The role of the art director...

[The Devo]

In your experience, what are the art director's duties? What qualities do you think one needs? If you've worked with a bad one, why were they bad? What balance of art-to-managment is normal? 80/20? 20/80? How important is synergy with a producer?

Anyone in the know, any insight is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[Buzzy]

In the purest sense, an art director's job is to manage the "look" of the product. It's not his job to create the look, only guide it. It's not his job to define processes or pipelines. He does not do quality control. And he definately doesn't create assets.

His job is to facilitate the artists' creative process, not the other way around. He should organize and wrangle the art team's assets so that everyone is on the same page and going in the same direction. Make the artists' jobs as easy as possible. From there, the artists will do the rest. He also needs to act as a barrier between the artists in the trenches and upper management.

Above all, he needs to trust his team. He should guide the team, but needs to let them do their job.

[seven]

An art director in my experience is one who makes sure a project has an overall look and feel. They are responsible for getting appropriate research and reference images to artists by either approving said images or obtaining them though other means so they can communicate the vision of the project. They are responsible for various levels of quality (not quality control) in the art pipeline at certain stages, alpha, beta and gold. They also should work with the producer to negotiate reasonable goals and time lines to meet the client or projects needs. They are responsible for delegating portions of the project to their art leads and the rest of the team to reach the goals of the art department. They are also to make themselves available to answer questions and sign off on tasks when needed. They should always be 10 steps ahead each of their artists so they know what comes next.

As for qualities, any individual who is capable of handling the above without freaking out and causing unneeded stress to the art team. The game industry can be a little nerve racking with tight production deadlines. Making a project harder than it needs to be is considered unneeded. This is also a partial answer to the below response.

What makes an art director bad IMHO is them pretending to know more then they do. "I don't know, let me find out the answer to that question and I'll get back to you." is an acceptable answer. Not fulfilling any of the duties I stated above can also make them a bad art director.

Balance... I think it really depends on the scope of the project and company.

Synergy with a producer... I've never had a problem with a producer primarily because I meet my deadlines and do my job. I've been friendly with them and have gone out to lunch a couple times with them but I'm not exactly sure what you want answered here.

[JacqueChoi]

I find the best Art Directors are the ones with an actual artistic vision that ties into the game design, and are able to COMMUNICATE what that is.

I think it's VERY important that they are avid gamers, AND have a decent grasp on real-time game art.

In a perfect world, they should be able to come up with artistic solutions to design/technical problems.



What I think makes an Art Director BAD, is someone who is completely reactionary, that is completely unable to visualize what the finished product will look like, and will thus repeatedly ask for change after change after change (epsecially when it's due to an inability to communicate).

Bad Art Directors don't use the actual final game as their result. They'll usually opt for screenshots, Pre-Rendered Shots, high rez/unoptimized meshes as the barometer for how good their game looks. They usually overstep their bounds as an AD as well, trying to direct the animations, and game design to suit their artistic needs.

[walrus]

In addition to all that was said above, a good Art Director should represent the artists to upper management, serving as a laison and spokesperson to higher-ups and other departments. He or she should stick up for them, protect them from unnecessary flack or micro-managing from bosses, champion their needs, etcetera.

And, as Joxx noted, communications skills are of the utmost importance for an AD. Both for communicating the vision to the artists (increasing numbers of which are off-site and even overseas), but also communicating, explaining, and negotiating that vision to the management, marketing department, programmers, etcetera.

[GutsandBolts]

I agree with Walrus on this one especially as productions continue to grow in budget and team size. The question of art manager vs art director is one I have been going back and forth with a lot recently. I think ideally you have a different person for each role bacause many of the traits that make you good at one are at odds with the other but when it comes down too it I prefer working for someone who falls on the art manager side. If the production cant be finished in time to be polished it doesnt matter how good the concept is.

[poopinmymouth]

Hmmmm, I thought it was supposed to be a reward position for people who have been at the company the longest and schooze around at the bars and parties with the other managers of the company.

It would indeed be nice if they were competent artists with a vision who didn't micromanage and helped their art team create cohesive art while keeping other, dumber, managers from mangling the process.

[seven]

:lol: be positive ben :lol:

[cgjeff]

Hmmmm, I thought it was supposed to be a reward position for people who have been at the company the longest and schooze around at the bars and parties with the other managers of the company.

It would indeed be nice if they were competent artists with a vision who didn't micromanage and helped their art team create cohesive art while keeping other, dumber, managers from mangling the process.


I love you for this. I really do.


In an ideal world, yes an art director would be a competent artist doing his all to make everything flow easier for everyone working under him. But what ben pointed out is more the norm from my experience :\

[MM]

ideally, if someone wants to be an art director they better be one hell of an artist with both traditional and digital art background.

[JacqueChoi]

Hmmmm, I thought it was supposed to be a reward position for people who have been at the company the longest and schooze around at the bars and parties with the other managers of the company.


:lol: :dude: :praise:

Post of the year.