Illusorium Studios hiring Senior Matte Painter, spain, 2026

Illusorium Studios is expanding its core environment team in Madrid. We are actively seeking a talented, highly resourceful Senior Matte Painter specializing in 3D animation productions to join our studio. Your core mission in this role will transcend basic asset creation; you are here to design, paint, and project expansive digital backgrounds for both 2D and 3D scenes that establish the scale, atmosphere, and emotional depth of our worlds.

As a Senior Matte Painter, you will be trusted to safeguard the fragile equilibrium between high-end artistic quality, technical layout efficiency, and grounded common sense. When a complicated production deadline rolls around and environment layers aren’t projecting cleanly onto shifting 3D geometry, you quickly realize just how vital common sense truly is.

This is a highly collaborative, production-hardened role suited for an experienced veteran who is technically self-sufficient, naturally curious, and determined to lift the capabilities of the entire environment and layout group. We want someone who is decisive in real‑world production setups and eager to build tools, processes, or solutions that make the work better for the whole team.

Job Detail Information

Company Illusorium Studios

Department Environment & Concept Art Department

Role Senior Matte Painter

Location Madrid, Madrid, Spain (On-site / Studio-based)

Employment Type Full-time, Permanent Contract (Indefinite / Contrato Indefinido)

Core Software Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop, & Digital Painting Suites

Language Requirement English (B2 level or higher)

Reference Code ART

Company Overview

At Illusorium Studios, we don’t just build pixels; we craft visual narratives driven by two uncompromising pillars: creative ambition and technical excellence. We operate as a high-performance visual effects and animation hub where artists gather to push the envelope of what digital media can achieve. We don’t believe in cutting corners or coasting on “good enough.” Our studio is a collaborative playground built for seasoned professionals who take profound pride in their craftsmanship and genuinely enjoy the process of doing things exceptionally well.

We recognize that the ultimate success of an animation pipeline depends on the sanity, stability, and intelligence of the team operating it. That is why we purposefully design an environment that balances intense, high-end production with operational maturity. We prioritize working with individuals who exhibit sound professional judgment, an innate attention to detail, and a structured ability to solve complex production problems without escalating every creative bottleneck into a high-risk crisis.

At Illusorium Studios, your ideas are not just welcomed—they are actively sought out. We value innovators who look at a broken pipeline, an unstable projection setup, or a repetitive asset workflow and propose a systematic way to improve it for everyone. We want you to build a body of work here that you will proudly showcase the moment the project premieres.

Key Responsibilities as Matte Painter

Your day-to-day contributions at Illusorium Studios will balance high-fidelity digital painting with complex 3D projection setups and cross-departmental alignment:

• Create sprawling, photorealistic, or highly stylized digital environments, landscapes, skyboxes, and vistas that blend seamlessly with live-action or stylized 3D foreground elements.
• Execute advanced camera projection workflows, mapping 2D painted assets, textures, and clean plates onto complex 3D geometry in Maya while maintaining consistent perspective and lighting alignment.
• Manipulate, clone, and integrate photographic reference material into digital mattes, ensuring flawless continuity regarding grain, exposure, and lens characteristics.
• Ensure that all digital paintings perfectly match the established concept art, color scripts, and visual direction of the specific project sequence.

2. Pipeline Integration & Workflow Optimization

• Partner proactively with Environment Leads, Technical Directors, and Layout Supervisors to identify structural bottlenecks within the matte painting and environment pipeline.
• Contribute to the conceptualization, testing, and implementation of new internal tools, scripts, and asset management procedures designed to streamline environment projection workflows.
• Maintain clean, systematically organized, and non-destructive file architectures across Photoshop, Nuke, and Maya to ensure other department artists can easily scale or modify your files.

3. Cross-Departmental Troubleshooting

• Collaborate intimately with the Lighting and Compositing teams to evaluate how environmental lighting keys, atmospheric haze, and depth passes interact with your background plates.
• Coordinate directly wi