Look Development Artist - Mid

Position: Look Development Artist - Mid

Hiring Range: $91,000 to $104,000/year for a 40 hour work week

Project Contract: July 2026 start

Company Benefits: Extended healthcare from day 1, premiums 100% covered by Image Engine, up to 8 paid Health and Wellness days per year.

*Candidates are required to be based in British Columbia and eligible to work in Canada*

ABOUT IMAGE ENGINE

Image Engine is a world-class VFX studio based in Vancouver, BC, that has built a reputation for excellence in the visual effects industry since 1995. We specialize in crafting stunning visual effects for feature films and television with an award-winning portfolio that includes The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, Game Of Thrones, Lost in Space, Jurassic World, and District 9.

We offer a full range of visual effects services, from concept designs and pre-visualization to CG animation, compositing, and explosive volumetric digital effects. Our crew is passionate about storytelling and pushing the artistic and technical boundaries to deliver the highest quality work on every project. R&D is central to our philosophy of driving creativity through innovation and we're committed to continually evolving our robust production pipelines.

At Image Engine, we value diversity and teamwork, and we're proud to foster a workplace culture that is supportive, respectful, and empowering. We believe that our success is a reflection of our exceptionally talented team, and we're always looking for passionate and dedicated individuals to join us on our mission to create unforgettable visual experiences. Join our team and be part of something extraordinary.

POSITION PURPOSE

The Mid Look Development Artist is responsible for delivering high quality assets across multiple shows in a quick and efficient manner. They will apply notes provided by the Asset Supervisors/Look Development Leads. They will manage their time effectively to ensure tasks are completed within the assigned timeframe and to the specifications required by Image Engine clients. They will identify and troubleshoot problems as needed and will ask for assistance when necessary to ensure effective use of time and resources. They will begin quality checking their own work and assisting Senior artists to develop new concepts and approaches to improve work quality. They will participate in team meetings when necessary.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Address your Lead’s feedback while providing solutions to improve the assets, and maintaining a high level of quality.
• Process requests from other departments in the pipeline
• Manage time and resources to meet weekly targets
• Write and/or modify custom Arnold/OSL shaders to realize the desired look for production integration
• Define standard render passes
• Assist in developing standard lighting rigs & setups for look development
• Provide dailied versions for assigned tasks in an agreed upon time by your Supervisor/ Lead
• Attend dailies, reviews & team meetings and participate as required
• Keep supervisors apprised of issues arising in pre-production and shot production and offer creative solutions to those issues
• Work closely with Lead Lookdev Artist, Lead Lighting TD's and Supervisors to ensure that all assets work within the scope of lighting & color pipeline requirements
• Work with a team of artists in a hands-on capacity to ensure technically and artistically proper implementation of look developed assets
• Communicate with the R&D/ shader developer in order to ensure all necessary parameters and functionality are included in production shaders
• Work closely with texture artists to create necessary texture maps for application to creatures, props and environments

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• 3+ years’ of Look Development experience with high end film
• Demonstrated proficiency in defining and creating photo-realistic assets
• Experience with rendering large datasets
• Thorough understanding of traditional art skills (Form, architecture, anatomy, topology, colour theory) and how to apply those skills in a digital medium
• Excellent attention to detail when finalizing, approving or quality controlling assets

• Ability to balance quick turnaround while achieving a high degree of aesthetic quality

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Technical skills

• Mid level experience in Python / OSL / Arnold
• Proven experience in Maya / Mari / Node based lighting and lookdev package ( Katana / Gaffer)
• Experience with Linux

Core skills

• Ability to troubleshoot and deal with competing priorities and projects
• Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies and applications
• Ability to push assets to the next level
• Excellent time management and communication skills