.
• Has a detail‑obsessed eye for creating and manipulating texture maps and surface patterns, and excellent understanding of the value of UV space.
• A full understanding of all current generation production workflows as they pertain to character art asset production - including an understanding of P  / Lighting pipelines, shader tools and technical shader approaches.
• Ability to work with bespoke engine toolsets, defined asset workflows, and contribute to overall character department goals and working practices.
• Positive, solution‑oriented individual with a passion for making great game art in a team setting.
• Self‑motivated and flexible, with excellent communication skills.
• Prioritises consistent delivery of high‑quality Character art to meet goals.

Please note that these are desirable skills and are not required to apply for the position.

• A keen understanding of the human body and facial anatomy; creature anatomy; asset form, structure and silhouette in respect of economical and appropriate modelling for game target assets and polycounts.
• A keen interest and passion for clothing, worn accessories and garment construction…