- Firefighting ninjas - Travis Evashkevich, Technical Artist at Electric Square

What is a Technical Artist?

Technical Artists help Artists and Designers get their content into the game with the least pain possible, and help Engineers and Artists communicate fluidly. If you are an Artist or Designer and you have a problem with your content or your tools, the Lead Technical Artist is the first person you should go to for help. If you’re already working with another Technical Artist then certainly continue to do so, but new issues should always go to the Lead, for the quickest solution. If you are an Engineer designing a new content feature, it’s a good idea to solicit feedback from the Lead Technical Artist, for how it will fit into the content pipeline.

The Technical Artist's Role

Artist Support and Advocacy

Technical Artists serve as both an advocate for the Art department as well as the bridge between Art and Engineering.

They must know what a healthy art pipeline “looks like” and must help make sure that content creators have the tools & support necessary to do their jobs.
Technical Artists are the first line of defense in diagnosing any software problems artists/designers have, and in helping to debug them.
Continually be on the lookout for technologies that can improve game content creation process, researching the “next phase” of pipeline development. Evaluate upgrades to DCC software currently in use by artists in the studio, and completely new software packages, with an eye towards keeping the pipeline running smoothly.
Identifying process bottlenecks and working on eliminating them is something all people on the team should consider a priority.