Art Department Supervisor - Cinematics

Description

A well-suited candidate will need to be an experienced, highly organized professional with an art direction background in an animation, game development, feature film, or commercial art environment. The ideal candidate must exhibit outstanding communications skills and a proven experience in management. A solid understanding of the CG animation and VFX production process and related technologies is as important as a strong grasp of form, color and light for both 2D and 3D art assets.

The art department supervisor will first and foremost cater to the directors and art directors of various development and production teams. Because of this he or she needs to understand their role as that of an executing service provider.

The successful candidate must be experienced at mentoring a team, be able to work well in a fluid environment of artists who are passionate about making great movies and games, possess extensive art skills (painting, illustration, modeling, texturing, concept drawing or animation) and be well-versed in related production tools (Photoshop, Maya, Nuke, etc.).

Primary duties will include the planning and management of the team’s artistic efforts in tandem with the pre-production producer.   The scope of the work that will be managed ranges from comic books, illustrations, concept work, and sculpting to licensed product art direction.  The art department supervisor will also make substantial creative and artistic contributions to Blizzard Entertainment’s broad range of intellectual properties and assist various departments within Blizzard as an art lead.

It will be important for the right candidate to have or gain detailed knowledge of the lore of the numerous IPs and have a thorough understanding of their diverse design languages.

Responsibilities

• Managing, directing, and enhancing the ongoing efforts of the Anvil’s art department staff.
• Motivating artists and communicating with stakeholders on Blizzard’s various development teams.
• Working with multiple art directors in a service provider role.
• Directing communications with stakeholders across different teams and projects to lead them through the creative process at the Anvil.
• Taking ownership of the work created in the art department and guiding it through the pipeline.
• Planning for future growth of the art department in light of fluctuating production demands.
• Strategizing with project managers and producers to meet or exceed quality expectations without compromising project margins.
• Understanding and estimating the length of projects and driving the design of art pipelines to meet deadlines.
• Taking on art tasks personally if there is a need for all hands on deck.

Requirements

• Extensive experience managing multiple projects / priorities and deadlines
• Expertise in leading teams remotely and guiding outsourcing partners
• Demonstrate ability to communicate stylistic concepts and ideas verbally and visually
• Demonstrate ability to embrace and internalize an existing vision
• Demonstrate ability to evaluate and recommend team members for different projects based on strengths and costs
• Effective written and verbal communications skills
• A very strong attention to detail
• Demonstrated competence in a breadth of art styles
• A minimum of 8 years’ of leadership experience in the game development / film / animation industry or equivalent work experience
• Successful track record in developing and leading teams of more than 10 people (both internally and remotely)
• Confident using Photoshop, Painter, Maya, 3ds Max, After Effects, Nuke

Pluses

• A love for movies and video games
• Internal drive to constantly be learning new techniques and technologies to better understand how art is created and delivered for different production environments

Required Application Materials

• Resume
• Cover Letter which should include:
• Why you are interested in working at Blizzard
• What games you are currently playing

**Only submittals with Cover Letters will be considered