CGI Art Director

Marks is a global brand design and experience agency, uniquely constructed to enable brands to win in an age of constant change. Marks is a part of the Propelis Group, a brand impact group that enables its household name clients to get there first - empowering acceleration on a global scale. From vision-building to detailed execution, we enable brands to move faster and shift impact. (www.makemarks.com/)

We are the next-gen creative platform, working at the collision of people, commerce, creativity and technology, purpose-built for the world’s most ambitious brand delivering content at the speed of culture.

About the Role

This position calls for a highly collaborative team member with a creative spark, sophisticated design abilities, strong communication skills, passion, and self-motivation. You will be tasked with thoughtful problem-solving that leads into high-caliber campaign concepts and executions, informed by a strategic framework and narrative.

As a CGI Art Director you not only develop big ideas, but also bring those ideas to life across different touchpoints and mediums – presenting and selling internally, and to clients, with passion and energy.

You have a keen design eye and hands-on prowess, matched only by your clever conceptual thinking that addresses client needs and business goals. You can shift seamlessly from creating ideas to crafting high impact visual statements and design systems. You are omni-channel to the core – as comfortable creating for social and digital as you are with retail programs, instore communications, traditional media and beyond. You help to set and maintain the quality bar for the creative product of the company at a level that is amongst the top tier within the industry.

You’ll work and consult with teams across our entire global Marks ecosystem, on an exciting range of clients and categories, including toys, food & beverage, beer, wine, spirits, technology, personal care, beauty, retail, and many more.

On any given day you might

• Help maintain a unified artistic direction and high creative standard in the creation of 3D CGI product and packaging work for an extensive range of global brands.
• Lead the collaborative development and process of all work from inception to final delivery.
• Help establish and maintain a high level of quality control.
• Provide creative governance throughout the CGI production process.
• Manage expectations of production with a keen eye towards talent and resourcing.
• Communicate project status, prioritized goals and updated timelines to the creative project’s teams regularly.
• Partner with Creative Directors, Designers, Retouchers and CGI artists to keep projects on time ensuring a high level of quality.
• Assist in bridging gaps between client requests, creative direction, production artist to final internal quality control and client delivery.
• Develop overarching campaign visuals and design directions that bring your ideas to life.
• Actively participate in brainstorming sessions and internal reviews
• Keep up to date with the latest trends and innovations – exploring ways to leverage AI tools to advance our work.

The ideal person

• Experience art directing 3D artists working with tools such as with Maya, Houdini, Blender.
• Deep understanding of the CGI process from modelling, compositing, texturing, lighting, rendering and retouching.
• Experience collaborating with a team of CGI artists through production workflow.
• Experience and knowledge of technical and traditional art process within CGI production pipelines.
• Experience working under performance constraints and driving successful visual compromises.
• Demonstrated decision making skills and strong communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to share skills and knowledge with other team members.
• Ability to work both as part of a team and unsupervised.
• A keen eye for detail and the ability to produce high quality visuals to tight deadlines.

You Bring

• Degree or diploma in CGI/Advertising & Marketing, or related field is preferred, but not required.
• A minimum of 5+ years’ experience in CGI as a Sr. Artist Art Director.
• 4+ years of experience in CPG focused content production.
• Well-rounded portfolio showcasing excellent understanding of campaign development in different communication spaces, mediums and approaches – including print, digital, social content and motion
• Expert fluency in content creation software with a focus on CGI. DCCs such as Houdini, Maya & C4D, rendering in a mix of Vray, Redshift and Karma. Strong working knowledge of the Adobe and Substance suite.
• Knowledge and interest in emerging technologies.