Art Director, Games - Secret Location

mheipel

Secret Location, an Entertainment One company, combines cutting-edge technology with traditional storytelling to create digitally accelerated experiences for the web, mobile, tablet, and new platforms like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). It is the first company in the world to win a Primetime Emmy® Award for a Virtual Reality project and the creator of the first original serialized VR narrative.

The Art Director bridges the art team with the producers, development, and design teams, and is responsible for leading and recognizing the vision for the game’s look. They will heavily inform the art production pipeline and ensure that assets are created in a way complimentary to the strengths and limitations of the technology used. This person has a strong ability to adapt to shifting priorities, navigate through problems, take ownership and bring something from concept to completion.

Do you stare chaos in the eye and get excited at the opportunity to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, implement solutions and make amazing stuff? The ideal candidate is an artistic visionary with a strong preference for working in a highly creative, innovative and collaborative development environment. Someone who is not afraid to experiment, make mistakes, then dig into the process to determine where it messed up and come up with a creative solution.

The position requires a fluency in modern 3D art creation techniques and an avid interest in pushing the leading edge of game art development, specifically in VR.

Responsibilities

• The Art Director collaborates with stakeholders, executives and department leads to deliver world-class visuals on schedule and within scope and budget, contributing significantly to establishing Secret Location as a premium producer of Virtual Reality experiences
• The Art Director delivers and/or oversees the delivery of look development, concepting development, layouts, designs, graphics, models, textures and shaders and other production materials as well as assigning tasks, approving work, and managing the time of assigned resources.
• The Art Director keeps a close eye on the pipeline, maintaining an art production pipeline, process and workflow that ensures the art direction adds considerable value to the finished product.
• The Art Director will be hands on in production and expected to undertake a variety of technical art tasks including lighting, shader development, and other VFXs.

Requirements

• MUST HAVE 5+ years of experience and have shipped at least one 3D game title on PC or console.
• 3D generalist skills including modeling, texturing, shader creation and environment skills.
• A strong knowledge of game development engines (Unity or Unreal) and their specific art integration pipelines.
• Excellent leadership, communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• Ability to envision and lead the creation of inspired game visuals.
• Ability to work with all disciplines to find efficient pathways for implementing the artistic vision within the limitations of the platform hardware.
• Strong foundational art skills in color, composition, and form.
• Demonstrable art ability in 3D or VR mediums.
• Convey visual direction, communicating effectively and proactively with all disciplines.
• Ability to lead by example via consistent contribution, hands-on attitude and cohesive efforts.
• Familiarity with game development and the interrelation between game design and game art.
• Able to build, evaluate and revise art schedules and manage a team’s project execution within them. Able to schedule dependencies with other project leaders.
• Ability to define deadlines and task time estimates, work well under pressure, and able to multitask effectively.
• Broad experience across art disciplines including modeling, lighting and shading.
• Sound understanding of design elements, color theory, anatomy, drawing and painting.
• Intimate knowledge of asset creation in modern DCC tools. Traditional art skills a plus.
• Experienced at pitching visual and gameplay designs and able to adapt visual design goals to the strengths of the various consoles.
• Self-motivated, with a strong work ethic.