Help Required! Career Dilemma...
Hey guys, I'm having a bit of a mid-job-crisis at the moment and really just looking for a bit of advice, specifically from people currently working as environment artists, but also character artists who've had trouble with anatomy and the 'arty' side of the job in the past...
I've gone down the character art route since uni pretty much automatically and spent just over a year working as a fairly junior character artist before landing my current prosperous position (voluntarily) as an unemployed bum (long story). During that time I did about one character before becoming a bit of a 'jack-of-all-trades' artist and working far more heavily on props, robots and weapons. I think this was largely down to me being shit at organic modelling and far better at hard surface which, naturally, meant I also enjoyed it more. Now the question I have is this:
Is it worth me sticking to my guns and really going for it as a character artist, swatting up on life drawing, anatomy, cloth folds and all that jazz or am I better off just focusing on my strengths and diverting to becoming an environment artist? The idea of making full environments has never really appealed to me but, like I say, props, weapons, vehicles - all that stuff - I quite enjoy. I just don't know if there are many jobs for those specific things that wont have me making entire levels or grassy fields...
I'd really appreciate any little nuggets of advice regarding other peoples experiences on this subject, such as people who switched job roles mid-career, or env artists who can give me more of a clue of what the job really involves.
Thanks!
I've gone down the character art route since uni pretty much automatically and spent just over a year working as a fairly junior character artist before landing my current prosperous position (voluntarily) as an unemployed bum (long story). During that time I did about one character before becoming a bit of a 'jack-of-all-trades' artist and working far more heavily on props, robots and weapons. I think this was largely down to me being shit at organic modelling and far better at hard surface which, naturally, meant I also enjoyed it more. Now the question I have is this:
Is it worth me sticking to my guns and really going for it as a character artist, swatting up on life drawing, anatomy, cloth folds and all that jazz or am I better off just focusing on my strengths and diverting to becoming an environment artist? The idea of making full environments has never really appealed to me but, like I say, props, weapons, vehicles - all that stuff - I quite enjoy. I just don't know if there are many jobs for those specific things that wont have me making entire levels or grassy fields...
I'd really appreciate any little nuggets of advice regarding other peoples experiences on this subject, such as people who switched job roles mid-career, or env artists who can give me more of a clue of what the job really involves.
Thanks!
Replies
This is from one of Hazardous's journals on deviantart: "I'm extremely grateful to be in this position, but I don't attribute it to luck. I attribute it to being honest with myself and recognition of the problem first and foremost and then the time I put in searching for something I enjoyed, and restructuring my life around that. Everything else fell into place after I made that critical choice and change in mindset to focus on what I enjoy most to make ( 3D girls ) rather than what I need to do to get work ( 3d everything else )
This didn't mean all I do is make girls, or the only jobs I took was if it was a girl model – it just meant I slowly started to connect with people and companies and clients who enjoyed what I enjoyed. That's the critical difference as opposed to what I used to do which was I was putting out there what everyone else enjoyed at the time or whatever was called for at the time. Leaving NO ROOM for what I liked, no room for ME and my art. Subsequently connecting with people that were cool and all but never REALLY gelled with on that art level.
The problem for me with the 'I got laid off, so need to make art right now just to get by and get another job' is that it's a quick fix – it doesn't solve the underlying issue which is that you'll need to keep doing this every time you get laid off, or lose your job etc. It makes periods of unemployment seem long and particularly laborious, because it's not fun. It's not fun because you probably aren't doing what you enjoy and your worried about your $$$$ going down the drain. Recognize that. Do something about it."
To answer your question, I've seen plenty of prop artist jobs arounds, I'd say that even a lot of 3D Generalist jobs may fall into that category as well. There are jobs at Blizzard called 'Weapon artists' Thats just one example. Like what Hazardous said above, make what you love, not what will get you a job.
If you like characters, go for it. If your character art isn't up to par just yet, maybe bide your time as a prop/3D artist while cranking on characters. Then when you think you're ready, start applying for character art jobs. Worse comes to worse, you have something to fall back on and its something you already enjoy.
You're in this field because you wanted to do what you love. So you should definitely take it all the way.
Think I'll put the kettle on!
There are much less character artist jobs than environment artist jobs. It's not true for all studios/games but it's just numbers. Most games need way more environment art than characters. Making characters is what I enjoy doing for sure. I didn't even pause to think about the market need. Would it have changed my mind then? Probably not... but I regret not considering this point when I see tons of environment job postings and zero character art ones.
If you do head this route, I'd at least attempt making an entire environment and seeing if it's something you enjoy doing. Would open up some more opportunities.