Job SummaryAnimax Designs creates extraordinary three-dimensional characters for the themed entertainment, location-based entertainment, commercial, film, and television industries. We are currently seeking a Character Art Manager, to work at our facility in Nashville, TN.
As the Character Art Manager, attention to what brings characters to life should both guide and influence your approach to our unique animation and design challenges. As part of our in-house creative team and supervised by Animax’s Creative Director, you will help turn beloved characters into real life animatronic and puppet figures for theme parks, live entertainment, and other location-based experiences.
The ideal candidate will be willing and able to take ownership over all digital creative aspects of a project. The candidate should be creative and detail-oriented, excel at problem spotting and problem solving, be able to manage, direct, mentor, and guide other artists on the creative team, and have an ability to quickly and effectively translate critiques into solutions in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Our unique workflow requires team members who can effectively navigate through multiple disciplines, from digital design, rigging, and animation to mechanical integration, 3D printing, and soft goods fabrication.
Qualifications
5+ years of relevant experience as a character artist, 3D modeler, or character animator
2+ years as lead artist or manager with demonstrated experience guiding/directing others
Experience in themed entertainment and robotics/animatronics strongly preferred
Essential Job Responsibilities
Manage Character Artists and Technical Animators through project lifespans
Develop processes for team, oversee quality of work product, and schedule/assign tasks
Work with technical design team, industrial designers, mechanical designers, and other team leads and managers to develop efficient interdepartmental design pipelines at all stages, from early concept work to final production parts
Give feedback and help develop & enforce proper internal asset management structure and naming conventions
Mentor team members, define expectations, and develop training/skill acquisition plans
Evaluate resource needs based on project pipeline, and work with Animax Human Resources & the
Creative Director to hire appropriate freelance, contract, or full-time talent
Additional Job Responsibilities
Act as first-line creative/aesthetic quality control for all digital assets, reviewing team members’ work and giving constructive instruction and feedback
Interact with Animax’s Creative Director and/or Art Directors to review and finalize client deliverables from the creative team
Translate digital assets provided by outside sources into workable models, including (but not limited to) retopologizing, rigging, texturing, and posing
Animate characters by making solid creative choices for physical movement on limited axes and at limited speeds
Create animatics and other media for internal review and client submittals
Produce and provide digital movement data to controls engineers and troubleshoot discrepancies
Help produce documentation as needed for various internal and external deliverables
Help design and produce 3D prints
Other duties as assigned
Preferred Skills
Proficiency with Maya & ZBrush required
Proficiency with the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects) preferred
Experience with SolidWorks or other CAD modeling software a major plus
Experience with 3D printing a plus
Ability/desire to quickly learn new software and develop tools to enhance workflow
Comfortability giving direction and critiques to others
Motivated team player that can work quickly in a deadline-driven environment with minimal direction
Organized, with good communication and time management skills
Ability to create clean and organized character topology
Knowledge of Maya rigging, skin weighting, and constraint systems and ability to create clean hierarchies
Ability to pose & sculpt characters
Knowledge of UV creation and layout methodology, with working knowledge of texture creation and shader types
Strong knowledge of animation principles with a focus on real world performance limitations
Flexible and adaptive to multiple modeling practices
Ability to repurpose high-resolution sculptures into usable polygonal and CAD based models