Freelance Middle Character Hair (Grooming) Artist

Founded in 2012, N-iX Games is one of the biggest game development and art production vendors in Ukraine, working with leading publishers and media enterprises around the globe. The team of 240+ professionals focuses on full-cycle game development, VR solutions, and content creation for all the most popular platforms. The studio has successfully collaborated with over 40 clients, including Paradox Interactive, Tempo Storm, Supermassive Games, and VRChat.

At N-iX Game & VR Studio, we strive to deliver AAA-quality work and are looking for exceptional talent to join us. If you are excited about the opportunity to collaborate and grow among passionate experts, we invite you to our team!

We are seeking an experienced Middle Hair (Groom) Artist to join us for a specific project. Your primary responsibility will be to create high-quality, realistic hair, hairstyles, and beards for the 3D characters. The position requires collaboration on a freelance basis.  

Responsibilities:

• Create realistic hair, hairstyles, moustaches, beards, fur, and other hair-based elements for in-game character models
• Work with both spline-based and hair-card-based grooming workflows, including creation, styling, and geometry optimisation
• Identify and resolve grooming-related issues across projects
• Optimisation of finished objects in accordance with the specified technical limitations
• Stay current with emerging technologies and trends related to grooming; share relevant information and knowledge with the team to ensure everyone is aligned
• Cooperate with other artists to streamline the art creation process
• Work with the producer to follow the plan and schedule

Required Skills:

• 2+ years of professional experience as a 3D hair (grooming) artist or in a related job
• Good knowledge of photorealistic game art
• Strong knowledge of artistic anatomy
• Strong knowledge of ZBrush, X-Gen (or similar), Maya, 3ds Max or Blender, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 5
• Experience with game engines, specifically Unreal Engine 5, and a solid understanding of real-time materials and lighting
• Good understanding of sculpting basics: proportion, shapes, color, and material
• Good understanding of composition and lighting
• Ability to rationally distribute polycount at the facility
• Knowledge of modern pipelines and technical limitations
• Familiarity with a game development cycle
• Strong portfolio showing 3D art skills, Ability to follow and correctly interpret the concept
• Understanding of modern pipelines and technical limitations for creating 3D models
• Good organisation, time management, problem-solving, and communication skills

As a plus:

• Character Artist background
• Experience working on shipped AAA titles
• Passion for games