the company i work for has been looking for an art director for the better part of a year (or more). as we discuss the needs to be filled by this role, and as we interview potential “art directors” we more and more discover that the very core of the role is really hard to define. also, as the definition of the role expands we find it’s increasingly hard to find a qualified candidate that can bring everything to the table.
i post the question at the bottom of the post because, like “technical artist”, the term art director can be a little squirrely to define. also, us technical artists, for the most, part are pretty senior guys who have been through the trenches with both good & bad art directors and have some insight into the position. plus, i find i trust the opinion of a lot of people on this board.
what i’ve found is the term art director ranges from the “visionary auteur” (like this guy) to the “artist manager” who while well versed in the latest practices of agile development is so far removed from creating art they can’t tell you what a zbrush is. another type you might find is the guy who is a great salesman (for the product as well as himself - that’s how he got the gig) but pretty incapable of inspiring an art team (which needs more than a BS sales pitch to be inspired to work OT) as well as creating an achievable schedule, managing outsourcers, and conveying a unique vision or style. what is incredibly hard to find is that perfect balance in the middle. add to that a company with several disparately styled projects & platforms & you have… well, like us, a really long search.
so the question is…
in your eyes and experience, what makes a good art director?
In my experience an art director is today roughly what a lead artist was ten years ago: simply the most senior artist on a project. But while the lead artist of ten years ago led a team of [5/20/40/whatever] artists who were attached to a single project for the duration, today with bigger teams and much more specialisation a lead artist is more likely to lead a team of [5/20/whatever] other specialists (be it characters, UI, tech art, or whatever) working on multiple overlapping projects, and so it’s necessary to have one artist who is completely devoted to and responsible for all the artistic aspects of one project, and that person is the art director.
I can, of course, easily imagine the same term being used to describe someone even more senior than that with responsibility for all the artwork in the company across all projects and teams (a position I’ve usually seen called Creative Director or Art Manager), but the description above is what I’ve witnessed.
If you can’t find the person you are looking for after a year, it is likely your demands are to high. Or you are going to have to be prepared to wait a really long time.
Maybe consider hiring two people instead, each really good at 1 or 2 of your requirements.
In fact I think it would be much better to hire an art manager person separate from an art director who defines the visual style of your game.
Why bother the second person with boring management tasks?
An Art Director should well, direct the art team. He should understand the aesthetic vision for the game, be able to communicate this with the team, work with out-sourcing art studios, and have a pretty thorough understanding of the pipeline.
As far as managing the majority of specific tasks, in my experience that largely falls upon the project Leads. The Leads should have a clear understanding of what they need to achieve from the Art Director and the timeframe they need it done from the Producer(s).
No one can answer this question for you in your situation, but this is my take;
An art director is exactly what the name implies. The person responsible for providing the visual direction for the studio or product and directing the art staff toward fulfillment of that vision. The Art Director may participate in discussions on scheduling, purchasing, bidding, staffing, etc, but only to the extent of providing information required by the various memebers of the management staff to make a decision.
Scheduling, outsource management, tasking, bidding, staffing, all that other stuff is handled by a PM, APM, PA, AP, Coordinator, Manager, use what ever title you like. Someone does not get the title of Art Director by directing art staff or running an art department, they are an Art Director because they Direct Art.
