‘What Studio Heads look for in Art Directors’ with Mishka Katkoff

An Art Director could be a highly skilled artist or even someone immensely loved by their art team. However, if the Art Director is not in sync as a business partner with their Studio Lead, then the alignment fails, eventually leading to repercussions in the entire game development process. In this episode, Mishka Katkoff emphasizes the importance of this alignment and shares various insights from the viewpoint of studio executives, highlighting what they expect from art leaders.

Some of the topics covered include:

- Should an art director's methods align with the studio culture, or can they have the freedom to follow their own working model?

- How flexible are studio leaders when supporting decisions about game visuals made by their art directors?

- What actions do studio leads take when artists in their company express concerns about their art directors?

- In the eyes of a studio lead, should an art director evolve and adopt new methods of work, such as using AI?

- Studio executives might not be browsing ArtStation; so, how should Art Directors make themselves visible on their radar?

Connect with Mishka Katkoff at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/

Chapters:

00:00 Episode Intro

01:01 Introduction: Mishka Katkoff

02:52 Expectations from An Art Director

06:40 Art Director Skill Set Prioritization

12:19 Alignment with Organizational Culture

17:46 Decison-Making for Game Visuals

22:19 Navigating Creative Disagreements

29:14 Addressing Artists Concerns

33:32 Handling Organizational Changes

38:03 Adaptability and Adoption of New Methods

44:34 Discovery

48:08 Wrap Up

Watch this podcast as video on: https://youtu.be/aEG_ZC4DM1A