Senior Brand Artist - (Story and Franchise Development - SFD)

Job Description:

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a creative and experienced Senior Brand Artist to work with Story and Franchise Development’s Books team. Story and Franchise Development expands Blizzard Entertainment’s universes through a variety of media.

As an integral part of the Books team, the Senior Brand Artist will provide artistic vision for all Books work – including short stories, digital comics, motion comics, and other formats – selecting and guiding artists, providing art adjustments, designing projects, and composing unique assets for social media and marketing needs. As the artistic and graphic design lead of the group, they will play a major role in creating epic products that grow Blizzard’s publishing program in bold new directions.

The Senior Brand Artist will also interface heavily with Blizzard’s consumer products and game teams, and will be the day-to-day contact for everything involving the visual elements of book projects, including licensed projects with external partners. The ideal candidate will have exceptional creativity and the ability to oversee the development of multiple projects at once, providing art and design guidance from the strategic level down to the fine details. The ability to provide light art fixes as needed is essential to the success of this role.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA. However, we understand each person’s circumstances may be unique and will work with you to explore other possible options, including remote work arrangements.

This is a temporary 6-month position.

What You Bring to the Table

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

• Develop high-quality visual concepts, cover compositions, and sample interior designs for internal projects.
• Source, hire, and art direct freelance illustrators, as well as out-of-house designers as needed.
• Work closely with internal and external partners on artist choice, cover direction, and interior art, ensuring that art meets quality expectations, matches lore/game models, and aligns with the story being told.
• Interface with art directors on game teams to solicit art-related approvals, providing anatomy corrections, color adjustments, and detailed notes ahead of their review. Revise notes after review to ensure feedback is actionable for artists.
• Design multiple projects internally, including localized comics and short stories.
• Maintain an extensive network of talent within the comics, illustration, and design industry to regularly refresh pools of reliable, franchise-approved talent. Keep lists of franchise-approved artists using in-house tools.
• Act as conduit between artists and animation to ensure files are appropriately rendered and layered for motion animation. Review regular cuts of motion comics and animated stories to ensure quality.
• Work with production to traffic art and design work, keep projects on a timely schedule and meet deadlines.
• Work closely with project-specific editor to ensure alignment between story development and artistic vision for each project.

Minimum Requirements:

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of art and design experience
• Comics experience required
• Book cover and interior design experience preferred
• Preference given to those with a background in illustration

Knowledge & Skills

• Must have excellent communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills, and be able to work with minimal supervision
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite
• Ability to prioritize, multi-task, and adapt to a fast-paced, iterative environment
• BFA degree or equivalent experience

Extra Points:

• Knowledge of Blizzard IPs and interest in the gaming industry a plus

Your Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [email protected]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $92,920.00 - $171,814.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.