Comments on: Art directing as a job

by: Daniel Chan

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:02:55 +0000

I like the way you broke down what a good AD consists of. I am the lead graphic/web designer at the company i work for and we have 2 art directors and they are completely different from each other. haha. One is all about art and design and stays away from the technical managerial stuff and the other is hardcore with staying on top of projects and deadlines and does most of the traffic managing. Our creative director left a few months back and one of the ADs will soon fill his position. I am looking forward to taking on the AD spot once it’s available and after reading your post you have gave me even more confidence because I know that I may not have all the qualities you have listed but now I know what I need to work on. Keep up the great work! Love your artwork!

-Daniel

by: Jane

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:21:54 +0000

That was incredibly awesome to read. I’m in the web design industry but I’m trying to transition to games. I love game art passionately, so it’s great to see someone write in-depth about what the process is like. I agree absolutely 100% about what you wrote on an AD’s abilities. It’s great to see someone care that way for starting artists. A mentoring AD is a dime a dozen. I’ve worked under the kind of ADs you’ve described, those who use vague terms to describe what they want without really knowing what they want. But thank you for taking the time to document your day, and I really enjoy viewing your work!

by: Rob

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:09:46 +0000

Andy - Since each project, team, and studio can be quite different from each other, it’s hard to say one particular philosophy works best. For me personally, procuring talents that you respect and trust and get along with really well is probably the most important aspect. If you have that nailed, you’re already in good shape. Having a team that really likes being around each other can be quite magical, because everyone goes to work with a smile, and when production heats up, people are still nice to each other even when things go wrong. I have worked with people that have unpleasant personalities, and I have to say, there’s nothing worse than working with people you can’t stand, regardless of how talented and experienced they are.

If an art director is worth his salt, he’ll know to pick the right candidate from a huge pool of applicants. I often pick young talents that may not be experienced, but have incredible potential, although candidates like that are only suitable for non-critical tasks that don’t require a lot of technical knowledge. I like to use young talents on tasks like concepts, storyboards, UI, 2D backgrounds, illustrations, simple props, and maybe some animation if it’s not too technically involving. For tasks that require technical expertise (rigging, complex 3D characters, effects, complex animation..etc), I prefer to use veterans with lots of production experience.

I find that when building a team from ground up, it’s good to have a few veterans that you can count on, and then round out the team with young talents that are very passionate and hungry for knowledge. The veterans can help me nurture the young talents, and this is a great way to mold them into the kind of artists that are ideal for your team, because they haven’t had a chance to build up any bad habits yet.

So depending on if you are directing a team of mostly young talents or a team of mostly veterans, you may find yourself doing mostly mentoring or mostly managing. Mentoring is definitely more involved as you are basically a teacher and a boss, while with managing, most veteran guys already have established a respectable work ethic and they know what’s expected of them.

The reason I enjoy the mentoring aspect is because I love to teach–it’s wonderful to see bright-eyed young talents so excited to learn, and see the seeds you’ve planted blossom into beautiful results. You also end up learning from them too, because they often have a fresh take on things since they are not jaded like some veterans can be.

by: GameJobHunter

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:38:27 +0000

This is by far the most detailed article I have read about what is important for someone in an AD job. It seems extremely difficult to prioritize work for multiple projects, but I’m sure this must be as rewarding as it is stressful. Do you believe that employee management skills or art mentoring skills to be most important? You talk about the importance of both, however my experience has taught me that you must rely upon the talent of your employees to achieve your goals. Can you share your feedback on this point?

Thanks,

Andy Williams | Biz Dev
GameJobHunter, Inc.
www.GameJobHunter.com