KEY ART & SPLASH ART ILLUSTRATOR

We are looking for a Key Art & Splash Art Illustrator to produce character-led artwork for the mobile game IPs we work on: key art for campaigns and store presence, and splash art for in-game content, heroes, cards and live-ops releases.

This is a craft role. Where our marketing artists resolve full campaigns, this position is about the image itself — the character, the pose, the light, the finish. Illustration is the core of the job and where most of your time will go.

It is not the whole of it, though. We are a small studio and the work rarely stops at the finished piece. Alongside your own illustration you will support the wider marketing art and product work on the account: adapting artwork across formats and channels, contributing to campaign, store and in-game assets, and stepping in where production needs your craft. We are looking for an illustrator who wants to be part of a production team, not only a painter.

The defining requirement is stylistic range. Our accounts span registers, from painterly semi-realism to bold stylised cartoon, and we need an illustrator who moves between them convincingly rather than bending every brief towards a single personal style. A portfolio strong in only one register will not be considered for this role.

Just as important is the ability to paint inside someone else's style guide. Almost all of our work is made for established IPs under licensor approval, which means matching an existing visual language precisely and consistently. The skill we are hiring for is control, not self-expression.

Reporting to the Creative Lead, with generative AI and basic 3D forming part of the day-to-day production toolkit.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• —Produce finished key art and splash art end to end, from thumbnail and pose exploration through to final rendered artwork.
• —Work fluently across visual registers, from painterly realism to stylised cartoon, matching the established style guide of each IP.
• —Own character presentation: gesture, silhouette, expression, costume readability and dynamic posing that carries the personality of the character.
• —Render characters, effects and supporting backdrops to a finished, campaign-ready standard.
• —Match existing artwork with precision. Much of the work involves extending or complementing an established visual language rather than defining a new one.
• —Build artwork for downstream use: clean layered files, generous safe areas for logos, UI and localisation, and the crops each channel requires.
• —Use generative AI tools as part of a controlled production pipeline for ideation, iteration, image extension and cleanup, always under your own art direction.
• —Use Blender at a practical production level to pose existing 3D characters, set cameras and lighting, and generate renders as a base for paint-over and compositing.
• —Work through client and licensor feedback rounds, absorbing revisions without losing the quality of the piece.
• —Support the wider marketing art and product output on the account: adapt and version artwork across formats and channels, contribute to campaign, store and in-game assets, and take on production work beyond illustration when the account calls for it.
• —Estimate realistically and flag production risk early.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• —Minimum 4 years of professional illustration experience for videogames or entertainment, with shipped, publicly released work.
• —A portfolio demonstrating genuine command of both realistic or painterly illustration and cartoon or stylised illustration. This is a hard requirement, and the single most important thing we will look at.
• —Exceptional character fundamentals: anatomy, gesture, expression, silhouette and dynamic posing.
• —Strong rendering skills across light, material, colour and depth, with the ability to take a piece to a genuinely finished level.
• —Professional command of Photoshop as a painting environment.
• —Demonstrable ability to work inside an existing style guide and match an established art style closely and consistently.
• —An understanding of what splash art has to do commercially: reading clearly at thumbnail size, holding a clear focal hierarchy, and surviving UI and logo overlays intact.
• —Professional working knowledge of generative AI image tools and workflows. This is a required production skill, not a nice-to-have. Candidates should understand how to use AI as part of a controlled creative pipeline rather than as a substitute for draughtsmanship.
• —Basic practical knowledge of Blender. You should be able to work with existing scenes and assets, pose characters, set up or adjust cameras and lighting, and render for subsequent paint-over in Photoshop. Advanced modelling, rigging or texturing skills are not required.
• —Comfort in an agency environment: multiple concurrent projects, feedback rounds and tight deadlines.
• —A flexible, collaborative approach. Illustration is the core of the role, but you should be comfortable contributing to the wider marketing art and product work on the account rather than working only on hero pieces.
• —Professional English, written and spoken. All client-facing work is conducted in English.

NICE TO HAVE

• —Environment and background illustration alongside character work.
• —Experience producing splash art or card art for live-ops content cycles in mobile free-to-play.
• —Prior work on recognised IPs under licensor approval processes.
• —More advanced 3D knowledge in Blender, including scene building, materials, lighting or rendering.
• —Experience with image-to-image, inpainting, ControlNet or equivalent controlled-generation workflows.
• —Character design experience, or a background in traditional media.
• —Motion design experience in After Effects for social and video advertising.

WHAT WE OFFER

• —Hybrid working, with our own studio in Vilassar de Mar, 25 minutes from Barcelona by train.
• —A genuinely creative working environment, with an art library, an exhibition of original animation cels, a lounge area with arcade and gaming stations, a shared 3D printer and a painting workbench. Our office also has shared surfboards, as it is located just steps from the sea.
• —Permanent, full-time contract under the Spanish national advertising industry collective agreement (Convenio Estatal de Empresas de Publicidad).
• —Flexible scheduling within established core hours, guaranteeing team and client overlap.
• —Competitive compensation, discussed openly at the first interview and set against demonstrable experience.
• —23 working days of holiday plus public holidays.
• —Professional hardware and software licences, including access to the studio's generative AI toolset.
• —An established account with a long-term retainer and stable planning.
• —A small structure with direct access to studio leadership.