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What does an Art Director do?
An art director is a person, often at a managerial level, who is greatly responsible for the visual components of a finished product. That product can be a book, advertisement, movie, video game or periodical. The term is found in many industries, and each type of product poses unique challenges.
At an advertising agency, the art director is responsible for the overall look of the ad, whether it’s found in print, on a billboard or on television. He or she often works with a copywriter on the overall idea, and the copywriter provides the words that will be used. Typically, he or she can decide which models, actors and other freelance professionals, if any, are hired. At the end, he or she unifies all of the visual components to help complete the project.
An art director working in books or magazines must ensure that the look and feel of the publication is consistent. Art directors tend to specialize in types of publications. Book art directors often focus solely on book covers unless there are illustrations within the text. Magazine art directors oversee page layout and the matching of art with the stories in each issue.
In movies and television, the art director is in charge of the building and dressing of sets. Working under this person are set decorators, set dressers and often one assistant or more. The production hierarchy of films and television productions usually have the art director working below the production designer, who’s responsible for the visual texture of the piece. The elements of that visual texture include sets, costumes and hairstyles.
Video game art directors help create colorful and detailed environments, characters and animation that bring the game to life. In this medium, the director often will work with many people during the concept phase before launching into the pre-production phase. Many game production companies are small, requiring those overseeing the art to pick the most able freelancers and stay within a budget.
In addition to worrying about the game’s visual surface, a video game art director often has to take into account many technical considerations. Working with programmers, he or she must ensure that the game code that’s being written will function smoothly and adhere to the vision agreed upon at the beginning of production. Technical knowledge and a willingness to learn new software are essential to art directing of video games.
There is no set path to becoming an art director. Usually one begins as an employee working under someone in the industry before moving up. Artists who want to become art directors must have leadership and management skills and must be responsible and organized.
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![Magazine art directors oversee page layout and the matching of art with the stories in each issue.]()
By: aerokingMagazine art directors oversee page layout and the matching of art with the stories in each issue. -
![Art directors are responsible for choosing what photos to add to materials to create a certain tone.]()
By: Mat HaywardArt directors are responsible for choosing what photos to add to materials to create a certain tone. -
![Advertising art directors are responsible for how a product will be showcased.]()
By: Alejandro CatalanAdvertising art directors are responsible for how a product will be showcased.
Discussion Comments
@Fa5t3r - Even a documentary needs an art director. In fact, they might need one even more than most films. The director might not have the ability to bring all the elements together into a cohesive whole visually.
It might seem like a documentary is merely a matter of pointing a camera in the right direction at the right time, but there are a lot of elements that we just don't notice if they are done right. Background music, for example, or credits, or the way something is lit or how it is shot.
@MrsPramm - It depends on what kind of project you mean. There are definitely games out there which were completely made by one person, especially now that we have casual game platforms like tablets where people don't expect to be playing an epic saga and are happy with relatively simple graphics.
Not to mention, if you've got something like a documentary, I don't think an art director is all that important. The images will really just speak for themselves and there's no need for someone to jazz them up.
Once you get involved with something like a film or a game studio you start to realize why it's so important to have someone on staff who deals with this kind of thing. It's just impossible for anybody to do all the art by themselves, but you still need someone to make sure that artist A and artist B are both working toward the same vision.
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