Experienced Matte Painter

Sony Pictures Imageworks is hiring an Experienced Matte Painter for their feature animation and VFX pipeline in Vancouver, British Columbia. This role sits within the environments department, where you will build digital matte paintings that extend and populate worlds across feature film production, working directly under an Environment Supervisor or Matte Painting Lead. It suits a working artist who has spent real time in a VFX or animation studio pipeline and knows how to move between painted, photographic, and CG sources to hit a creative brief.

About the Role

You will be embedded in the environments team on project-based, full-time work supporting feature animation productions. Day to day, that means taking concept art, live action elements, still photography, and rendered CG passes and compositing them into finished matte paintings that meet the creative direction of the production. The work sits at the intersection of traditional painting sensibility and technical VFX pipeline knowledge.

Key Responsibilities

• Create digital matte paintings that combine live action plates, still photography, concept art, and rendered CG elements into production-ready environment extensions.
• Work under the Environment Supervisor or Matte Painting Lead to interpret and execute creative direction across multiple shots within a feature animation production.
• Integrate painted elements with CG renders using Nuke, maintaining consistency with lighting, perspective, and atmospheric conditions established in the sequence.
• Build and texture environment assets in Maya and Photoshop as required to support the matte painting workflow on each project.
• Deliver work through the VFX pipeline to established quality and technical specifications, incorporating feedback through multiple rounds of review.
• Collaborate with the lighting and compositing departments to ensure matte painting elements sit correctly within the final rendered frame.

What You Bring

• A minimum of 3 years of experience working in VFX or feature film production as a matte painter or environment artist.
• Proficiency in Photoshop, Maya, and Nuke is required for this role.
• Familiarity with Katana, Mari, Houdini, Speedtree, or Linux is a meaningful asset in this pipeline.
• A portfolio demonstrating environment work across feature animation or live action VFX productions.
• Ability to work in an English-language production environment and manage deliverables within a structured animation studio pipeline.

Why This Role

Sony Pictures Imageworks has a long track record on major feature animation and VFX productions, and this Vancouver studio sits at the center of that work. The anticipated base salary for this position is $45.07 to $63.70 per hour, with benefits that include healthcare, tuition reimbursement, RRSPs, and sick and vacation leave. For an Experienced Matte Painter looking to work at a high level on feature film production, the combination of project scope and team depth here is worth taking seriously.

Submit your portfolio and credits for the Experienced Matte Painter role at Sony Pictures Imageworks today.