Art Direction

An art director has one hell of a job.
I can imagine it to be stressful but still a very powerful and engaging career in which you get plenty of rewards and satisfaction. Still it’s one hell of a job.
An art director is in charge of the overall look of a game, which of course is a very important element to any game.
Any here is some information on what is actually required to become an art director.
Education and Experience:
Various degrees of education and experience will be considered:
· BFA from an accredited art/design school or equivalent diploma.
· At least three years experience in art management.
· 1 year experience in the game or film & television industry is essential.
· At least 1 shipped game as an art lead is essential.
· Creation of visual concepts and/or storyboards essential.
· Supervisory, leadership or project management experience is preferred.
· Experience with outsourcing art assets and integrating them into internally created art is a strong plus.
· Experience in art recruiting an asset.
Skills and Abilities:
· Communicate ideas clearly through concept art, conversation, and documentation. Ability to direct a team of artists in creating a unified vision and translating that vision onto the screen.
· Displays a high standard of excellence in personal and professional work.
· Ability to create, maintain, and evaluate art schedules and manage a team's project execution within them.
· Formulate and evaluate art tools and pipelines.
· Passion for the handheld hardware game's subject matter and world setting.
· Strong communication skills.
· Strong decision-making skills.
· Conflict resolution.
· Organizational ability.
· Trained artistic eye and art vocabulary.
· Objectivity with cross-project/company issues.

Obviously since is a director you’ll have to be good at communication with people and to be able to settle issues with people and directing them without dictating them. Also they should create art styles guides and can keep and direct the art to look consistent and clean, whilst keeping in the style of the game. It’s one heck of a job. All I can say is that it’s one of those dream jobs that you’ll have to work your ass off if you want even a look into this kind of level. Work hard or be prepared to bribe and blackmail your way to the top.
Since art style guides usually fall into the many duties of an art director then I believe that it is excellent that we are already starting to learn to how create our own.