What is a Technical Artist? And How Can You Become One?

Technical artist is one of the most in-demand jobs in both the film and game development industries. Technical artist careers require a diverse skillset and a real passion for learning but in turn they offer great pay and the chance to work on a huge range of fascinating projects.

But how do you become a technical artist? What skills should you focus on learning? And what does a great technical artist portfolio look like?

What Is a Technical Artist?

Technical artist is an incredibly broad job description. Somewhere between a developer and an artist, technical artists are generally used as the bridging layer in a studio between the programmers and the artists. This is true both in the games industry and in VFX for film/TV.

There’s no precise definition for a technical artist because, in many respects, it’s a catch all role. Do you need someone who can build a tool to help standardise all your character rigs? Hire a technical artist. Do you need someone to design an accurate physics simulation of a star exploding? Hire a technical artist.

There is, of course, massive overlap here with other roles but the core of the job is that they’re someone who truly and understands and can live in both worlds.

What Does a Technical Artist Do?

That might all sound vague in concept but on the job it’s surprising how very different goals often demand the same tool set.

In practical terms, a technical artist role is all about problem-solving. They’re the people who step in when something looks great in theory but doesn’t quite work in-engine or within production constraints.

A technical artist job description can vary massively depending on the studio, but common responsibilities include building tools to speed up workflows, creating shaders and materials, optimising assets for performance, and supporting artists in implementing their work correctly. They may also work on rigging systems, visual effects, or lighting setups.

So what does a technical artist do on the day-to-day? One day you might be writing a script to automate a repetitive task. The next you could be debugging why a character rig is breaking, or helping an environment artist get their assets running smoothly in Unreal or Unity.

Technical Artist Skills

On the technical side, you’ll need to be a solid programmer. Languages like Python, C#, or C++ are commonly used for tool development and pipeline improvements. A strong understanding of game engines is also essential, particularly how assets behave in real-time environments.

On the artistic side, you’ll need a solid grasp of 3D fundamentals. This includes modelling, texturing, lighting, and sometimes animation or rigging.

Speaking of which, rigging artists are also in high demand and there is some crossover between the two. If you’re going to focus specifically on one 3D skill, rigging is absolutely the one to pick in order to open more doors.

All that said, you don’t need to be a master of any of these skills. While it’s always helpful to be able to wear multiple hats, a technical artist’s job is to solve problems so the other artists can make art.

How to Become a Technical Artist

If all of the above interests you, then you’ll need two things. You’ll need the skills and you’ll need the portfolio to prove it.

Which direction you approach the job from isn’t too important. If you’ve already got the art skills, now’s the time to learn programming. If you’re a solid programmer, start fiddling around Blender, Unity, and Unreal.

Degrees in relevant subjects can help but they really aren’t essential or even that important. What matters is what you know and how well you can prove it.

A good technical art portfolio is a little unusual as you need to display two very different skills at work. Practicality is the best root. A studio wants to see how well you’ll be able to fit into their workflow so your portfolio should show practical and useful tools applied to artistic goals.

Can you write complex shaders? If so, provide a breakdown of how they work. Can you design tools to optimise pipelines? The best way to show this would be in the context of a project. That said, it doesn’t have to be a real project. It’s perfectly valid to design a tool for an imaginary project so long as you’re able to talk about the pros and cons of your tool in practical, real-world terms.

When all’s said and done, a technical artist needs to do more than think outside the box. They need to design the box for others to think in. So get your hands dirty, start building projects and, if possible, work on team projects. Because there’s no better evidence that you’ll fit into a team than showing that you already have done.