What is it like to be an Art Director?

Hello Tania: Art directors typically oversee the work of other designers and artists who produce images for television, film, live performances, advertisements, or video games. They determine the overall style in which a message is communicated visually to its audience. For each project, they articulate their vision to artists. The artists then create images, such as illustrations, graphics, photographs, or charts and graphs, or design stage and movie sets, according to the art director’s vision.

Art directors work with art and design staffs in advertising agencies, public relations firms, or book, magazine, or newspaper publishing to create designs and layouts. They also work with producers and directors of theater, television, or movie productions to oversee set designs. Their work requires them to understand the design elements of projects, inspire other creative workers, and keep projects on budget and on time. Sometimes they are responsible for developing budgets and timelines.

I am not an Art Director but, I do like making things look pretty and professional; especially on my work websites such as Wiki, tSpace, and SharePoint. Here are some links for further research:

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/art-directors.htm#tab-2

https://study.com/articles/Art_Director_Employment_Information_and_Requirements_for_Becoming_an_Art_Director.html

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/careers/arts-visualand-performing-art-directors

Creativity is an awesome skill. I wish you the best on your journey.

Best Wishes!

Hi Tania,

Glad to see that you are interested in the art field. The previous answer is very thorough so I won't retread the information laid out there.

What I can add is that the role of the art director is generally further removed from the actual process of making the art. I worked as an art director briefly but found that for me I much preferred to be the one making the art instead of overseeing it.

There can be a great deal of satisfaction in that role for many people but you will need to be okay with others doing the bulk of the day-to-day work.

In the videogames industry you will also need to be aware of the limitations of implementing your creative vision. So even though you won't have to be intimately familiar with the technical side you will have to keep it in mind.

Along those lines be aware that a majority of your time will be dedicated to be in meetings to review art as it comes in and to provide feedback and direction for things that don't meet your guidelines. It will be up to you to decide if you're comfortable with that.

For me it wasn't, although I very much appreciated the opportunity to work in that role. I hope that this helped to put the role of an art director into context.