Experienced Technical Artist - Remote

Job Title : 2D Technical Artist – CCG Game (VFX & Animation Focus) Location : Hybrid Experience : 3–6 years Type : Full-time About the Role We are seeking a 2D Technical Artist with strong expertise in VFX, shader development, and animation to join our team working on a next-generation 2D Collectible Card Game (CCG). You’ll bridge the gap between art and engineering, bringing characters, environments, and effects to life with style, precision, and performance. This role requires an artist who understands both the creative and technical aspects of real-time 2D games, with a passion for expressive visuals, dynamic combat scenes, and player immersion. Key Responsibilities Design, implement, and optimize 2D VFX and animation systems for card abilities, spell effects, and UI transitions. Collaborate with artists and engineers to create custom shaders (e.G., glow, distortion, dissolve, particle blending). Integrate and fine-tune lighting, color grading, and compositing to achieve a polished, cohesive visual style. Work closely with character artists to enhance character animations and effects, ensuring fluidity and visual impact. Develop and manage asset pipelines for importing and optimizing sprites, textures, and animations. Ensure all assets perform efficiently on target platforms (desktop and mobile). Implement real-time feedback systems for interactive effects (e.G., hover glows, hit flashes, energy bursts). Collaborate with design and programming teams to ensure VFX align with gameplay mechanics and UI feedback. Create and document technical art guidelines for shaders, effects, and animation integration. Required Skills & Experience 3–6 years of experience as a Technical Artist, VFX Artist, or 2D Animator in games (preferably CCGs or RPGs). Strong knowledge of real-time 2D animation pipelines (Spine, DragonBones, Unity Animator, or similar). Proven experience creating stylized 2D VFX (spells, energy, elemental effects, transitions). Experience developing and optimizing custom shaders (HLSL, Shader Graph, or Amplify). Understanding of lighting principles, material blending, and color grading for 2D scenes. Experience integrating effects in Unity (URP / HDRP). Strong collaboration with character artists to enhance expressive, personality-driven animations. Excellent understanding of PBR and non-PBR art workflows. Strong visual sense for composition, motion, and timing. Preferred Skills Familiarity with procedural tools (e.G., Houdini, EmberGen) for sprite-based VFX generation. Ability to create hand-painted textures and character art using Photoshop or Krita. Experience with shader-driven animation (e.G., UV offset, dissolve, gradient masks). Experience with CCG or strategy game UI transitions and interactive visual systems. Soft Skills Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across design, engineering, and art teams. Problem-solving mindset with attention to optimization and performance. Eye for detail, consistency, and polish in visual presentation. Passion for games, animation, and expressive visual storytelling.