UK Only | Art Director

Blue Zoo Production; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Zoo Production in London is seeking a highly skilled Art Director to lead the art department, asset teams, and lighting/comp teams. You will translate the director’s vision into concrete designs, review artwork in detail, and provide concise feedback to ensure the production brief is met.

You will work closely with the Production Manager to manage budgets and timelines, while mentoring the design team and maintaining team morale.

Qualifications

• Must have excellent aesthetic judgement and imagination to produce original high-quality designs.
• Excellent communication to translate the director's vision to the team.
• Strong organizational and management skills to lead a department and meet deadlines.
• Proven leadership with ability to keep a team on schedule.
• Knowledge of animation pipelines and cross-department collaboration.
• Ability to brief and provide constructive feedback to production teams.

Responsibilities

• Facilitating the requirements for story and the Directors’ vision for characters, sets and props that establish and maintain the show’s unique visual style throughout the animation pipeline.
• Brief and give feedback to the production team to achieve the right visual tone, mood, colour palette, etc.
• Develop and communicate a clear design vision for characters, locations, props, backgrounds, lighting, and colour.
• Liaise with the Production Manager and coordinators to allocate resources within the art department and solve problems.
• Manage the art department of designers and provide direction to pre-production and lighting/compositing teams.
• Oversee workflow to ensure deadlines are met and coordinate with other departments.
• Liaise and communicate with the client team.
• Mentor and support the design team and cultivate positive team morale.
• Provide feedback and direction to the 2D team for episodic props and environments.
• Liaise between departments to ensure design considerations for rigging/animation from the start.
• If a CG supervisor is involved, guide and answer questions to solve production challenges.

Skills

Aesthetic judgment

Artistic skills

Communication

Leadership

Team management

Animation pipelines

Design vision

Budget & timelines

Problem solving

Tools

Cintiq

Photoshop

Other design software

Job description

As Art Director you are a fundamental part of the project team and responsible for its visual direction. You will lead the artists in the art department, asset team and lighting and compositing teams. You will articulate the vision of the director to the team, review design work in detail and provide concise, informative feedback to ensure artwork produced fulfils the production brief.

You will ensure all artwork is of a high quality and reflects the director’s vision. You will provide detailed brief and feedback, ensuring any material passed to artists is comprehensive in helping translate design into final asset or shot.

Reporting to the Production Manager and Line Producer, you will assist on budgets and timelines. You will need to be flexible and a creative problem solver to ensure the director’s creative brief is met within resources and timeframes. As Art Director you may also be involved in the hiring process for the art department.

We are very happy to discuss flexible, hybrid and remote working options for all our vacancies. Please note that this vacancy can close early if we receive a high number of applications.

Day to Day:

• Facilitating the requirements for story and the Directors’ vision for characters, sets and props that establish and maintain the show’s unique visual style throughout the animation pipeline.
• Brief and give feedback to the production team in order to achieve the right visual tone, mood, colour palette etc. to help communicate the story, character and world.
• Develop and communicate a clear design vision (including characters, locations, props, backgrounds, lighting, and colour) that will support and maintain the overall creative vision and quality for the story and style of the project.
• Liaise with the Production Manager and coordinators to agree on the best use of resources within the art department, finding practical solutions to creative problems and working to a TV production turnaround.
• Manage the art department of designers and provide practical direction to the pre production and lighting/ comp teams.
• Oversee workflow to ensure all deadlines are met, communicating with the Animation Director and/or other departments to anticipate and tackle potential design and production challenges and issues
• Liaise and communicate with the client team.
• Mentor and support the design team and cultivate positive team morale.
• Provide feedback and direction to the 2D team, both for episodic props and characters and environments.
• Brief the designers/2D team directly.
• Liaise between departments so that everyone is getting what they need. i.e: rigging/animation requirements must be considered from the very first 2D design.
• If a CG supervisor is involved, maintain a close relationship and be able to direct and answer questions throughout the production process to problem solve in tandem where challenges arise.

Must Have:Excellent aesthetic judgement, artistic skill and imagination to produce original and high-quality designs.Excellent communication skills to gain clear understanding of what the director wants, being able to explain ideas, give constructive feedback.Strong organisational and management skills to lead a department, able to communicate and present visual ideas.Proven leadership skills with the ability to meet deadlines and keep a team on schedule.Understand animation pipelines: be able to understand what can be achievable further down the line within an animation pipeline. Take the initiative to talk with all departments to understand their requirements in a design, in order to execute successfully in its final 3D format.Work to a schedule and budget, be able to prioritise, remain calm under pressure.Experience supervising a design team including delegating, providing constructive feedback.Comprehensive knowledge of tools and software such as Cintiq, Photoshop, or other applicable design software.Ability to create concepts for characters, props and sets and ability to adapt and work within different styles as required.Excellent understanding of colour theory, surfacing and lighting.Experience of planning and assessing the design needs from scripts.Knowledge of storyboarding and cinematography.Able to think laterally and creatively to problem solve and produce great design solutions efficiently while working to tight deadlines.