Lead Surfacing Artist

For more than 35 years, Bardel Entertainment has led the animation industry through unwavering commitment to quality, creativity, and innovation. We are an internationally recognized, Emmy Award®-winning studio - in two prominent Canadian cities, Vancouver and Montreal - and the creative force behind top audience hits such as The Dragon Prince, Rick and Morty, Teen Titans Go, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

What You’ll Be Doing
- Provide leadership and mentorship to a team of Surfacing Artists, ensuring high-quality output aligned with project goals.
- Create textures and build shading networks for CG characters and props, this could include working with grooms
- Oversee the creation and integration of surfacing, ensuring they align with both artistic direction and technical requirements.
- Review team submissions and provide clear, actionable feedback to facilitate timely and effective iteration.
- Create templates to optimize workflows and share with other artists.
- Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues related to Surfacing to ensure a smooth production flow.
- Maintain and support existing Surfacing setups and ensure consistency across the animation.
- Communicate proactively across departments and ensure alignment with project leads on technical and aesthetic goals.
- Engage in dailies, rounds, and team discussions to provide feedback and contribute to creative and technical improvements.
- Adhere to established pipeline workflows and ensure deliverables meet production and technical standards.
- Mentor Surfacing artists, offering guidance, feedback, and career development support.
- Meet and maintain project deadlines consistently while managing team resources effectively.
- Communicate progress, challenges, and solutions clearly with the production team and supervisors.
- Balance quality and efficiency under tight deadlines and changing project needs.

**Requirements**:
Previous production experience as a Surfacing Artist (or similar) in animation.
- Experience in a lead position, preferably on fully animated production
- Strong experience in Substance, Mari and Photoshop
- Experience doing lookdev with Katana and Renderman is appreciated
- Experience with lighting and lookdev in Blender is a plus
- Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills with proven team collaboration and leadership.
- Demonstrated ability to manage and mentor a team of artists.

A portfolio that demonstrates:

- a high level of detail and surfacing craftsmanship across a diverse range of characters and environments, with a preference for stylized work using Mari, Substance and Photoshop
- Strong eye for light, shade, color, and detail in creating materials and textures.
- Understanding of industry-standard workflows, UV layouts, and optimization.
- Ability to create textures from reference.
- Experience in Blender a plus, particularly with Shading and Lighting
- Experience with fur and hair shading is a plus.

**Benefits**

**Pay Range**: CAD $1700 - $1900 per week

This salary range provided reflects our current expectations for these roles as of this posting’s date. Your final salary offer will consider various key factors, including your education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographical location, as well as the needs and requirements of the business.

Flexible work environment, Extended Health and Wellness from day 1, RRSP matching are just some of the benefits. For more details, check out our website.

**At Bardel, we recognize that flexibility is key to doing great work.** Our hybrid work environment is a valued perk designed to support individual accountability and empower our teams to work where they’re most productive. We offer the choice to work remotely, balanced with intentional in-person time for collaboration, creativity, and team building. **This role requires in-studio attendance at our Vancouver studio during onboarding and quarterly Rush Weeks.