Senior 3D Character Artist - League of Legends, Cosmetics

As a Senior Character Artist at Riot, you will be tasked with bringing the iconic League champions into alternate worlds and new thematics by creating and texturing high and low poly models. You will work on diverse champions in worlds with a wide range of aesthetics like Arcane, Project, Star Guardian and Soul Fighter as well as brand new thematics. Your sculpting skills, artistic eye, and deep understanding of anatomy, form, and color will be pivotal to character creation. Working within technical and design constraints, you'll apply your knowledge of proportions, anatomy, and readability to optimize models for in-game performance and clarity. Your expertise in hand-painted textures will be crucial in capturing the League of Legends style. Through your craft mastery, high-quality execution, and attention to detail, you’ll enhance the immersive experience for players.

As a Senior Character Artist on Cosmetics, you will report to the Art Lead. You'll be a part of a team working with different disciplines focused on creating characters that will both surprise and delight players. You will participate in craft review sessions and give/receive feedback on the work. 

Responsibilities:

• Utilize your anatomy and shape knowledge to interpret and elevate concept designs into 3d final game assets optimized for specific viewing angles.
• Understand and adhere to League of Legends technical requirements to create low poly assets that are optimized for deformation and animation while taking into account technical and design constraints such as poly count, texture memory limits, and topology.
• Blend your painting skills and knowledge of color, light, value and texture with textures baked from a sculpting workflow into our iconic League of Legends hand-crafted texture style. 
• Utilize your knowledge of programs like Substance Painter and Marmoset Toolbag to generate current gen deliverables and characters.
• Guide internal and external artists by providing clear and constructive feedback on Topology, sculpts, and textures to hit product quality standards, uphold style guide principles, and level up craft growth.
• Communicate with various other disciplines to ensure all assets are performant.
• Engage in multi-disciplinary production environments to understand champions requirements and help development of Industry leading skins to players.
• Work with Production and Subject-Matter-Experts to improve upon efficiency of process and pipeline.
• Support documentation of best practices to create onboarding materials and style guides.
• Consistently embody and uphold our company values in every aspect of your work and interactions.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years’ experience in the video games industry as a character artist working in multiple pipelines and game engines.
• Knowledge of human anatomy, form, and color theory.
• Experience working with modeling, sculpting, and texturing programs such as Maya, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, ZBrush, Photoshop, and 3DCoat.
• Experience in creating high quality, stylized 3D character art.
• Demonstrated ability to create hand painted stylized characters through past professional or personal work samples.
• Demonstrated ability to provide clear and concise communication when providing and receiving feedback.
• Experience working and communicating with multiple disciplines to find creative solutions and hit production goals.
• Growth Mindset towards learning and developing as an artist.
• Familiarity with the League of Legends IP and skins universes
• Development experience creating PBR assets and textures within modern game engines (Unreal, Unity, etc)
• Experience sharing workflow/process knowledge and delivering clear, constructive feedback.

Desired Qualifications:

• Pre-production development experience
• Willingness to Travel for Training and/or Mentoring opportunities.
• Passion for games and creating rich player experiences

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the and . Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of and our ongoing work to build the .

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.