Character Artist & Animator

Start date: January 2026 (interviewing now)

Company Description

GhostJam Games is an independent game studio focused on making loud, chaotic, co-op-first experiences that are fun to play and fun to watch. We’re the team behind Backseat Drivers on Steam - a co-op driving/party game built for yelling at your friends, clipping hilarious moments, and turning small ideas into big, polished releases on tight timelines.

We work as a small, distributed team that wears a lot of hats, moves quickly, and cares about shipping highly replayable, social games over endless feature creep. Our current projects include new content for Backseat Drivers and an upcoming co-op FPS horror title, blending tense atmosphere with the kind of unpredictability and player-driven chaos we’re known for.

Role Description

GhostJam Games is looking for a Character Artist to help define the look and feel of our new co-op FPS horror game. You’ll take characters from rough ideas to fully realized, low-poly, game-ready assets that look great in first-person and read clearly during chaotic encounters. We’re aiming for unsettling, memorable designs with strong silhouettes - creepy, instantly recognizable characters that stand out in the middle of tense co-op play.

In this role, you will:

• Design and model creepy, memorable characters and creatures that fit our horror tone
• Create optimized low-poly meshes suitable for first-person gameplay
• Author simple, flat textures that support mood, shape, and readability
• Work closely with the creative director and other artists to maintain a cohesive visual style
• Collaborate on silhouette, readability, and visual clarity so characters stand out in tense, chaotic encounters

This is a remote contract role with an initial term of up to 4 months, with the possibility of extension as the project grows. Compensation is up to $4,000/month, depending on experience, availability, and scope. You’ll be joining a small, focused indie team that values ownership, clear communication, and actually shipping weird, chaotic games.

Qualifications

• Strong portfolio of game-ready character art (bonus if it includes creatures/monsters)
• Experience creating low-poly characters for real-time games
• Proficiency with 3D modeling tools (Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, etc.)
• Solid understanding of anatomy, form, proportion, and silhouette
• Comfortable working with last gen texture workflows (low-res textures, minimal shading, limited palettes)
• Strong UV unwrapping skills and ability to keep things clean and efficient
• Able to optimize polycount and texture usage while keeping designs impactful
• Comfortable working from loose direction, moodboards, and visual references
• Good communication skills and willingness to iterate based on feedback
• Able to work independently in a remote environment and hit agreed deadlines
• Experience rigging low-poly characters and creatures
• Ability to create gameplay-ready animations (idles, locomotion, attacks, deaths, reactions, etc.)
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine character import, materials, and basic setup

Nice to Have

• Prior experience on a horror or atmospheric title
• Experience collaborating in small teams using Perforce, Discord, and task trackers