Animation artist job description

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with designers in creating new and exciting gameplay animations, adapting iconic Champions from League of Legends to Teamfight Tactics
• Bring arenas to life through interactive props and creatures
• Work with technical artists to optimize animation assets and iterate on animation rigs
• Give and receive feedback on internal and external animation work
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of League of Legends and Auto Battlers to ensure cohesion between the products

Required Qualifications:

• 3+ years of industry experience (or equivalent experience)
• Experience creating high-quality, stylized gameplay animations
• Demonstrated mastery of the animation principles and associated techniques, particularly posing, body mechanics, and storytelling
• Skills in 3D animation software, particularly Maya.
• Knowledge of Auto Battler genre, ideally League of Legends, as it pertains to game design, isometric content, and visual clarity
• Excellence in collaboration and communication

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working and communicating with several designers
• Strong communication skills both in and out of discipline
• Development experience creating animations within modern game engines (Unreal, Unity, etc)
• Familiarity with the League of Legends IP and skins universes
• Tools experience: have worked in several tools, pipelines, and game engines.
• Experience giving direction and delivering clear, constructive feedback to vendors

As a part of the application process, you will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of your work and may be asked to complete an art test.

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 benefits pages for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the
Summoner's Code
and
Community Code
. 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
thriving together
and our ongoing work to build the
most inclusive company in Gaming
. 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, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant's criminal history.

Lionheart Games is looking for an experienced 3D Animation/Rigging Artist (portfolio required; must work in Maya and experience with mGear is preferred ) with a strong desire to contribute to every creative aspect, and who knows what it means to take responsibility and deliver excellent results. You have the skills and knowledge to visualize how a game should look and feel, and you can translate that into a scalable and sustainable creative process.

Joining us means being part of a team with the passion and inherent drive to create innovative, high-performing games. We are intellectually curious and excited to apply the latest game development innovations to our projects. In this role, you will have the opportunity to be part of an entrepreneurial environment that embraces new and different ideas. Everyone at Lionheart Games is excited about creating the best anime games possible, and we empower one another to learn and grow from our collective experiences. All of this means more chances for you to unleash your ingenuity, energy, collaboration, and dedication.

Responsibilities

• Create rigs for bipeds, quadrupeds, and other creatures
• Strong ability to develop anime 3D movement for characters
• Export, import, and configure animations inside Unreal Engine 4
• Team up with non-art developers to build and improve our games, emphasizing results
• Understand and articulate art and design trade-offs; solve for best player experience
• Keep up to date with industry-related art developments and harness that knowledge for the benefit of our games and teams

Qualifications

• Anime-focused portfolio demonstrating your game-ready work in a matching art style
• Knowledge of animation content creation and in-game implementation, including rigging limitations related to mobile hardware
• Proficiency in rigging and animation in Autodesk Maya
• Great interpersonal skills; humility and respect when receiving comments from your team
• Passion for anime and mobile games

IMPORTANT : All applicants must be willing to take and pass a hardcore art test. Even if you have 10+ years experience in professional game development, we need to see what you can accomplish on your own in our target style.

Preferred

• 3D Animation+Rigging experience at a major game studio
• 3+ years of applicable games industry experience
• Experience creating and optimizing game art for mobile devices
• Unreal Engine 4 and/or mobile game development experience
• Bilingual: Mandarin, Korean, or Japanese (oral and written, fluent or professional only)