The Art of Direction

by Ron Ashtiani, Gavin Rothery (Foreword by)

Overview

Ron Ashtiani brings together twenty-five years of experience directing creative projects for games and film to share what it takes to be a successful art director in the entertainment industry today. Using his well-honed art direction skills and diverse project experience, real-world examples, and clear diagrams, he educates his readers on every element of stellar art design for both video games and movies.

Providing creative and business leadership, as well as being a specialist consultant and regular industry and educational public speaker, he is one of the most resourceful and well-educated practitioners in the field of video game and movie art design, making him perfectly poised to teach others in the industry.

The fully illustrated The Art of Direction book, leads the reader on the journey of the art director, from how to craft an artistic vision to how to successfully manage a team of artists in bringing that vision to life and making the best creative decisions along the way.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624650093
Publisher:	Design Studio Press
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	11.97(w) x 9.13(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ron Ashtiani is an award-winning Creative business leader, Art Director and Author.

Ron has had a 25-year career in the entertainment industry, first as an artist/art director, then a creative director and over the last decade, a business leader and entrepreneur.

Ron has built successful teams and businesses, worked on three Blockbuster Marvel movies, and contributed to over 30 video games. He has also delivered creative projects for J.K Rowling’s Pottermore, Warner Bros., Sony, and Microsoft to name a small few. Ron is listed in the UK top 100 people in games and in the top 100 in digital media.

He provides creative and business leadership as well as specialist consultancy and is a regular industry and educational public speaker.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Ron is an exceptional Art Director who I was lucky to have as part of my leadership team at Midway Games. Since then it’s been awesome to see him take his passion for art to make a mark on the industry, from the teams he has worked with to building his own company and now to supporting others. Always a trusted friend, willing to share a perspective and add that spark and creativity to anything he is involved with.

- Craig Duncan, Studio Head at Rare Ltd.

I have found Ron’s artist eye to be strong and thoughtful. His experience comes through when trying to balance the needs of the visual direction we were developing with the consideration of time, overall feasibility, and a larger vision of how it might impact the secondary or tangential aspects of our project or vision as a whole. His views into people and the business of people management has been tremendously insightful. In him I discovered a professional that understands the impact that work has on people and how that helps drive or destroy the process and the creative environment. - Brad Shuber, Principal Art Director Minecraft Earth at Microsoft

Ron and I worked together over a number of years in the games and film industries, he is a great guy and very talented in art direction and business. He has a natural flair for design and nailing down art styles which is demonstrated in his successful track record.

- Pete Thompson, Senior Concept Artist and Art Director’s Guild award winner

Editorial Reviews

"So put the kettle on, settle in and have a listen to what Ron's got to tell you. He knows what he's talking about. It's a strange and complex role, and I wish I'd had a book like this to read back in the day." - Gavin Rothery, Writer/Director/Designer of Archive and Co-creator/Designer of Moon

From the Publisher