As Art Director you are a fundamental part of the project team and responsible for its visual direction.  You will lead the artists in the art department, asset team and lighting and compositing teams. You will articulate the vision of the director to the team, review design work in detail and provide concise, informative feedback to ensure artwork produced fulfils the production brief. 

You will ensure all artwork is of a high quality and reflects the director’s vision. You will  provide detailed brief and feedback, ensuring any material passed to 3D artists is comprehensive in helping translate design into final asset or shot.

Reporting to the Production Manager, you will assist on budgets and timelines. You will need to be flexible and a creative problem solver to ensure the director’s creative brief is met within resources and timeframes. As Art Director you may also be involved in the hiring process for design team on the production.

Day to Day:

• Facilitating the requirements for story and the Directors’ vision for characters, sets and props that establish and maintain the show’s unique visual style throughout the animation pipeline. 

• Brief and give feedback to the production team in order to achieve the right visual tone, mood, colour palette etc. to help communicate the story, character and world. 

• Develop and communicate a clear design vision (including characters, locations, props, backgrounds, lighting, and colour) that will support and maintain the overall creative vision and quality for the story and style of the project.

• Liaise with the Production Manager and coordinators to agree on the best use of resources within the art department, finding practical solutions to creative problems and working to a TV production turnaround. 

• Manage the art department of designers and provide practical direction to the pre production and lighting/ comp teams. 

• Oversee workflow to ensure all deadlines are met, communicating with the Animation Director and/or other departments to anticipate and tackle potential design and production challenges and issues

• Liaise and communicate with the client team.

• Mentor and support the design team and cultivate positive team morale.

• Provide feedback and direction to the 3D team, both for episodic props and characters and environments. 

• Brief the designers/3D team directly.

• Liaise between departments so that everyone is getting what they need. i.e: rigging/animation requirements must be considered from the very first 2D design.

Must Have:

• Excellent aesthetic judgement, artistic skill and imagination to produce original and high-quality designs.

• Excellent communication skills to gain clear understanding of what the director wants, being able to explain ideas, give constructive feedback. 

• Strong organisational and management skills to lead a department, able to communicate and present visual ideas.

• Proven leadership skills with the ability to meet deadlines and keep a team on schedule.

• Understand animation pipelines: be able to understand what can be achievable further down the line within an animation pipeline. Take the initiative to talk with all departments to understand their requirements in a design, in order to execute successfully in its final 3D format.

• Work to a schedule and budget, be able to prioritise, remain calm under pressure.

• Experience supervising a design team including delegating, providing constructive feedback. 

• Comprehensive knowledge of tools and software such as Cintiq, Photoshop, or other applicable design software.

• Ability to create concepts for characters, props and sets and ability to adapt and work within different styles as required.

• Excellent understanding of colour theory, surfacing and lighting. 

• Experience leading in a TV animation pipeline. 

• Experience of planning and assessing the design needs from scripts.

• Knowledge of storyboarding and cinematography.

• Able to think laterally and creatively to problem solve and produce great design solutions efficiently while working to tight deadlines.

Bonus Points: 

• Experience leading in a feature animation pipeline.