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Practical Effects Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Skechers

Sr. AI Video Technical Artist

Manhattan Beach, CA · On-site

$134K - $161K/yr

... practical exercise are part of the interview process. * Deep hands-on fluency with node-based ... Effects, Nuke, or Resolve/Fusion), including masking, rotoscoping, tracking, cleanup, and matte ...

Skechers

Sr. AI Video Technical Artist

Manhattan Beach, CA · On-site

$134K - $161K/yr

... practical exercise are part of the interview process. * Deep hands-on fluency with node-based ... Effects, Nuke, or Resolve/Fusion), including masking, rotoscoping, tracking, cleanup, and matte ...

California State University

$25.66/hr

... props, and effects. Supports backstage and shop operations, helps train and guide student ... coursework and practical experience. Required Qualifications * A valid driver's license.

California State University

$25.66/hr

... props, and effects. Supports backstage and shop operations, helps train and guide student ... coursework and practical experience. Required Qualifications * A valid driver's license.

NCSU

Assistant or Associate Professor

Raleigh, NC · On-site

... a focus on Visual Effects for Interactive Media and Virtual Production (Games Design and ... Areas of scholarship include addressing the social and practical impact of media arts, design and ...

NYFA

Cinematic AI Specialist

Burbank, CA · On-site

$55 - $75/hr

... arts, marketing, publishing, and related creative industries ... Instructors guide students through the practical and creative applications of generative AI tools ...

NYFA

Cinematic AI Specialist

Burbank, CA · On-site +1

$55 - $75/hr

... arts, marketing, publishing, and related creative industries ... Instructors guide students through the practical and creative applications of generative AI tools ...

NYFA

Cinematic AI Specialist

Burbank, CA · On-site

$55 - $75/hr

... arts, marketing, publishing, and related creative industries ... Instructors guide students through the practical and creative applications of generative AI tools ...

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Practical Effects Artist information

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How much do practical effects artist jobs pay per hour?

As of Sep 13, 2026, the average hourly pay for practical effects artist in the United States is $29.88, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $24.76 and $33.65 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a practical effects artist?

Practical effects artists are professionals who create physical, tangible effects for film, television, theater, and live events. Unlike digital effects, practical effects involve real-world materials such as models, props, animatronics, makeup, and pyrotechnics to achieve visual illusions on set. These artists collaborate closely with directors, designers, and other crew members to bring imaginative scenes to life, ranging from explosions to creature effects. Their work adds realism and authenticity to productions, often blending seamlessly with digital enhancements. Practical effects artists are skilled in a wide range of crafts, including sculpting, painting, mechanics, and chemistry.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a practical effects artist?

To thrive as a Practical Effects Artist, you need a strong background in sculpture, mold-making, painting, and materials science, often supported by an art or design degree. Familiarity with tools such as airbrushes, casting equipment, animatronics, and industry-standard safety practices is crucial. Creativity, attention to detail, collaboration, and problem-solving are standout soft skills for this role. These abilities ensure realistic, safe, and visually compelling effects that enhance the storytelling in film, TV, and live productions.

How does a practical effects artist typically collaborate with directors and other departments on set?

Practical Effects Artists work closely with directors, production designers, and special effects supervisors to bring visual concepts to life using physical materials. Collaboration often involves participating in creative meetings to understand the director’s vision, coordinating with the art department to ensure effects integrate seamlessly with sets, and communicating with the camera crew to achieve the desired on-screen impact. On set, Practical Effects Artists must be flexible and solution-oriented, adapting their work to last-minute changes while ensuring safety and realism. This role requires strong teamwork skills and the ability to translate creative ideas into tangible, effective results.

What is the difference between Practical Effects Artist vs Special Effects Technician?

AspectPractical Effects ArtistSpecial Effects Technician
CredentialsRelevant certifications in effects, makeup, or prop fabricationCertifications in special effects, safety, and sometimes makeup
Work EnvironmentFilm sets, TV productions, theater, commercialsFilm sets, live events, TV, and sometimes theme parks
Industry UsageUsed in creating physical effects like prosthetics, models, and mechanical effectsFocuses on implementing and maintaining effects like explosions, weather effects, and pyrotechnics

The Practical Effects Artist primarily designs and creates physical effects such as prosthetics, models, and mechanical devices, while the Special Effects Technician specializes in executing and maintaining effects like explosions, weather effects, and pyrotechnics. Both roles require safety certifications and work in similar environments, but their focus areas differ within the industry.

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Practical Effects Artist jobs near you
Infographic showing various Practical Effects Artist job openings in the United States as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 42% Full Time, 25% Part Time, 25% Temporary, and 8% Contract. Highlights an 92% In-person, and 8% Hybrid job distribution, with an average salary of $62,140 per year, or $29.9 per hour.

Sr. AI Video Technical Artist

Manhattan Beach, CA • On-site

Skechers
Retail • 10K+ employees
Learn more about Skechersexternal

$134K - $161K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 5 days ago

Skechers rating

6.5

Company rating: 6.5 out of 10

Based on 177 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

Job description

WHO WE ARE:
Headquartered in Southern California, Skechers-the Comfort Technology Company®-has spent over 30 years helping men, women, and kids everywhere look and feel good. Comfort innovation is at the core of everything we do, driving the development of stylish, high-quality products at a great value. From our diverse footwear collections to our expanding range of apparel and accessories, Skechers is a complete lifestyle brand.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Senior AI Video Technical Artist is a hands-on production role owning AI shot execution, reusable video workflows, technical QA, product-fidelity validation, and production-ready handoff across Skechers' product, social, advertising, and e-commerce channels.
Ownership boundaries: the Creative Technology Team lead owns platform architecture, approved infrastructure, and technical acceptance; the Technical Product Manager owns portfolio priority, approvals, rollout coordination, and outcome metrics; creative teams own briefs, creative direction, final finish, and publishing; Legal, Privacy, and Security define applicable rights and disclosure controls, which this role implements.
All work follows Skechers' content standards. Approved product imagery and geometry are authoritative: workflows must not invent or materially alter product silhouette, construction, materials, color, logos, or text, and where generative processing cannot preserve these within approved tolerances, the product is isolated and recomposited from approved source assets. Likeness work follows consented, contract-covered processes.
The role operates a governed production lane, opening to selective self-service for creative teams as workflows are approved, against a defined cross-channel production backlog, approved inference capabilities, and a clear path from successful pilots to sustained production.
WHAT YOU'LL DO:
  • Execute AI video production: design, run, and refine workflows (image-to-video, motion, enhancement, upscaling, and compositing) on approved, enterprise-managed inference environments.
  • Transform approved product photography and creative assets into dynamic motion content while preserving product fidelity; isolate and recomposite product elements from approved source assets wherever generative processing cannot hold tolerance.
  • Produce and curate motion assets at volume through the governed production lane, with human-in-the-loop quality and brand review; creative teams own final finish.
  • Build reusable motion templates, style frameworks, character and identity systems, and structured prompt systems that maintain brand and character consistency and scale across the pipeline.
  • Maintain versioned, reproducible workflows: pinned model and custom-node dependencies, recorded job settings, and provenance for every deliverable.
  • Define and apply quality and evaluation criteria for generated motion, including temporal consistency, artifacts, color and banding, product fidelity (silhouette, materials, logo integrity, geometry drift, warping, flicker), character and identity consistency across shots and variants, brand adherence, and how legibly synthetic the output reads to target audiences; contribute to the evaluation sets and QA gates that allow workflows to be approved and operated as systems.
  • Deliver campaign-ready assets to spec: formats, codecs, alpha handling, aspect-ratio variants, safe areas, captions, color management, and versioned handoff.
  • Provide video-specific training and documentation for creative teams, with rollout and ongoing support coordinated by the Technical Product Manager.
  • Work against defined production metrics: approved assets shipped, cycle time, first-pass QA rate, re-render rate, template reuse, and unit cost.
  • Monitor emerging video generation models and techniques and evaluate their fit within Skechers' existing AI ecosystem.
  • Other duties as assigned.

SKILLS & REQUIREMENTS:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
  • 5+ years of experience in video production, motion design, VFX, or creative technology, with substantial recent hands-on generative video work.
  • Demonstrated portfolio of commercial AI-assisted video or motion work; portfolio review and a practical exercise are part of the interview process.
  • Deep hands-on fluency with node-based generative pipelines (e.g., ComfyUI), including image-to-video workflows that leverage existing photography and creative assets.
  • Demonstrated character and product consistency across shots, scenes, and campaign variants, using identity- and reference-conditioned workflows (e.g., IPAdapter, PuLID, InstantID, or equivalent) and continuity-preserving generation techniques; consistency work must be evident in the portfolio.
  • Professional working proficiency in at least one compositing and finishing environment (After Effects, Nuke, or Resolve/Fusion), including masking, rotoscoping, tracking, cleanup, and matte integrity.
  • Delivery craft: frame rates, codecs, alpha handling, aspect-ratio variants, safe areas, captions, and color-space and gamut management.
  • Working Python and Linux comfort sufficient to automate, batch, and operate pipelines, with awareness of queues, retries, logging, VRAM constraints, and failure recovery.
  • Ability to design structured, reusable prompt systems that scale across a pipeline rather than one-off prompts.
  • Preferred: adapter fine-tuning such as LoRA for character, style, or product consistency; evaluation-set construction; agentic coding tools (e.g., Claude Code); experience with DAM/MAM asset workflows.
  • Experience producing for social, digital, advertising, and/or e-commerce channels, with a strong eye for motion and brand consistency; footwear, fashion, apparel, or retail experience is a plus.
  • Strong communication skills; able to collaborate effectively with creative, marketing, and technology teams in a fast-moving environment.

The pay range for this position is $100,000-$120,000/yr USD.
About Skechers
Skechers, a global Fortune 500® company, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel, and accessories. Serving over 180 countries and territories, Skechers connects customers to products through department and specialty stores, e-commerce and digital stores, and through our more than 5,300 Skechers retail locations.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Skechers is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful work environment. Skechers provides equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment without regard race, color, religion, gender, gender identification and expression, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, military status, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic established by local, state or federal law.
Reasonable Accommodation
Applicants for employment who require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job should request appropriate accommodation by emailing benefits@skechers.com.
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily. The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.

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