Lead Artist

Who We Are

Oina Studio is an independent Canadian game studio developing premium story-driven games for PC and console. We believe modern engines now let small teams deliver production value that once required hundreds of people.

We focus on single-player experiences: strong stories, characters worth caring about, and worlds that come alive the closer you look. Our first game is a narrative adventure of growth and companionship, drawn from Kazakh mythology. We build solid pipelines and keep the creativity and agility of a small team.

Games are a $190B+ global industry, larger than film and music combined, and story-driven games are one of its fastest-growing segments. Small teams can now compete with the majors when craft and specificity align. Our debut enters that segment from a world no game has offered.

The Role

We are looking for an artist to define the visual identity of an original IP from a blank page.

Your first deliverable is the art of a vertical slice that publishers will judge in November 2026. This will be the foundation of the art style of the game.

You will be the first art hire and the person who establishes what this game looks like. This is a hands-on creative role first — you'll be making art for the majority of your time — and a leadership role second, as you build and guide the art team through Prototyping and into production.

The art style needs to be expressive, achievable by a small team, and readable at the gameplay scale the game demands. You'll own the visual direction of the debut title and work directly with the founder to develop and defend the art style through every production phase.

What You'll Own

Art and visual direction (primary)

• Define and document the visual style of the debut title — environment, characters, UI, VFX
• Create key art, style guides, and reference sheets that define how this world is drawn — the documents the art team grows into
• Build environment and character assets for the Prototyping and Vertical Slice milestones
• Establish and own the art pipeline end-to-end: modeling, texturing, rigging, import, LOD, and in-engine setup
• Own character animation for the vertical slice. Character performance carries the game's emotional beats; it cannot be an afterthought
• Develop concept art for pitches, publisher presentations, and internal alignment

Art leadership

• Define art standards, naming conventions, and asset review process
• Set the quality bar and review every asset against it; give clear, actionable feedback
• Coordinate with Lead Developer on engine-side technical constraints: polycount targets, texture budgets, shader complexity, platform requirements
• Own the art schedule and scope estimates for each milestone; flag risks early
• Build a team of 3–5 artists as the studio grows into production

Who You Are

• Independent and self-directed — comfortable being the sole artist at the start, able to scope and prioritize without hand-holding
• A clear communicator — you give feedback people can act on
• Drawn to character performance — you care whether a character's acting lands, not just whether the model is clean
• Ready to define a style and defend it through every production phase

What We Are Looking For

Required

• 4–5 years minimum experience in games art, including 2+ years at senior or lead level on a shipped commercial title
• Strong portfolio showing environment, character, or stylized art — ideally covering more than one discipline
• Proven ability to define and document a visual style from scratch, not just execute within an existing one
• Character animation capability — either hands-on animation skills, or a track record of hiring and directing animators to a quality bar
• Fluency in a standard 3D and texturing toolchain
• Experience building and managing an art pipeline in a major real-time engine
• Experience with stylized rendering in real-time engines — custom material graphs, post-process stacks. This is the capability that determines whether the game looks distinctive or generic; it isn't optional for this title

Nice to have

• Shipped a narrative or RPG indie title where visual storytelling was central
• Concept art skills (or ability to direct a concept artist)
• Fluency in French

What You'll Gain

Compensation

• Competitive salary plus meaningful founding-team equity, with step-ups at funding milestones. We build the package around the right person and what they need to make this work
• Equity: 4-year vesting, 1-year cliff

Benefits and culture

• Remote-first; preference for candidates based in or willing to work Montreal-adjacent hours (ET)
• 3 weeks paid vacation minimum; studio closes between Christmas and New Year

What this role gives you that bigger studios can't

• First art hire: you define the visual language of an original IP
• Direct authorship — your creative choices become part of the shipped game
• You own your domain, and the team commits to your decisions

What Success Looks Like

First 90 days

• Visual style locked and documented in a style guide within your first two weeks
• Concept art for 3 characters, 4 environments, and 3 key moments approved
• Steam page art delivered by mid-October: capsule, screenshots, page assets
• Vertical slice art shipped November 14 with the quality bar met; key art and trailer visuals delivered for launch

6 months

• Art bible v1.0 delivered — complete enough that anyone joining works inside it without drift
• Next Fest demo presented at full visual quality (late February)
• Funding applications supported with presentation materials

Year one

• Art roadmap to launch defined
• Production-quality assets shipping at a predictable cadence
• Pipeline, standards, and review process ready for the first art hires

Our Process

1. Intro call with the founder
2. Take-home assignment
3. Final interview
4. Offer