Job Description

Santa Barbara Games is hiring a freelance 3D character artist to build our stylized, rig-ready protagonist for our upcoming survival crafting game, along with modular armor and facial expression systems. This is a fully remote contract role, scoped for a 6–8 week production timeline (roughly full-time), with a clear asset list and pre-approved concept art.

You’ll be delivering a clean, animation-ready character model with facial decal expressions, 4 variants total (facial structure, skin tone), 4 hairstyles, and 4 modular armor sets—all optimized for top-down camera readability and a cel-shaded rendering pipeline in Unity. The character and outfits should feel grounded and expressive, with strong silhouettes and clear emotional readability from a distance.

Full concepts for all characters and armor sets are complete and ready to work from.

About the Game

Between Forests is a stylized, top-down survival-exploration game about kids lost in a haunted, mythic forest. Players craft, explore, and try to survive nightfall as terrifying creatures emerge from the shadows. Think Tunic meets Don't Starve Together, with the visual style of Baldo or a Ghibli film.

We’re a small team of AAA veterans (EA, Riot, Bethesda, Amazon) building a vertical slice in Unity using a cel-shaded, painterly art direction.

What You’ll Create

You’ll deliver the following fully textured, rig-ready assets in a cel-shaded art style:

✅ 1x Base Character

• Full-body model with modesty base layer (form-fitting white shirt and shorts)
• Clean topology, rig-ready for biped animation
• Facial geometry and UVs structured to support expression decals (not blendshapes)

✅ 3x Face Variants

• Unique skin tones and facial features (childlike but distinct)
• Compatible with same hair and armor systems
• Each variant supports swappable expression decals

✅ 4x Hairstyles

• Swappable across all variants
• Stylized, readable at top-down camera distance

✅ 4x Modular Armor Sets

Each includes 5 distinct pieces:

• Tunic, Pants, Boots, Gloves, Helm
• Each set has a unique silhouette and fits cleanly over the base body
• Must support layered modularity for in-game paper-doll system

✅ Expression Decals (per variant)

• 3–4 sets per face (e.g. neutral, panic, focused, injured)
• Texture/material-driven (no blendshapes or rig-based animation)
• Must be bold and readable at distance from a top-down view

Tools & Specs

• Blender, Maya, or equivalent DCC
• Stylized mesh and texture workflow (supports cel-shading)
• Clean UV unwraps, optimized for real-time performance (Switch-class hardware)
• Unity compatibility preferred (optional test scene to demonstrate modularity)

Delivery Format

• .FBX models (organized and named for rigging)
• .PNG or .PSD textures (organized per armor/hair/decal)
• Clear folder structure for all assets
• Optional Unity test scene (with armor swapping + expression demo)

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Skills & Requirements

Skills & Requirements

Must-Haves:

• Experience creating stylized 3D characters for games (freelance or studio)
• Strong modeling skills with clean, rig-friendly topology
• Experience with modular character workflows (armor, hair, facial swaps)
• Ability to author stylized textures that work with cel-shaded rendering
• Confident UV unwrapping and texture baking workflow
• Ability to deliver optimized, game-ready assets in .FBX or equivalent formats
• Clear understanding of shape readability from top-down or mid-distance cameras
• Strong communication and self-direction—able to deliver clean assets without hand-holding

Nice-to-Haves:

• Experience designing or implementing facial decal or texture-based expression systems
• Familiarity with Unity (basic material setup or test scene creation)
• Experience working with small indie teams or solo pipelines

How to Apply

Email us at  [email protected] with:

• Portfolio link (ArtStation, personal site, etc.)
• Examples of stylized character work (especially modular or top-down-friendly)
• Rates & availability

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