Art Jobs in Games


Are you about to start a career in games as an artist? There are so many job titles, it is a tad confusing. Have a look at this quick guide to find out about the most common art jobs in the games industry (not exhaustive).

Use Ctrl+F to search within the page!

Game Artist or Generalist Artist

  • A versatile generalist that is relatively good at anything art-related. Can do a bit of everything from 2D to 3D to Animation, but is not as strong as a specialist. Also gets hands-on implementing stuff into the game engine.

Animator

  • Animates characters or anything that moves and ends up in the game or in a cinematic.

  • Can be specialized by technique: 2D Animator, 3D Animator.

UI Designer

  • Designs the rules, behavior, look and feel of the User Interface. Relies a lot on usability testing to achieve intuitive and usable interfaces.

  • Is sometimes mistakenly called UX Designer, but the UX Designer focuses on the broader player experience throughout the entire game. UI is part of it obviously, but so is everything else.

UI Artist

  • A specialized UI Designer that solely focuses on creating and putting into motion UI visual elements (banners, HUD, buttons, icons, …).

VFX Artist

  • Designs any sort of visual effects that will be used in-game, such as explosions, fire, spells, … Anything that glows, sparks, shines, and looks cool.

Character Artist

  • Based on existing concept art, creates the actual characters that will be used in-game using 2D or 3D techniques.

Visual Development Artist

  • Works during pre-production alongside the Art Director to research, develop and establish the general art style and mood of the game.

Concept Artist or Concept Designer

  • Designs characters, props, environments, vehicles, anything that will end up in the game. Follows the established art direction.

  • These designs will then be sent to other artists down the pipe to create usable in-game assets.

  • Can also be specialized by subject matters: Character Designer, Vehicle Designer, Environment Designer, etc.

3D Artist

  • Versatile artist that creates any kind of 3D assets for in-game use.

Technical Artist

  • Supports the art team by creating handy tools and setting up processes for efficient and top quality assets creation and implementation.

Technical Animator

  • Supports the animators by creating handy tools and setting up pipelines for top-notch animation creation and implementation.

Character TD

  • Establishes pipelines and best practices to create characters and reach the highest quality possible, keeping the game performance in check.

  • TD stands for Technical Director even though this job is not at Director level. To be honest this is a bit confusing because Technical Director is a senior level role in the engineering department.

Lighting TD

  • Is in charge of lighting the environments using lighting techniques available in the game engine. Conveys emotions and awe to the player with use of lights, shadows, and atmosphere.

  • TD stands for Technical Director even though this job is not at Director level. To be honest this is a bit confusing because Technical Director is a senior level role in the engineering department.

3D Environment Artist

  • Specialized 3D Artist solely focusing on creating environments and world-building.

2D Artist

  • Creates a wide variety of 2D assets and visuals that will be used in-game.

Marketing Artist

  • Creates a wide variety of visual assets (illustrations, screenshots, ads, videos..) that will be used to market the game.

Art Director

  • Sets the visual direction and look and feel of the game and ensures it is maintained during the whole production.

  • Can also be a people manager in charge of the art department globally. That means hiring, mentoring, and being accountable for the performance of your team.

Lead Artist

  • Manages a subteam within a game, works alongside the Art Director to ensure art quality is properly set and maintained throughout the production.

  • Can be a specialized function lead and work with specialists: Lead Animator, Lead 3D Artist, Lead UI Designer, so on and so on.



Seniority TITLES

Contrary to popular belief, these DO NOT reflect years of service. They represent the evolution of your skills and influence.

They can vary accross companies. For management jobs (Director and Lead) they don’t always apply. You can’t be Junior Lead Artist for example.

Let’s have a look!


Intern

  • No experience, you observe, practice and learn.

Junior or Associate

  • First experience, you develop your skills.

Mid

  • Fairly experienced, with sufficient skills to be autonomous.

Senior

  • Highly experienced, you have expert level skills. You have influence within your team.

Principal

  • You reached master level skills, you are a role model and you have immense influence within your function and industry.