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Art Director

At Playco, we make games that bring the world closer together through play!

Our ideal teammates are thoughtful, low-ego, and hardworking professionals who can zoom into the details and out to embrace the big picture. We are passionate about makers and tinkerers, who are unafraid to experiment with a healthy disregard for constraints. We hope you'll enrich our team with your enthusiasm and passion, both for games and for life.

We’re looking for an experienced Art Director to lead our creative team in producing the highest quality 2D Art and Animation for our project: the Storyverse! A storytelling tool that allows users to create interactive narratives with animated versions of their favorite NFT characters.

The ideal candidate will bring a mix of artistic, marketing, and project management expertise. As the Storyverse unites characters from many different genres and developers, you’ll be responsible for overseeing a wide variety of render styles and techniques. You will guide and collaborate with internal game artists and outsourcing studios to launch projects from concept art to full production. You’ll have a natural eye for design and a passion for visual storytelling that will connect with any audience.

Responsibilities

• Work with the VP of Creative, Project Manager, and Associate Art Directors to maintain a unified brand understanding and voice for the project, helming a creative audit to elevate our innovation.
• Develop creative briefs based on ideas established in brainstorming sessions with direction, schedules, and expected deliverables for the creative team.
• Understand the technical limitations of our browser-based engine to ensure assets are compatible while still pushing the highest visual quality bar.
• Help organize and prioritize the team’s project roadmap and OKRs.
• Study and evaluate market trends, consumer needs, and the competitive landscape, and track campaign performance.
• Ensure the team adheres to current processes, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement, and proposing and creating processes and tools to support design operations.
• Collaborate with marketing and sales divisions in creating marketing plans, and aligning team priorities with business goals.
• Obtain team approval by presenting final layouts, storyboards, and illustrations, encouraging members to provide feedback, and responding to internal commentary and requests.
• Oversee the art department by assisting with hiring, training, assigning, scheduling, and mentoring staff.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in mobile game development and 4+ years of experience in a management capacity.
• Outstanding knowledge of art fundamentals such as; Lighting, color, anatomy, perspective, and exceptional draughtsmanship skills. Being able to apply these skills across different styles. Being able to apply these skills across different disciplines (UI, animation, illustration, etc.).
• An art portfolio that demonstrates the ability to make art that’s in line with the top mobile games in the industry.
• Must have proficient knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite.
• Experience managing a 2D skeletal animation pipeline for a variety of character types. Preferably in Spine Animation Software.
• Experience in task management software such as Asana or Jira.
• Experience working with outsourcing companies.
• Good and clear communication. Ability to give direct but constructive feedback.
• Detail-oriented and organized.

Bonus

• Knowledge of the crypto space, its audience, and the many different NFT character projects.
• Experience with Interactive Narrative games.
• 2D Character rigging.
• 3D experience.

Playco is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, disability, genetic information, age, military service, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We believe that our differences are our strengths and we know that diversity builds a better team.