Senior Character Artist - Realistic Heads

About the Position

Senior Character Artist - Realistic Heads

Lakshya, a Keywords Studios company, is a highly talented and dependable game art studio based in Gurgaon, India. With over 700 employees across various locations, Lakshya has created art for over a hundred game titles, including global hits like Bloodborne, Dark Souls II, and Just Cause 3. We blend artistic creativity with strong process orientation to deliver best-in-class services.

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Character Artist - Realistic Heads who can create ultra-realistic human head models with precise likeness. This hands-on production role requires strong artistic fundamentals, deep anatomical knowledge, and a strong technical understanding of modern texturing and hair workflows.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality 3D human head models with accurate likeness using reference images or scan data.
• Sculpt detailed facial forms based on a strong understanding of human anatomy, bone landmarks, and skin surface structure.
• Use Texture XYZ maps and high-end texturing workflows to produce realistic skin textures.
• Work with scan heads, photogrammetry data, and refine them into clean production-ready meshes.
• Bake clean, production-quality maps (Normal, AO, Curvature, Cavity, etc.) for real-time engines.
• Perform hair cards placement for realistic head grooming, ensuring proper flow, breakup, and density.
• Collaborate with modelling, rigging, texturing, grooming, and animation teams to ensure smooth integration of assets.
• Optimize assets for real-time engines (Unreal Engine, Unity) without losing quality.
• Maintain high artistic standards and meet production deadlines.

Requirements

• Excellent understanding of human anatomy, especially facial structure, proportions, and muscle groups.
• Proven ability to match realistic or stylized head likeness with high accuracy.
• Strong experience using Texture XYZ maps and scan-based workflows.
• Good understanding of hair cards creation and placement for real-time characters.
• Expertise with ZBrush for sculpting.
• Strong knowledge of Substance Painter, Mari, and Photoshop for texturing.
• Experience working with 3D scan clean-up and photogrammetry.
• Understanding of PBR workflows and map baking pipelines.
• Experience with real-time engines (Unreal/Unity).
• Strong attention to detail and passion for realism.
• Ability to take feedback and iterate quickly.

Nice to Have

• Experience in AAA game development.
• Knowledge of blendshapes and facial rigging basics.
• Familiarity with grooming tools (XGen, Ornatrix) is a plus.

We Offer

• Opportunity to work on some of the best-known game titles in the world.
• Competitive salaries and annual performance-based bonuses.
• Experienced artists may get the opportunity to work remotely.
• Generous paid time off: 26 annual leaves and additional paid time off at the year-end (from 25th December to 1st January).
• Term Insurance and Personal accidental insurance coverage.
• Free Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental and emotional wellbeing.
• Special Education Assistance Scheme to further develop your career.
• And a lot more!

About the Company

Lakshya, a Keywords Studios company, has been creating a reputation in the game development industry for being a highly talented and dependable game art studio. Since its setup in 2004, Lakshya has created art for over a hundred game titles, including hugely successful global hits such as Bloodborne, Dark Souls II, Just Cause 3, WWE 2K16, Uncharted 2, Farmville, and Cityville. Lakshya works closely with NASSCOM to help in the growth of the game development ecosystem in India.

For more information, please refer to Lakshya Digital.

Location: Gurugram, Haryana, India
Area of Work: Art/Creative