Skydance
Art Director
Job description
Responsibilities
- Champion and help execute the Director’s creative vision for the film’s visual identity, in close partnership with the Production Designer, ensuring consistency and excellence from development through final delivery
- Define, develop, and clearly communicate the film’s artistic style, with a particular focus on environments, sets, props, and color design, establishing a cohesive visual language across all departments
- Create and contribute high-quality concept art, visual development materials, and key imagery
- Collaborate with the Production Designer to lead and oversee the Los Angeles and Madrid based Art Departments, fostering alignment, consistency, and a unified creative direction across global teams (including occasional travel as needed)
- Provide ongoing artistic direction, feedback, and mentorship to team members, supporting their growth while maintaining high creative standards
- Work closely with studio leadership, production, and technical teams to align on creative goals, production timelines, tools, and budget, balancing artistic ambition with practical execution
- Prepare and deliver compelling presentations that communicate the film’s visual direction to studio executives, stakeholders, and external partners
- Partner with production leadership, Talent Development, and Talent Acquisition to identify, evaluate, and help secure top artistic talent for key roles across departments (both internally and externally)
- Facilitate clear and proactive communication across departments
- Other duties as assigned
Requirements
- 6 years of experience working on animated feature productions; experience in leading or supervising an Art Department, preferably within CG animated feature films a plus
- Demonstrated ability to develop visual ideas from initial concept through final execution, with a strong sense of ownership and creative problem-solving
- Exceptional understanding of design fundamentals, including composition, color theory, lighting, shape language, and visual storytelling
- Proven leadership and team management skills, with the ability to guide, motivate, and develop artists in a collaborative production environment
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize across multiple demands while maintaining a high standard of artistic quality
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a collaborative mindset and the ability to clearly articulate creative direction to diverse teams
- Ability to balance creative vision with production realities, aligning the needs of the show, department, and studio
- Solid understanding of animation production pipelines, workflows, and tools, with proficiency in industry standard software such as Adobe Photoshop
- Experience working across multiple locations or with distributed teams is a plus


