Animation Artist

Job Description

Animation Artist - Unpublished Fighting Game

As a member of the Animation team, you bring champions to life through classic animation principles and body mechanics. You will create high quality animations for a diverse and growing universe, including bipeds, quadrupeds, and creatures. A great reel will showcase a variety of walk cycles, a diverse selection of game-related animation, and a foundation in the principles of animation, including weight, anticipation, and impact. Also working to expand our current content pipeline, you will collaborate with designers and artists to develop new features and technologies. Your craft expertise will breathe life into iconic and beloved characters for players.

As an Animation Artist II on Project L, you will own gameplay animation from early champion development to final release, and create animations that fit our project's established style. Your experience as a combat animator and understanding of the fighting games space will allow you to translate the gameplay and thematics of League of Legends champions into the fighting game medium. You will report to the Animation Lead.

Responsibilities:
• Create animation assets that communicate gameplay mechanics for iterative gameplay prototypes
• Work with the design team to create compelling and competitive gameplay.
• Reference League of Legends characters and recognize opportunities to enhance gameplay through champion expression and animation
• Meet project deadlines promptly without compromising artistic integrity

Required Qualifications:
• 3+ years of professional experience working in animation
• 3+ years of professional experience working in Maya
• Experience working with combat designers
• A portfolio including strong examples of melee combat animations in a shipped AAA game.

Desired Qualifications:
• Familiarity with Unreal or relevant game engines
• Strong sense of game design and gameplay with an emphasis on melee combat.
• Experience working in pre-vis and storytelling animation

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!

As a part of the application process, you will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of your animation 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.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rjnjbb-18-226-222-12-42 in your application.