Week 7! gimme me an F! gimme an art!

The art director is the person responsible for the look of an entire game in short. In actual fact an art director has a bucket load of tasks and responsibilities ranging from creative influence to the more managerial side of things including the hiring and firing of his team.

The art director has a responsibility to both his employer in terms of creating the look of a game and developing and communicating this visually and also to his team whom he is responsible for in terms of motivating and providing a sense of direction and leadership.

However I don't think the role of an art director is completely hands on. though there needs to be some aspect of creativity involved I think the art director is more about ensuring his team are all working from the same page and perhaps offering pointers or criticisms and ensuring deadlines are met. It is essentially a managerial possession and this will take a toll on how hands on and creative an art director can be. Undoubtedly this is not always the case I'm sure.

With games becoming more and more advanced and increasingly more grand and epic the difference in art direction between games and movies is decreasing. There is more need for a clear vision of what the game will look like. In the past when the look of a game may have been restricted by the technology I'm sure it was a different ball game altogether but now in a time were the artist is almost only restricted to what they can imagine the roles cannot be too dissimilar.

The skills required for an art director I think are firstly artistic. I know what you're thinking, I mentioned previously that I am not sure how much actual art work an art director does, despite this i think they must still have a vast knowledge of the subject simply because it is their decision that will decide the look of a game. They also need to be able to discuss on a regular basis the work which is being carried out by the team which again is another skill set altogether, communication is also a big part of the role.

All in all their are vast number of skills required to be an art director and I think one of the most important things would be knowledge of the industry. So in order to become an art director I think one of the most important skills would be experience.