Being an art director

So what is an art director? What does he do? Is he even important?

Within the game industry the art director is the main man, the leader or captain of the group. They’re generally responsible for setting the visual tone, quality, and style for the game. They are pretty much indirectly responsible for every object, texture, level, character, and effect that often appears in games, This responsibility is extremely hard and requires a lot of strength. A good director must consider all variables for even just one object and apply that to the many objects within the game. Everything you see within a game is strategically placed and is there for a reason and not just randomly added. The art director would go through and look at all of these cracks, plants, trees, blocks of wood, metal bars etc and place them in the appropriate place to add to the effect and given feel of the game.

After looking for an art director application there is a website in which applicants place their CV on their website and they are in relationship with many companies such as “Activision” and even “Crytek”. There is one application for an art director. The specifications that they are looking for in a person so be an art director involves:

• You should have:
  • Experience of working on published titles on current-gen consoles
  • A proven track record in the creation of high performance, high quality assets for AAA titles
  • Knowledge of a range of graphical techniques
  • Experience in creating and maintaining an Art Bible
  • The ability to confidently present best practices to art teams, critiquing problematic assets and work flows
  • The ability to communicate and propagate the artistic vision throughout the studio
  • The ability to collaborate with the Technical Director and Lead Engineers in agreeing technical strategy
  • A passion for games and game visuals

(Taken from the website)

Looking through game companies websites I came across a ubisoft Art director application. This is what they’re looking for:

Ubisoft Singapore opened its doors in July 2008 and is the 18th Ubisoft internal development studio. Located in the Fusionopolis (Solaris @ One-North), a state-of-the-art Infocomm Technology and Media hub, the studio comprises a core team of Ubisoft veterans as well as a fast growing development team - ranging from recent graduates to industry professionals.

In the short span of two years, the full-fledged development studio has already been involved in the production of some major titles such as Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed 2, Prince of Persia : the Forgotten Sands and created independently Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network.

With the focus of creating and developing new high-profile AAA game titles, the expansion of the studio is expected to be rapid as it strives towards its goal of becoming 300-people strong in the years to come

Job Description:

The Art Director will oversee the quality and content of the game’s graphic design production and must ensure that the visual elements are credible and in line with the game’s vision. His/her main tasks and responsibilities are:

- Define the graphic style of the game based on the creative direction (film references, other games, design documents)

- Communicate the quality and content expectations for the atmospheres, settings, characters, etc. to team members using effective visual references and documents that describe the artistic direction

- Follow up on and validate the work of the graphic design team to ensure that the elements produced are in line with the game’s vision and that quality objectives are met

- Establish visual priorities and help in planning the work in collaboration with the graphic design project leader

- Develop the graphic design concepts and participate in map creation (framing, scales, compositions, and interactions) with the creative director and game designer

- Work closely with 3D programmers and the graphic design TD so that the graphic data is properly integrated into the engine

- Play the game to detect any incoherence

- Work closely with the graphic design project lead, the graphic design TD, and the lead 3D programmer to optimize the efforts to innovate and the quality of the graphics generated

Profile:

- Experience on AAA games

- 5 years’ experience as an Art Director or an assistant artistic director (graphic design) or equivalent

- Knowledge of 3ds max and Photoshop, Zbrush (an asset)

- Drawing skills

- Excellent artistic judgement

- Ability to revise the work done by others and suggest improvements if necessary

- Ability to present his/her ideas, communicate the artistic direction, and provide constructive criticism

- Ability to collaborate with members of the graphic design team and members of other project teams.

An art director is a creative visionary who is responsible for defining the visual aspects of the game to a extreme high precision and up hold the art direction of the game. He must take into account, the colours of the game, what level of detail each level should hold, what are buildings and environment meant to look like within the game that makes it believable and realistic to the appropriate story, how does the terrain look, whether there are many NPCs or whether its deserted, and even how red blood should be. Fresh bright red or old stained dark red. The art director must be able to present their ideas to those who are creating the game such as the game developers, programmers, concept artists, creative writers, and many others that are involved in games. The art director will then pair up with the lead director to go over the design document in advance before assembling the art teams. Within the document they then take all the art specifications and create an art design document which pinpoints specific art parts of the document. Such as characters and environment. Being an art director is a creative role because you have to be pinpoint accurate with the visual effects of the game that comes along with the art side of the game. Thus when looking over all the art work adjustments may be made and toning and lighting can play an important role. Knowing the basics of the colour wheel will help in creating tone and mood such as dark colours would be good for horror and bright primary colours will be good for children’s games or party games.

If I ever wanted to become and art director in the future, im going to have to be able to lead a group of multiple people, and even multiple groups at the same time. Being able to manage time efficiently, and ensure that all work is to a high standard. I will need a good to detail and attention to specific parts and items, textures, detail, colour, tone etc. need a passion for games and the visuals behind it, to create what I set out to do.

https://www.ubisoftgroup.com/en-US/careers/search_for_jobs.aspx

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/jobs/aardvark-swift/midlands/england/uk-and-europe/art-director-id60607

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/159200430X/ch11lev1sec2?portal=oreilly#X2ludGVybmFsX0h0bWxWaWV3P3htbGlkPTE1OTIwMDQzMFglMkZjaDExbGV2MXNlYzImcXVlcnk9

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131524/common_methodologies_for_lead_.php?page=1