Surfacing Lead - Featurette

This project is an Animated 3D featurette based on a beloved children’s book. We’re looking for a Surfacing Lead to help establish its stylized visual language through materials and textures while contributing hands-on work and mentoring a team.

Quick Highlights:

• Lead a Surfacing team on a stylized featurette project.
• Help define the 3D look and quality of the show.
• Focus on team management, quality control, and technical guidance while contributing hands-on work as needed.
• Work with Katana, Substance, and Mari to support the project’s lookdev and surfacing goals.
• Opportunity to step up from TV series work to higher-end featurette production

Our Story:
For over 35 years, Bardel Entertainment has grown while staying rooted in the craft of animation. Our pursuit of fresh ideas, techniques, and technologies is driven by the belief that creativity and collaboration make extraordinary projects possible.

Responsibilities:

• Manage and mentor the Surfacing team, overseeing quality control to ensure consistency and adherence to the stylized visual language.
• Act as the primary surfacing authority, providing technical guidance and maintaining pipeline integration.
• Partner with the CG Supervisor and Art Department to translate the book’s style into compelling stylized 3D materials.
• Review team work and provide constructive feedback to support iteration and visual consistency.
• Contribute hands-on as needed, creating textures and shading networks for characters, props, and environments.
• Develop and maintain surfacing setups and templates to optimize workflow and support artistic goals.
• Troubleshoot surfacing issues and collaborate with pipeline, modeling, lighting, and grooming teams.

What You’ll Bring:

Experience:

• Surfacing or Look Development experience on an animated production.
• Proven leadership experience managing a surfacing or lookdev team.
• Translating stylized 2D artwork into stylized 3D materials and textures is highly valued.
• Strong experience with Substance, Mari, and Photoshop.
• Strong knowledge of Katana and Blender is highly recommended.
• Experience with Renderman is a plus.

Skills:

• Strong artistic eye for color, light, material definition, and texture detail.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with team leadership experience.
• Ability to balance technical problem-solving, QC, and creative exploration.

Portfolio Requirements:

• Stylized surfacing and material design across characters, props, or environments.
• Strong texture craftsmanship and material storytelling.
• Understanding of industry-standard surfacing workflows, UV layouts, and optimization.
• Experience with fur or hair shading is a plus.

Pay Range: CAD $1,750–$2,000 per week

Location: BC, Canada – candidates must be based in BC.

Project Dates: Late March/early April – Late November

This salary range reflects our current expectations for these roles as of this posting’s date. Your final salary offer will consider various key factors, including your education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographical location, as well as the needs and requirements of the business. 

Flexible work environment, Extended Health and Wellness from day 1, RRSP matching are just some of the benefits. For more details, check out our website. 

At Bardel, we recognize that flexibility is key to doing great work. Our hybrid work environment is a valued perk designed to support individual accountability and empower our teams to work where they’re most productive. We offer the choice to work remotely, balanced with intentional in-person time for collaboration, creativity, and team building. This role requires in-studio attendance at our Vancouver studio during onboarding and predetermined Rush Weeks. 

If this seems like a good fit, what are you waiting for, get your application in!