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Art Director

At Wizards of the Coast, we connect people around the world through play and imagination. From our genre defining games like Magic: The Gathering® and Dungeons & Dragons® to our growing multiverse, we continue to innovate and build new ways to foster friendship and connection. That’s where you come in!

What is this role all about?

This opening is for a self-motivated, experienced and versatile Art Director who has a proven track record managing and encouraging a team of game-artists, ensuring that visual elements are of the highest quality and technically compliant. This person will have strong skills in driving concept and reference, 2D and 3D art together with a deep understanding of technical pipelines and familiarity with optimizing and implementing art assets for game engines. This role resides on our Magic the Gathering: Arena team.

What you'll do:

• Lead teams of internal and external artists producing 2D, 3D and VFX assets for games on multiple platforms.
• Drive the creation of art and ensure that a unified vision is maintained and that artists have clear benchmarks for asset production.
• Run asset creation and quality bar for outsourced art.
• Find artistic solutions which balance creative vision with production realities.
• Review artists’ work and give feedback to ensure the highest quality expectations are met.
• Collaborate with Technical artists, designers and programmers to develop efficient and productive art pipelines and establish metrics which ensure artistic goals are met within technical performance targets.
• Develop and own art creation guidelines and pipeline specifications.
• Work with production to ensure that realistic schedules are created, tracked and optimized.
• Keep informed about the latest advances in game art technique and technology.
• Develop and guide guidelines and process for leading art outsourcing.
• Be an active mentor, leader and role model for the art team.
• Work to maintain morale and build an atmosphere of creativity and passion.
• Maintain contact with other studio projects to offer expertise and advice where needed.
• Be actively involved with recruitment, vetting candidates, performing interviews / recommending hires.
• Create training materials and events which develop the skills of the artists and raise the quality bar within the studio.

What you'll bring:

• College Diploma/Degree in 2D/3D, video game development or equivalent training/experience.
• 2 shipped titles as an Art Lead/Associate Art Director, 4 or more years at a Senior Level or above.
• Experience of working on a published AAA game from concept to release.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating a high level of artistic creativity in one or more game art fields across a range of styles.
• Expert knowledge of Photoshop.
• Proficiency with 2D/3D animation, 3D modeling, and/or VFX.
• Experience working in Unity Engine.

Knowledge, abilities and characteristics of the ideal Wizard:

• Have shipped multiple AAA PC or console title as a concept artist.
• Technical mindset with experience of implementing assets in game engines.
• Solid base in the traditional arts and an understanding of fundamental art theory including principles of color, light, composition and anatomy.
• Excellent communication skills (spoken and written), and the ability to present clear documentation communicating ideas both within the art team and to external clients.
• Positive influence and leadership skills - motivates and encourages others to generate new insights.
• Strong understanding of 3D art techniques & software packages such as Maya, Zbrush, 3DCoat and Substance.

We are an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer

The above is intended to describe the general content of and the requirements for satisfactory performance in this position. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of the duties, responsibilities, or requirements of the position.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you are selected to move forward in our application process and need to request an accommodation, please let your recruiter or coordinator know.