Artistic Director

YOUR ROLE

We are looking for an Art Director for an AAA cinematic project. You will demonstrate leadership and creativity in bringing the project’s established vision to life, ensuring it meets or exceeds the expected quality standards—as defined by the studio—while adhering to production parameters.  Your creative and quality-driven input is essential within the framework established by the client and the Creative Director. You will artistically and visually bring the client’s vision to life, under the supervision of the Creative Director and in collaboration with the VFX Supervisor. You will ensure that the overall artistic vision is maintained at key points in production, working closely with the CG Supervisor and the production team.

YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Completes and/or rationalizes the creative vision (Art): builds the artistic bible from the elements received from the client’s brief and/or the creative director;

• Supervises, guides and validates conceptual illustrations of characters and/or environments (references, moodboards, etc.); makes assignments and follows-up accordingly (Set/Props Designers/Character Designers team);

• Ensures, at key times determined with the VFX sup, that character and environment models, textures/shading, surfacing, lighting/compositing and 2D special effects match the graphic rules determined in the bible; supervises/performs paintovers if necessary; 

• Works closely with the production manager and human resources regarding talent management, training needs, performance evaluations, downtime optimization to ensure that the departments he supervises develop, have the right teams with the right profiles to deliver projects on time and in quality.

YOU HAVE

• At least 8 years of experience in art direction, production design, conceptual work, or illustration in the field of animation;

• Excellent communication skills and strong interpersonal skills, enabling clear and concise communication of artistic directions to both the in-house team and the client;

• Strong expertise in digital painting: excellent command of colors, values, hand-painted textures, and the subtleties of skin tones on characters.

• Mastery of a painterly style: ability to create characters and environments with a hand-painted look, simplified forms, broad brushstrokes, and a masterful use of light and atmospheric perspective.

• Development and consistency of visual style: participate in the initial look development, then take ownership of it, refine it, and extend it to the entire project (characters, environments, props, DMP, lighting), while ensuring artistic consistency.

• Respect for an existing visual universe: ability to adapt established characters and iconic elements to a new artistic direction without losing their identity.

• Understanding of stylized 3D: know how to translate a 2D painted style into a 3D rendering by collaborating with the lookdev, textures, shading, and lighting teams.

• Hands-on approach: the ability to produce high-quality concepts, paintovers, and lighting references to guide artists and enhance the final renders.

• Cinematic sensibility: an excellent sense of composition, silhouettes, lighting, colors, and visual clarity to support the narrative.

• Commitment through to the final shots: actively support artists during production, provide precise feedback, and propose concrete solutions to enhance the visual quality of the shots.

YOU ARE

• Someone with exceptional creativity and a very sharp artistic sense;

• A team player;

• Flexible;

• An excellent communicator;

• Rigorous, with a great attention to detail;

• Adaptable;

• Able to work under tight deadlines;

• Able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of team members.