Senior Character Concept Artist

This is a hybrid/ onsite position.

For nearly 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of narrative, gameplay, and technology. Naughty Dog recently released The Last of Us Part II Remastered as well as a current generation remake of The Last of Us Part I for the PS5. We're also proud to say that The Last of Us Part I and Part II are now available for the first time on PC. Currently, we’re busy at the kennel working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and we'd love to find talented individuals to join us.  

Naughty Dog games have long been lauded for their evocative, character-driven stories and attention to detail. We are committed to innovation within our games and as such have curated some of the top creative and technically innovative minds in the industry. We welcome a diverse pool of candidates and believe that a broad range of cultural and life experiences contribute to the overall well-being and success of the studio and the titles we craft together. 

Naughty Dog is looking for a Senior Character Concept Artist to join our team in creating the next generation of award-winning story telling! You’ll be responsible for contributing to concept art and collaborating in creating compelling characters and creatures that fit seamlessly within the narrative-driven worlds we build. By working alongside other departments and disciplines to inspire, collaborate and develop artistic solutions! 
 

What you will do: 

• Collaborates with Art Director and Game Director to create characters, props, visual effects, production callouts, high vision concept art and other visual guides and tasks as needed 

• Create pivotal content and mood boards and quick iterative sketches and mood board briefings to inspire exciting theme directions for the Game Directors 

• Work with Design, Character 3D art, Animation and Rigging departments to discuss production needs, technical logistics and build artistic solutions 

• Collaborate with 3D Artists by providing extensive paint-overs and call-out sheets 

• Work with outsourcing to provide feedback on the concepts and 3D models 

• Help mentor other concept artists and animators and collaborate to bring their vision to life 

• Sets “quality targets” for new or existing properties 

• Drives innovation of new artist pipelines, or new standards to improve artist productivity 

• Manage Miro board and network folder to keep tabs on the latest concepts and help streamline the production 

• Strengthen intra and inter-team communication to ensure the highest fidelity results 

• Provides detailed and relevant feedback across a variety of creative materials 

• Extensive knowledge of the latest game development tools, techniques, and workflows and ability to share this with the team 

• Other creative duties as assigned 

What skills you will use: 

• Strong design skills with the ability to render realistic believable creatures, characters, mechanical characters and prop concepts using modern industry standard tools and techniques 

• Actively improve your skills and maintain an awareness of industry techniques, tools, evaluate competitive products, learning new software packages and traditional art methods 

• At least 6 – 8 years of experience as a concept artist, working on at least one AAA title 

• Great capacity to receive art direction and perform well within a team setting – collaboration is a fundamental building block of our team 

• Very strong portfolio showing high quality concepts that demonstrate compelling design, composition and storytelling 

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills 

• Strong organizational and project management skills 

• Keen eye and strong foundational art skills to include form, lighting, colors, and composition 

• Knowledge of working with various 3D packages, used in concept work and in collaboration with other departments 

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