Art Director

Skydance Media is hiring an Art Director for an upcoming animated feature film, based out of Santa Monica, Los Angeles. This role sits at the center of the art department, responsible for defining the film’s visual language across environments, sets, props, and color, and translating the Production Designer’s direction into actionable creative guidance for a global team of artists. It suits an experienced visual development professional with a background in CG animated feature film production who can lead with both artistic authority and production-level pragmatism.

About the Role

The Art Director reports directly to the Production Designer and works across coordinated art departments in Los Angeles and Madrid, maintaining visual consistency throughout the animated feature film production pipeline. Day to day, this means reviewing concept art, delivering creative feedback, developing key imagery, and aligning with lighting, characters, and effects teams to keep the film’s aesthetic cohesive from layout through final render. Occasional travel between the two studio locations is part of the role.

Key Responsibilities

• Champion the Director’s visual vision across the full production arc, from early development materials through final delivery, in close collaboration with the Production Designer.
• Create and oversee high-quality concept art and visual development work, establishing the film’s design vocabulary for environments, props, and color across departments.
• Provide ongoing artistic direction and mentorship to art department members in both the Los Angeles and Madrid teams, ensuring a unified creative standard across the global pipeline.
• Partner with production and technical leadership to align the film’s creative ambitions with schedule, toolset, and budget realities across the CG animation workflow.
• Prepare and deliver visual presentations communicating the film’s design direction to studio executives and key stakeholders at Skydance Media.
• Support recruitment and evaluation of artistic talent in coordination with Talent Acquisition and Talent Development teams across both locations.

What You Bring

• A minimum of 6 years working in animated feature film production, with direct experience leading or supervising an art department preferred.
• Proven visual development skills spanning composition, color theory, shape language, lighting, and environment design within a CG animation context.
• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and familiarity with industry standard animation production tools and pipeline workflows.
• Experience working across multilocation or international production teams is a strong asset.
• Demonstrated ability to carry visual ideas from initial concept through to final execution with clear communication and creative ownership.

Why This Role

Skydance Media has built a reputation for backing projects with genuine creative ambition, and their animation division is actively expanding its feature film slate with productions of significant scale. This Art Director position offers real ownership over the visual identity of a full animated feature, with the scope and team infrastructure to support that level of work. For an artist looking to step into a senior creative leadership role within animation studio production, this is a substantive opportunity.

Apply now for the Art Director role at Skydance Media and bring your visual development experience to a feature film production that is building something from the ground up.