#2: The Common Pet Peeves of an Art Director
- Alana Rose
- May 25, 2013
- 2 min read
Jon Schindehette of Art Order and Wizards of the Coast moderates the Art Director Roundtable with Sonja Morris and Andrew Vallas of Paizo, Mark Chiarello from DC Comics, Tor’s Irene Gallo, Lauren Panepinto of Orbit Books, and Zoe Robinson and Andrew Navaro of Fantasy Flight.
These were written almost word-for-word from the art directors' panel at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live - so pay attention! These could make or break your relationship with the people that will hire you!
1. Not Communicating
Don’t change something suddenly without talking to the director. For example, if you hadn’t talked about adding a bird in that one illustration then either don't add the bird. Or ask them politely about it.
2. A sudden change in style
Do not experiment with your style after you have received a project. They hired you for a reason for that particular project, and usually it’s because of your current style and technique. Save that for your personal work. When you've come up with a solid new style, send them a postcard with an example!
3. Asking for advice and then arguing with them about it.
Just don’t.
4. Disappearing out of nowhere.
Or taking a job and then completely falling off of the face of the earth.
Again… Communicate. If something happens and you’re suddenly in the hospital or something else has drastically happened – TELL THEM. They’ll work with you on it. Shit happens. They know that. If you do not keep them updated, you will be fired and you'll likely not get a job from them again or any of the art directors they keep in contact with. (Which is most of them.)
5. Not following the general process.
Sketch. Get that o.k.’ed. Then follow through on to the comp. Do NOT
proceed to the final without input… otherwise you will just have to rework the entire thing with that one idea stuck in your head.
6. Use Photo References
Use them. But only use them for reference. Make your art your own. If you copy… Well. I would hope that you know that is illegal. And someone will eventually find out. Be it the Art Director or just some random person on the Internet. It will happen… and you will probably no longer have a job.
7. Don’t be a jerk.
Art directors talk. If you piss one of them off, the others will find out and you will likely be completely out of luck when it comes to finding any new jobs. So don't burn your bridges.
Be sure to check out the next post - It's a little more positive. AKA What art directors love.
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