OVERVIEW
Seniorities seem to be set in stone in the games industry, however, every company can define them in a different manner since they perform different task or have different responsibilities.
This then makes it really hard to write a comprehensive list that works for all companies out there so make sure that you understand this as you are reading through this list.
It’s also for this reason that I tried staying away from all the very specific responsibilities and kept it fairly generic too.
There is also a very real thing in this industry being that you will most likely be fulfilling a lot of the (if not all) of the responsibilities already for the next seniority and wonder why you are not getting that sweet promotion. Unfortunately this is quiet normal, it seems that you need to work the job for a time before companies might give you that promotion, so you can prove you are worthy of it.
Never let that stop you from discussing a potential promotion with your current manager though.
RECENT INDUSTRY CHANGES
Some companies these days have resorted to adding more steps in their seniority ladder, so you will likely see companies that use a level system. For example they will have "Junior Artist I, Junior Artist II, etc.."
SENIORITY OVERVIEW
JUNIOR/GRADUATE ARTIST
As a Junior or Graduate artist you will just be getting to grips with how the industry works.
So this means that you will be getting a lot of support from the Intermediate or Seniors in your team to build up all those skills. You will be exposed to a lot of new skills and be growing a lot in this period once you’re getting into the industry.
This also means that usually your won’t have important responsibilities and will be working to support the work of Intermediates of Seniors as well, so that they can then in turn support the art director above them.
MID ENVIRONMENT ARTIST
An Intermediate/Mid or “just” Environment artist you have a solid grip of the workflow used, can work pretty independently with occasional support from seniors or leads above them.
This also means that you get more ownership as your skillset grows and you get to work on bigger sections of the game or more important props.
As a Mid environment artist might also start helping out with managing an onboarding other people getting into the industry, like new Juniors or Graduates joining the company.
SENIOR ARTIST
As a Senior Environment Artist you have a strong grip on all things environment art. You will also be responsible for setting the for the rest of the team in close collaboration with the lead artist, and you are expected to do so fully independently.
At this stage you are also expected to completely own important sections of the game you’re working on and making sure that the art quality is there for others of the team as well.
As a Senior you will also be responsible for mentoring/managing multiply people and taking care of their career progression as well.
- 📍 IMPORTANT NOTE: Mentoring is becoming less and less mandatory for people who don’t want to do it or have no interest in it at all, so managing or mentoring people might be optional for companies.
DIFFERENT PATHS
📍 THIS IS WHERE YOU GET TO CHOOSE (NORMALLY THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO YOU AT THIS POINT)
After this it's most likely you already have a good inclination of what you want to do and this also comes with a choice you will have to make in most companies. At this time you will have the choice between two pathways. I describe would Describe them as ART and LEADERSHIP focus.
- 🔽 ART FOCUSED
If you follow this path then you choose to focus on the creation process and on the art itself while not specifically managing people and having that responsibility. You will still be helping others and mentoring, but less managing and being responsible for their individual career grow - 🔽 PEOPLE FOCUSED
If you follow this path then you’ve chosen to focus more on managing and leading teams rather then focusing on the art itself. This does not mean that you won’t be doing art, but definitely means that you are going to focus less on creation and more on helping others to create their art and thrive.
ART TRACK
If you follow this path then you choose to focus on the creation process and on the art itself while not specifically managing people and having that responsibility.
You will still be helping others and mentoring, but less managing and being responsible for their individual career growth.
ADVANCED ARTIST
As an Advanced Artist you’ve decide to dedicate you time to improving and setting the bar for the studio when it come to the quality of the art the studio delivers.
So this means that you will be more involved with pushing the pipeline forward to remain as much on the bleeding edge as you can be.
You will also be responsible for setting up the artistic direction together with the Art Director and Lead Artist.
EXPERT ARTIST
Most of the responsibilities are going to be the same here compared to Advanced Artists, but you have more experience doing soo.
Specific studios have different gradations of these specific Advanced/Expert/Principal and different responsibilities depending on the needs of the studio.
PRINCIPAL ARTIST
Same for this role as the same role, more responsibilities and more experience needed for specific studio needs.
LEADERSHIP TRACK
If you follow this path then you’ve chosen to focus more on managing and leading teams rather then focusing on the art itself. This does not mean that you won’t be doing art, but definitely means that you are going to focus less on creation and more on helping others to create.
LEAD ARTIST
As a Lead Artist you’ve chosen to become more people focused rather then focused on art. However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t do any of it at all, but it does mean that art will be more secondary.
Your main focus will be on managing the team, organising the pipeline, connecting and resolving issues that can occur and you don’t want to affect the team itself.
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR
An associate art director is responsible for directly supporting the art director, possibly even taking over a specific focus are like biomes, weapons or assets for example. Allowing you to own a focus point of the game.
This means that as an Associate Art Director you are responsible for setting the artistic vision and direction of the game, which you will be compiling into a comprehensive document that can help other artists to stick with your vision and organising meetings to do so and help them stay on track.
ART DIRECTOR
Same as your Associate, but as an Art Director you are responsible for setting the artistic vision and direction of the game, which you will be compiling into a comprehensive document that can help other artists to stick with your vision.
This does mean that most of your time you will be spending in organising and writing documentation to make sure that everyone is one the same page.
However the massive payoff is that you get to see a lot of people come together to work on your vision for a game. (at least on the artistic side).
