An art director is responsible for the visual components of a finished product, such as books, advertisements, movies, video games, or periodicals. They work in various industries and must have leadership and management skills, technical knowledge, and be responsible and organized.
An art director is a person, usually at a management level, who is largely responsible for the visual components of a finished product. That product could be a book, advertisement, movie, video game, or periodical. The term is found in many industries and each type of product presents unique challenges.
In an advertising agency, the art director is responsible for the overall appearance of the ad, whether in print, on a billboard or on television. He or she often works with a copywriter on the general idea, and the copywriter supplies the words that will be used. Typically, he or she can decide which freelance models, actors, and other professionals, if any, to hire. In the end, he or she unifies all the visual components to help complete the project.
An art director working on books or magazines must ensure that the look and feel of the publication is consistent. Art directors tend to specialize in types of publications. Book art directors usually focus only on book covers unless there are illustrations in the text. The magazine’s art directors oversee the page layout and matching art to the stories in each issue.
In film and television, the art director is responsible for building and setting up the sets. Working under this person are set decorators, costume designers, and usually an assistant or more. The production hierarchy of film and television productions often has the art director working below the production designer, who is responsible for the visual texture of the piece. Elements of this visual texture include ensembles, costumes, and hairstyles.
Video game art directors help create colorful and detailed environments, characters, and animation that bring the game to life. In this medium, the director often works with many people during the conceptual phase before starting the pre-production phase. Many game production companies are small, requiring those responsible for art to choose the most capable freelancers and stay within a budget.
In addition to being concerned with the visual surface of the game, a video game art director often has to take into account many technical considerations. Working with programmers, he or she must ensure that the game code being written runs smoothly and follows the vision agreed upon at the start of production. Technical knowledge and willingness to learn new software are essential for video game art direction.
There is no set path to becoming an art director. You usually start out as an employee working with someone in the industry before moving up. Artists who want to become art directors must have leadership and management skills and must be responsible and organized.
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