Freelance Senior Character Hair

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 of our 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 Senior Hair (Groom) Artist to join our character art team. Your primary responsibility will be to create high-quality, realistic hair, hairstyles, beards, and fur for the 3D characters. You will work closely with Art Lead and other character artists to achieve an unparalleled level of visual fidelity.

The position involves collaboration on a freelance basis.

Responsibilities:

• 3+ years of professional experience as a 3D hair (grooming) artist or in a related job.
• Good knowledge of photorealistic game art.
• Create realistic hair, hairstyles, mustaches, 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 optimization.
• Collaborate closely with the character modeling team to ensure seamless integration of the groom with the character model.
• Identify and resolve grooming-related issues across projects.
• Optimization 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
• Communication in English

Required Skills:

• 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 organization, time management, problem-solving, and communication skills

As a plus:

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

We offer*:

• Flexible working format - remote, office-based or flexible
• A competitive salary and good compensation package
• Personalized career growth
• Professional development tools (mentorship program, tech talks and trainings, centers of excellence, and more)
• Active tech communities with regular knowledge sharing
• Education reimbursement
• Memorable anniversary presents
• Corporate events and team buildings

• Other location-specific benefits

• not applicable for freelancers