Character Artist
Group: Art
Roll-out by scenario
| Scenario | Engagement | Window | Rate | Year-one cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A: full-time studio | Full-time remote employee | M2–M11 | $90,000–$130,000 base/yr | $93,750–$146,250 |
| B: lean core + contracts | Contract, 480–640 hours | M2–M7 | $60–$100/hr | $28,800–$64,000 |
Employee cost = base × months ÷ 12 × (1 + 25–35% employer load). Contract cost = hours × hourly rate.
Responsibilities
- Likeness sculpt, Mesh to MetaHuman / From Custom Mesh, MetaHuman Creator look-dev
- Neutral Pose refinement via MetaHuman for Maya
- Cine and Optimized assemblies; orbit test
- Coordinates groom and cloth contractors
Skills
- See Stage 2 — Likeness and Body Skills areas 1–4 and 7
- ZBrush, Maya, Unreal 5.8 MetaHuman toolchain
Requirements
- 4+ years realistic character art; shipped real-time humans
- Portfolio with a likeness from photographs
- Pass the likeness interview task
Training (local tutorials)
- Tutorial — Starting a Head and Base Body in ZBrush
- Tutorial — Obtaining Initial Head DNA
- Tutorial — Expression Editor Fundamentals
- Tutorial — ZBrush No-Topology-Change Round Trip
- Tutorial — Sculpting Expression Targets for the Expression Editor
- Tutorial — Flat Albedo from Polypaint
- Tutorial — Baking Detail Maps for MetaHuman
- Tutorial — MetaHumans in Unreal
- Tutorial — Source Control Setup
Remote working
Studio ships the hero workstation (RTX 5090) to the artist's home.
Rate evidence
- Glassdoor 3D character artist $64k–$119k (about $31–57/hr employed); Upwork expert 3D $50–$100+/hr
- Glassdoor, 3D character artist salary 2026: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/3d-character-artist-salary-SRCH_KO0,19.htm
- Upwork, 3D artist hourly rates: https://www.upwork.com/hire/3d-artists/cost/