Art Direction Bootcamp: Pantalones! Things I Wished I knew Prior to Becoming an Art Director

[Music] one thing off the presentation you don't am so I'm talking about videogames and specifically art direction and things I wished I knew before becoming an art director and before I'm going into detail with that I'm gonna talk about where I'm coming from so you can put everything into perspective so I started out as an indie dev I did I co-founded a small studio with a couple of friends of mine we did indie games like we were super proud because we got deaf kids and like we got a steam release and it was like super awesome and everything was cool we peaked at about 10 people which was very scary at that time because 10 people started for an inny deaf like way too much and from there I like about three and a half years later I decided to move on to the next project next thing so I left freaks they're still out and running which makes me very proud and I got hired by the company called good games and good games at that time I was looking into making a triple-a game they were looking into figuring a way out to do a brand new IP stand out a

studio out of like nowhere so when I joined it was about 10 people and over the course of that project I became art director I hired a lot of people I help building the studio to a hundred and twenty people team with 30 artists and I also mentored other leads and hired other art directors for other projects helping out the studio in general so the majority of my experiences I'm going to talk about come from here a year ago I left good games I was lucky enough to get my dream job like half a year ago they hired me and now I'm back to doing actual 3d art so my current position is in a triple a studio but I'm not leading there so they were really really kind enough to make to allow me to do this talk but I'm not gonna mention where I'm working right now so um thank you anonymous developer who's allow me to do this what so way back well let's start with this one so as I mentioned I started as a lead and at that time the team was super small so we had like three artists and it was in total like ten people and my

art director and I met rectum I had a studio at that time at some point when like you're gonna be the art director and as every same person I reacted like the same person said like I don't know like I'm not gonna direct that that's like way out of my league and so we agreed on I'm gonna prepare so I started preparing and as every scene person I went to like this boot camp several times which was very helpful and we're time I kind of felt ready ish and you you kind of look into art you you study like all the blogs and all the stuff that comes up right and you're trying to figure out all of these things but you never feel quite comfortable with it and the nature of that is because there is so much to learn you can't know everything it's close to impossible to know all the things you want to know about video games it's just not possible and then what happens is basically because I talked to so many directors and and and artists and leads it's always the same thing you never will feel ready you always feel like an imposter like you you're waiting for the moment where people go raw edge oh I

thought you're Rogers get out of here and it never goes away actually it gets worse because the more I started figuring out what I need to know the more I realized I'll never be able to figure everything out I need to know and so over time that got worse and the thing with imposter syndrome is you feel completely out of place you feel like he don't belong where we and unable to what you're supposed to do so this is pretty much how I felt and I panicked constantly I got anxious I was nervous I wasn't very fond of the whole situation because um the whole thing just got worse over time because when you start up with a small team you can still go like okay well it's just a couple of people I can handle that but the team grows because that's what you've got hired to so over time the team went like to about 50 people and team meetings became a monster because you're standing in front of 50 people they're waiting you and expecting you to know what you're doing but you have no clue what's going on and so you're our team like I remember the first time I our team hit like 15 people we do

the first key meeting and I'm scared as hell because they expect me to know what's going on and I'm like hi and that's pretty much the monster that's chasing you so like your imposter syndrome gets worse because there's this thing that you're running away from because you don't want to make them know that you're an imposter and then things get worse because now that you move into direction you get information that is exclusive to you so you know schedules you know all the problems you know like politics way more that are usually being kept away from you you get to know like all the details that make the problems seem even more impossible and so that small foundation that you worked so hard on that you feel like I'm the artist I can handle this it's crumbling because like all that stuff that you have is not way no way that's gonna work out like ever because it just makes everything crumble at that point so I got nervous I was super nervous I couldn't talk to people I got anxious I'm I'm a weird personality in general but oh boy I can

get weird like it gets way worse so when I'm nervous and I'm anxious I get fully weird and that was the point where I kind of realized for myself I need to change something big it I can't be that nervous insecure person in front of my team it will just won't work so my solution for the whole thing is this word I'm not saying you should do that but like pantalones means pants in Spanish and that's it it has no other meaning but when when we were doing board game nights at some point I caught it up like I went through iteration like a proper game developer I thought that was good and I turned into the Penta lowness Pokemon what that means I greeted people with pantalones I said goodbye us with the word pantalones I signed emails with vent Ilona's I critique art Angeles every time I was nervous I used that word and I turned into a Pokemon it turns into a running gag like people just like it was a thing and the weird thing about it is it actually worked because I calmed down and the moment I remember where I realized that was I come in in the morning there's a designer and a coder

not even related to my team they're like half dead because in the morning nobody's awake in the morning they're like slurping a coffee and they don't even think and just say pantalones as you know what okay I got it like if I can get a group of people randomly saying it completely word to me in the morning without thinking I'm actually directing like this is this is in an essence this is direction so it it worked out in that sense and the funny thing about it is as well like it calmed me down which was essential because I I wasn't anxious anymore because I realized I'm here for the fun I'm here to enjoy myself I'm here to enjoy all of this with like all the people that are in my team and it helped me to kind of accept the fact that it doesn't matter like it's just it's just there for the shits in the giggles right and so I got happy I calmed down I was like yeah this is it like this is what I want to do this is this is where I'm going right now and it was really interesting because as I calmed down my team calmed down

so I realized something that my personal motivation actually is also the team's motivation so it was like my first big lesson I had was I'm here to motivate people and again like when you're expecting to be art director you go like oh I'm gonna do our direction I'm gonna show everybody what kind of art we're gonna do but actually what my first big thing was is I'm here to motivate people I just have to get people excited about the stuff we're working on and I mean it makes sense in a way imagine you're going into a meeting the art director is sitting there and he's in the anxious and nervous and like any one of them and the leap goes like holy what's going on he's nervous and so he gets nervous because obviously if he knows probably thinks I don't know where in my head it's like I'm not ready I'm not ready I'm not ready and he goes down to the artists and he's nervous because he thinks I know something he doesn't know and therefore he's nervous and the artist goes like oh my god my leaders nervous something's going on and the

lead goes like I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know and the artist gets nervous so like it it kind of mitigates down to the team it's it's fascinating because you don't think you have that power over people but you do and so what happens is when you relax the opposite happens people calm down like Oh merit directors chill everything is fine okay we'll be good if your art director is actually super excited of what you did today you'll get excited because you're an artist you want to get people excited that's the nature of your job so in a way you being happy and motivated actually pushes the entire team and I'm mentioning this because it's so important to find a way to do it in a positive way because some people have imposter syndrome or something similar it's for every person is different but if you use something that's negative to kind of cover it it will hit down to your team and it will create an atmosphere that is not positive and not productive so it's very important whatever your pantalones is it has to be something that that enforces positivity because it will hit your team really really hard and so that's how I

felt I had to still my process syndrome I felt totally out of place but I was happy and everyone else behind me was happy too because well we're dealing with the together so I thought I figured it out I know how to do the art direction I need to be happy and I don't care that I don't know anything and so what happened next was okay so art directors are supposed to know things right like they have they're supposed to have an overview over things so you take a step back and you take an overview and that's your job right like you're enjoying that because it's kind of cool you get all the information you know what's design doing you know what's code doing like you're talking to the head of studio and every now and then you meet the CEO and like that's kind of fun and you see way further than anyone else in your team and that's your job and then especially when you use to be an artist a problem pops up and you go well problem that's my thing I'm an artist I'm solving problems that's what I did the last ten years so there we go I'm solving the problem and while you're solving that problem the dude who's

supposed to keep the overview is not there and things get worse and you go back and there we go impostor syndrome I have no idea what I'm doing and this is so simple but it's so straightforward it's it's micromanagement and delegation like I everybody of you have like Hurst their lead or their director or like whoever superior that like he doesn't know what he's doing and he's not in control of that and why is he micromanaging me but it's so difficult in nature because when when you move into leadership the thing you've been doing till then is the exact opposite so it's in your human nature to act like this and like making sure you're not doing this is something that has to run constantly in the of your mind and it's sneaky because you never realize you're actually doing it because it is something that is nature to you so you have to kind of get rid of it and at the same time you can't get rid of something that you have nurtured for decades so the thing that you realized at that point is I have leads I have artists those guys are the people who will take care of that

like who won't like it's their job now like you're the guy who has the overview and your leads will make sure that whatever is going on there will be handled and the beauty of it and that's a big realization for me was your lead stone like you're hiring to your weaknesses you're getting the people who are way better at stuff you have no clue about so one person sitting back there she got precisely hired for the fact that I'm chaotic and I'm nervous and she's calm and very organized and my boss was smart enough to do that and once I realized that a whole world opened up because I realized well I have no clue about animation maybe we should hire someone who's really good at that and we did that and he took care of the pipeline and we met every now and then he told me this is what we're doing and I'm like yeah that works with what we're having in plan keep going and that's amazing because then you have like a group of people who are totally specialized on what they're doing they're way better at what you do and guess what then process sooner just slightly gets away because you figured out like I don't have to know all that crazy stuff I have no clue about and so

over time you're calming down and you realize giving ownership to people is a big deal because it makes people motivated it's it's that one thing that people make them stay longer which I'm German we're all about efficiency and time efficiency and all that kind of stuff so it sounds nice but it's kind of evil where you go like you own this this is yours but you have to take care of this right and because you own and you take pride in that you take care of it you stay longer you come you might come in a weekend or two I don't know about it I don't care it's good so it's a nasty thing but at the same time it's a great thing because people actually enjoy doing it and it doesn't matter at that point because you're having fun like you're you're you're owning that and so with that in mind you're realizing okay I have to give people ownership over the stuff they're working on but I still need to direct them because I have the overview I need to figure out how to make them build the things I need without taking and stifling their creativity right so you're standing there and you started figure out like

how can I do that how can I give them very clear direction because this is what it boils down to and I've seen it go south both ways where one way is where people hone in and give like a very very detailed feedback and then the other one is where they get like very abstract feedback and we call it the fazool and there's tons of versions where you go over like okay this doesn't have enough punch there isn't enough jazz in it or like there are terms you can't believe like it's crazy and the thing is it's really bad because people don't know what you're asking them like they don't understand what you want to go for but you're not doing it on purpose because you just want to make sure that they can do what they want so it's it's almost like an art form to figure out how can I get someone to do what we need without taking away all the creativity and like ownership out of them and in my experience the best metaphor I have for that is this where you go like it's somewhere in this location which could be the briefing in half from creative it's somehow

something like that in that case like we need a ship to get here but figure it out yourself and I just talked to an art director a couple of weeks ago and he said something really smart to me it's like directors give direction never solutions and I think that's the nature of it so and that comes with it what makes it hard again is whatever you had in mind won't be the thing they're gonna build the the thing they're gonna build will be something else it will fit the criteria but it won't be what you what you imagine it's supposed to be but the beauty of that is the only person who knows that is you when when the player is gonna play the game the consumers see it and it fits it fits like the only person who has to be cool with it is yourself but obviously because you used to be an artist you had like a very small thing in mind and you always had 100% control it's very very very hard to let go of that because it it is not in your nature and so having this team having this group working on stuff that you have no control on and at the same

time trying making that navigate you will suffer with that yeah you will you will try so many things and it won't work out in the beginning and it's totally fine because you're learning bad like this is this is actual art direction like this part to me was the most like that that's the nature of making art direction because you're directing people to a point without telling them what to do and the only way to learn that is trainer like there is no magic bullet for that and you will suffer I promise so with that in mind you realize you need to know your team you need to know the group you're working with because that sort of feedback is very very personal so one person would need a specific set of words on sentences that triggers them to do that some people would very badly react to that so you have to figure out who reacts to what what way so you start getting to know your team and that's something which is super difficult because as I mentioned you're the guy who has the overview like you're the person who actually deliberately tries

to stay back to keep everything working and it's very easy because you spend a lot of time in meetings Jesus Christ a lot of time in meetings and you'll have like these small intermingling five minutes in between meetings where you meet people and if you don't maintain the relationship to the artists you work with and when you're director the leads you work with and you don't understand them on a personal level it will make things worse and so it is super important that you understand your team dynamics you understand how your team is built up how it works how they kind of communicate with each other and so when that happens you look into that moment where how do you say you understand the person you pinpoint them oh I messed up my presentation sorry and process and room there we go so you work with that you you work with people you figure that out and you have that team almost like running a ship and its autonomous and you need to know and so

what happens and that's the part where it should have been this one you start introducing other people into your team and this can be in very different ways and I sometimes you inherit people sometimes you put people on your team that you don't know and it's always a risk because that happens on every team I've known so far like it is in the nature of the thing where you if you even if you know your team dynamic figuring out the right people getting to know the right people and putting them in the right spot is insanely difficult and this will happen I guarantee at least in one of your teams but the important thing is you know that's there and then you know that it's it's it's a thing that can happen and the the way I would encourage you is try to contract it by making sure that the the person you're introducing is definitely a team fit what you feel like what we did is we had like an interview where I just made sure okay he fits it's kind of okay but then on top we had people coming in and I make them go out with the team and I

was like really really weird dude who was just around the corner like looking what they're doing like is it working do they talk is there something going on and sometimes you could see like nothing's happening and you go like oh I don't think that fits sometimes the teen opened up and started talking we just hired one dude who literally just made the team talk that was like his major attribute and with like they're talking why are they talking they never talk I think we should hire this guy so you'll figure this out and the interesting thing is another thing you can run into is you'll you'll hire people that you like which you should but at the same time what happens is sometimes you hire people who like the same soccer team or like the same drinks you do and like it becomes too too much narrowed down to one specific thing so what you want to do is and that's why this happens is you want to have diversity you want to make sure that like the group of people you're hiring is as far spread as possible and I had like one really weird example that

someone on our last team told me on his previous project where they had no female concept artists or no female in an entire character pipeline what happened was during the production they were like done with a big set of characters someone further down the line I like they look like prostitutes I was like oh you're right and you have like dysentery pipeline you spend so much time and money to do this and you just realized oh crap so they're more diverse your team is and the more different kind of mentalities you have your team the more you can counteract these things and obviously we're creating games to be pleasurable as too many people as possible and the more triple-a you get the worse this gets actually so handling that diversity with that kind of mentality that you want them to work together but you need them not to be the same leads to this anyways like it always will lead to these problems so you'll have it know your team so you can fix it really fast because it can cost time and money big time and coming to my last point this

one is kind of summarizing all of it I I truly believe that all of the points before boil down to please leave your ego at home and this is easier said than done because we're all human beings and you feel pinned if you're leading a lot of people because the bigger the team gods the more responsibility you have the further you float the more detached you are the prouder you get right like oh look what I'm leading there hole and you're like proud about this you're you're you're engaged about it but you're vain about it as well and some people as I mentioned have the impostor syndrome and they cover it by just adding more people into the pool and doing weird things with that and so what happens that I've pointed it's the negative effect I mentioned before where it it backfires heavily so the thing is when when you have your ego and that's that's the worst part about my presentation all of the rules I just

stated and things I mentioned you have to break them constantly without you wanting to break them but sometimes there is a situation that comes up and you realize oh I need to micromanage this because it doesn't work you don't want to but sometimes for example you have a team you give them ownership but they just can't handle it at that point because they're not ready for it so you have to go down and just help them to get into this if you do this for the wrong reasons because you want control you're ruining that team if you do it for the right reason because you see they're struggling and you're helping them out with that and making sure that they get like a smooth run into that ownership your win so you're breaking that rule if this is coming from the wrong place it's dangerous and it happens easy because again it's sneaky it's like something you're constantly running in your mind making sure I'm doing it for the right reasons and I've seen teams falling apart because someone in her position was afraid to ask for help which again is a vanity and ego thing like it never hurt anyone ever no matter what position to ask for help like I constantly Miranda to my head estudian ask for help

and it never backfired when I screwed up the first person to know was my boss like dude I screwed up this happened I think I'm gonna fix it like this if you're screwing up everyday and you're afraid to go to your boss you should reconsider if you're ready for this because then again it's your ego that prohibits you to realize you're jeopardizing the entire team which means you're jeopardizing a lot of people because you're responsible that if you screw up the project might get cancelled so you're not just ruining your career you're ruining a lot of careers so it's really hard and really tough to make sure and maintain that mental state and apparently I wanted to stretch but I was nervous so it was really fast and there we are I'm done [Music] [Applause]