Manager, Video Game Art - Volunteer Leadership Role

About Us:

The Donovan’s Venom is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on curating universal accessibility to fine arts and music education for all. We are passionately dedicated to ensuring that everyone, regardless of financial circumstances, has access to high-quality music education, performance opportunities, and fine art. We aim to inspire, empower, and uplift communities by fostering a love for music and the arts through our commitment to education, inclusivity, diversity, and social impact, which drives us to expand our reach continually and enrich the lives of those we serve.

Manager, Video Game Art (Art Direction, Asset Production & Creative Leadership)

Position Overview

The Manager, Video Game Art provides creative and production leadership for the visual development of The Donovan’s Venom’s video game projects. This role is responsible for establishing and maintaining the project’s visual direction while overseeing the creation, organization, review, and delivery of game art assets.

The Manager, Video Game Art works closely with game designers, developers, UI/UX contributors, and other creative team members to ensure that visual elements support gameplay, storytelling, user experience, and the overall creative vision.

This is a hands-on leadership role that combines art direction, team coordination, asset production, quality control, workflow management, and creative problem-solving.

Key Responsibilities

1. Art Direction & Visual Development

• Define, develop, and maintain the visual identity and artistic direction of game projects.
• Establish standards for characters, environments, props, UI elements, animations, and other visual assets.
• Ensure visual consistency across the game and related creative materials.
• Translate creative concepts and game design requirements into clear visual direction.

1. Art Asset Production

• Oversee the development and production of 2D and 3D game assets.
• Coordinate creation of character art, environments, props, textures, UI elements, promotional art, and other visual content.
• Ensure assets are appropriately designed for the intended game engine and technical requirements.
• Balance creative quality with production schedules and available resources.

1. Team Leadership & Artist Coordination

• Lead, organize, and support artists and other visual contributors.
• Assign responsibilities based on individual skills, project priorities, and production requirements.
• Establish clear expectations, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Mentor artists and provide constructive feedback to support quality and professional development.

1. Art Production Pipeline & Workflow

• Develop and maintain efficient art production workflows and processes.
• Establish asset naming, organization, submission, review, and approval standards.
• Coordinate art production with the broader game development roadmap.
• Identify workflow bottlenecks and recommend improvements.

1. Quality Assurance & Creative Review

• Review artwork and assets for visual quality, consistency, functionality, and technical readiness.
• Provide actionable feedback and revision guidance.
• Identify inconsistencies or production issues before assets are integrated into the game.
• Maintain established art standards throughout development.

1. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with game designers, programmers, UI/UX contributors, writers, producers, and other development team members.
• Ensure art assets effectively support gameplay mechanics, user experience, storytelling, and technical requirements.
• Participate in development meetings, creative reviews, and project planning sessions.

1. Tools, Asset Libraries & Version Management

• Support the effective use of tools such as Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, Adobe Creative Suite, or comparable software.
• Maintain organized and accessible art assets, source files, references, and documentation.
• Promote appropriate version-control and file-management practices.
• Help establish standards for asset handoff and integration.

1. Production Planning & Deliverables

• Develop and maintain art-related production plans and milestones.
• Track progress against deadlines and communicate potential risks or delays.
• Coordinate priorities with the overall game development schedule.
• Ensure completed assets are delivered according to project requirements.

1. Creative & Technical Problem-Solving

• Resolve artistic, workflow, and production challenges.
• Adapt creative concepts when technical or production constraints arise.
• Work with developers and designers to identify practical solutions.
• Balance visual quality, gameplay requirements, production capacity, and project timelines.

1. Documentation & Art Standards

• Develop and maintain art style guides, production guidelines, asset specifications, and visual references.
• Document workflows and standards to support consistency across contributors.
• Ensure new artists and volunteers understand established visual and production expectations.

1. Continuous Improvement

• Evaluate and improve art production processes and workflows.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, collaboration, and asset reuse.
• Encourage knowledge sharing and skill development among team members.
• Contribute to the continued evolution of the game's visual direction.

Volunteer Commitment Expectations

• Estimated Commitment: 10–15 hours per week
• Flexible remote schedule
• Participation in relevant game development, production, and creative meetings
• Ability to meet agreed-upon deadlines and deliverables
• Fully remote volunteer leadership position
• Commitment to the mission and collaborative culture of The Donovan’s Venom

Minimum Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in game art, digital art, 3D/2D art production, or a related creative field.
• Demonstrated experience leading, coordinating, or mentoring artists or creative contributors.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating relevant game art, digital art, or visual development experience.
• Understanding of game art production processes and asset pipelines.
• Strong communication, organization, and collaboration skills.
• Ability to provide constructive creative feedback and direction.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Unity and/or Unreal Engine.
• Experience with Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, Adobe Creative Suite, or comparable creative tools.
• Experience with both 2D and 3D game art workflows.
• Experience working with remote or distributed creative teams.
• Experience in indie game development, nonprofit projects, community-driven projects, or volunteer-led creative teams.
• Understanding of optimization, asset integration, and game-engine technical requirements.

Work Environment

• Fully remote
• Collaborative, mission-driven creative environment
• Volunteer-led development structure
• Cross-functional game development team
• Flexible schedule with agreed-upon production milestones
• Opportunity to contribute to the visual identity and development of an original game project

Equal Opportunity & Volunteer Inclusion

The Donovan’s Venom is committed to creating an inclusive and collaborative environment where volunteers can contribute their skills, creativity, and perspectives. We welcome individuals from diverse professional, educational, and creative backgrounds who are passionate about games, storytelling, technology, and our nonprofit mission.

Important Disclaimer

As a 100% volunteer-led U.S. nonprofit organization, we may engage volunteers located outside the United States. International volunteer participation is subject to applicable U.S. sanctions and export-control requirements, data privacy and information-security requirements, background screening where appropriate, and confirmation that the volunteer’s country and assigned responsibilities have been approved by the organization.

This is a volunteer position and does not constitute employment.