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Art Director - Project 1
1 year ago
Welcome to Timbre!
We are Timbre Games (part of the Sumo Digital Group), a new studio in Vancouver, Canada focused on making exciting, innovative game experiences. Timbre’s vision is to change the games industry through the original games we make, as well as how we make them. We’re building an inclusive, supportive culture that allows us to explore fresh, new (and sometimes weird) ideas. We’re searching for more visionary explorers to join our team of diverse voices, coming together to develop games that are accessible to a wide audience.
If you’re thinking about your next adventure, send us your resume to talk to our team about how you can add your voice to the games we’re working on.
Art at Timbre Games
We are visionaries, sculptors, painters and landscapers of virtual worlds. Together, we breathe life into creative concepts and ideas while defining experiences and quality. We collaborate with multiple departments to establish our vision, and absolutely light up as we watch it all come together. We are utilizing advanced tools and technologies to shape our vision of building diverse and accessible AAA games.
Art Directors impact our team by bringing all disciplines together to oversee the visual cohesion and direction for our game. You will also bring empowerment and mentorship to our art team, using collaboration, inclusion and mentorship to inspire everyone on our first title from pre-production through to launch!
As an Art Director at Timbre games, you’ll be working with a cross discipline team to define and direct the look of our first title - from characters, to worlds, to FX and UI. You’ll work closely with the Game Director to create and visualize the game, and will help grow the careers of Timbre’s artists. You know that as an Art Director, communication is your greatest tool, and you’re an excellent communicator of visual ideas. Whether through concept art, style guides, or presentations, you are experienced in the presentation of visual concepts that inspire a team and galvanize everyone around a well thought out idea.
You believe the best ideas don’t belong to one person, that a collaborative team is more powerful than any one person’s idea. You are experienced in how to bring together that team to extract those ideas. You have experience with a wide variety of methods to convey the vision of the game to artists, designers, and everyone on the team. including our external partners. You’ll oversee and direct visual cohesion and direction for the game, and help create and refine our art direction pillars.
As an Art Director at Timbre, you will:
- Shape and define the artistic vision for the game alongside the Game Director and our team
- Through researching industry trends and partnering with art leadership, you will set art priorities, elevate our art best practices, and articulate the game’s visual evolution at a studio level
- Enhance and solidify the Art Direction Pillars that will define the creative parameters for every art discipline to play and explore within on our first project
- Work with our benchmark team and concept artists to create our style guides, presentations or concept art and galvanize everyone around a well thought out idea
- Scope, prioritize & delegate features and game content throughout the project’s life cycle with your art team, ensuring they remain empowered to execute with confidence and clarity on the game vision
- Collaborate with our external partners to ensure that the game’s visuals fulfill the requirements of all of the game’s stakeholders
- Meet regularly with external partners to collaborate and present visual designs and overall product goals
- Partner with Production on staffing plans and Recruitment on inclusive hiring, building a team that can help you execute on the game and team’s vision
- Create a coaching culture by guiding the team through creative and technical challenges, helping them to achieve their career goals and growth
What you bring:
- No matter what path you’ve taken to becoming an Art Director, you are curious and excited about all aspects of game art, and how to shape them to create a sense of delight and joy in players
- Experience managing other game artists and art leaders, overseeing the growth and development of your team to the next steps in their careers
- Experience as an Art Director or Assistant AD on at least 1 shipped title, building process documentation and style guides in the process
- Professional experience establishing creative vision and strategy in a game production environment
- Proficiency in video game development tools, pipelines, and workflows, plus an interest in jumping into Unreal when needed
- A collaborative approach to communication: you are experienced in delivering clear, concise messages that are easily understood by all disciplines, as well as any external partners
- Knowledge of various art sub-disciplines with an ability to elevate each areas craft
You might also bring:
- Experience with, or an appreciation of, procedural generation and the possibilities that creates for game art
- Experience in creating high quality, stylized art (such as 2D concepts, 3D character, animation, or VFX)
What you'll gain:
Timbre aims to foster a workplace environment that empowers our team to do their best creative work. Below are a list of some of the benefits we offer to ensure you reach your full potential. As we continue to grow, we are co-creating more values-driven benefits to support our team.
• Competitive salary & comprehensive health benefits, including extended health, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, short / long-term disability, 24/7 counselling through an employee assistance program and a health spending account available to you from your first day
• Annual bonus & up to 5% RRSP matching available to you from your first day
• Flexible paid time off (unlimited), plus holiday closure between Christmas and New Years, as well as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• Work with us in Vancouver or remotely across Canada, utilizing our $500 work from home allowance
• 1 year gaming subscription and weekly gaming days
• My Pathway - a Career Development Program to provide a clear path for you to grow at Timbre
• 8 learning days per year and unlimited access to Udemy online courses
• A values driven culture with direct access to leadership and industry veterans with a wealth of knowledge to share
Timbre’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Timbre Games is located in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada and on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Although our roots are in Vancouver, we work with a remote, distributed team across Canada. If you are interested in an opportunity at Timbre Games but are not presently residing in Canada, please note that we may be able to offer assistance in immigrating / relocating under the right conditions.
Timbre Games is an equal opportunity employer and considers all candidates for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, marital status, military or veteran’s status (including protected veterans, as may be required by federal law), sexual orientation or any other category protected by law. We celebrate all backgrounds and attributes that make us unique and amazing - in this world and the ones we create!
At Timbre, we try to be mindful and not set unrealistic requirement expectations in order to apply. If you don’t tick all of the boxes of the role that you’re excited about, we encourage you to send your resume to our General Application inbox on
our careers page, or,
follow Timbre on LinkedIn to stay in touch with our newest openings.
Accommodations will be provided as requested by candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
If what we’ve shared above resonates with you, connect with us today!
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