Internship Opportunities: Art Intern (Character or Environme... - England

Location: Milton Keynes MK10
Company Name: Microsoft

Rare: we're not your typical developer. Our 30+ years in the game-making business have been dedicated to crafting one beloved title after another, constantly trying new things, and infusing the fun we have every day into the games we create. Check out the Rare Replay collection for three whirlwind decades of evidence! We strive to keep Rare a fantastic place to work, from its beautiful location and state-of-the-art facilities to a strong focus on work/life balance.

If you're a keen gamer, chances are you've already caught wind of our epic shared world pirate adventure Sea of Thieves, released in March 2018 and a journey we're committed to for the long haul even as we begin to think about what's out there beyond the horizon. With every day bringing new challenges and discoveries in equal measure, there's never been a more rewarding time to join our daredevil crew!

Location: Rare - Microsoft Studios – Twycross, Warwickshire

Responsibilities

Are you a creative that is regularly visualising new environments or characters? Do you live and breathe beautiful 3D assets, striving to create captivating experiences and a window into another world? You may be one of next Art Interns…

We’re seeking Art Interns in both our Environment and Character Art teams! Individuals will have the opportunity to deliver stunning visual experiences to our players. As part of our outstanding art team, you will contribute to a 30-year history of bringing visually stunning games to players, using solutions borrowed from cutting-edge technology as well as timeless techniques.

In this role, you'll work with other artists to achieve success while delivering aspirational environments and props or intriguing characters, all that meet the quality bar for timeless visuals. Our Artists work on many aspects of a game, from initial 3D block outs to finished, highly polished game-ready assets ready to be handed off to the Tech Art and animation teams for game use.

If you’re interested in environment art, you may find yourself working on organic assets such as foliage, hard surface items like handheld weapons, or anything in between! Whereas a Character Artist could find themselves working on bespoke creatures, singular clothing elements that make up a whole character, or any of the processes that make up our recognizable characters.

As our intern, the desire to learn, fit into a team environment and positively increase the quality of art assets is a must. Everyone from Senior to Interns on the team gets their hands dirty in all areas of art production!

We’re big believers in high quality artwork here at Rare and, since we’re developing our products as services, we aim for fast iteration using common methods. This means that we embrace modern development practices such as Continuous Delivery, automated testing, team art reviews and agile methods (e.g. Kanban).

On the software side, we use industry standards Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop through to specialist packages (e.g. SpeedTree, Substance, XNormal). Environment Art interns could also reasonably expect to work on products using commercial game engines such as Unreal Engine 4 or Unity, or possibly on our own in-house technology.

As an intern at Rare, you play a vital role in our team right in the action of games development. Not only would you be working in our top-class facility, but you’ll be supported by some of the best game developers in the industry.

If the above sounds like something you’re interested in, do keep reading…

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• In conjunction with other artists, designers, engineers and testers; originate and implement on environment OR character art features.

• Identify and highlight risks in the areas that are being worked.
• Solve problems through the application of sound common sense.
• Continuously work to minimise art quality debt and rework.
• Devote time to personal improvement in order to further their own game development and artistic knowledge.

Qualifications

• A solid grounding in core art foundation and genuine enthusiasm for environment/props art OR character art and current as well as future 3D art techniques.

- For character art: A portfolio demonstrating your abilities in 3D Character art- from initial explorations through to finished re-topologised, textured and posed character renders.

OR

- For environment art: A portfolio demonstrating your abilities in 3D art- from Model block outs to finished game res, textured assets with PBR material setup.

Please make clear which area you are applying for via your application and/or portfolio

Note: It is not essential to have experience in computer games development or to be on a games-specific course

DESERIABLE EXPERIENCE
None of these are essential but the more the better:

• Experience with 3D graphics content generation tools (e.g. Maya, ZBrush)
• Experience with 2D graphics content generation tools (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator)
• Experience in off the shelf Engine/Editors (e.g. Unreal 4, Unity)
• Strong traditional art skills.
• A love for stylised visuals.
• Contribution to the art community.
• Artwork interests outside of those prescribed by a university course (e.g. Personal Portfolio, Life Drawing, Online Competitions).
• (Obviously) Experience of any of the areas of game development mentioned in the Activities section of this document.
• Creative activities (e.g. interest in art principles, photography, creative writing, game art ).

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.