What is it like working as a Game Artist?
polycounter lvl 12
Hey guys, I'm a 16 year old aspiring game artist who wants to know what it is like working as a game artist. I know some of you Polycounter's have worked in that field, so i'm wondering questions such as "What's the atmosphere like?", "How difficult was it to get the job and while you had it?", "What did you have to do?", etc.
Absolutely any tips will be wonderful. For the past few months I've doubts getting into it, but that's just down to my self-belief.
Absolutely any tips will be wonderful. For the past few months I've doubts getting into it, but that's just down to my self-belief.
Replies
If your aim is to get a job as an artist in the game industry, you should be practicing constantly and trying to get up to speed and up to the same level as the people you want to work with. From looking through some of your previous posts, it's evident that the thing you need to focus on is actually finishing the things you start. You have a lot of good gun models and your characters are above average for someone your age, so try to finish one of them and move onto a new project afterwards.
When deadlines loom, it can get a little bit tense. Programmers swear at nullreferences, artists swear at crashing software, everyone swears at a crashing engine. But then we all grab doughnuts, play board games, grab a drink and take a breather.
Not the usual/suggested method, but I kind of carved out a bit of a position for myself, being a somewhat decent programmer having studied a maths degree, and being a sort-of-okayish artist having done an art diploma (although most of it was self-taught, thanks to polycount). That, coupled with knowing one or two people who worked at the company, made it pretty easy to get in as an tech art intern. I got fed a lot of the tedious work to do, like UI scripting, triggering fx/particles, and building props, and occasionally wrote little tools that helped other people work faster (-- they totally loved that stuff). I learnt super quickly, worked super hard, became a significantly better programmer and artist, and got offered a full time position short while later.
Granted, I wanted to study maths, and then wanted to study art, so I was kind of confused for a while, and it took me longer to get out of the school system. I could probably have gotten in sooner had I known what I wanted to do with my life earlier on.
Just find what you love doing (something you'd do for free if you didn't have to pay for food and lodging), and go all out with it. Surround yourself with it. Work hard. Absorb everything you can. And, preferably, start early. :P If it's something you love, you just "know" you're supposed to be doing it, and everything just feels right, even when times get tough.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89972&highlight=game+industry
Yeah, I'm definitely going to try and get the Iron Man model done. I've got to stop this lack of focus I've had for years, starting a model and then another idea comes and I never get back to it.
Thanks for that information, I'm torn between music and art, I usually make beats every day, but then I come on here and see everyone's great pieces of art which really inspires me.
Thanks for that information, I'm torn between music and art, I usually make beats every day, but then I come on here and see everyone's great pieces of art which really inspires me.
Lol, that's funny you say that. About 2 years ago when I was 15/16 I was the exact same way with art and music sequencing and the main reason I went with art is because I figured that it has a more applicable future proofing to it than music. We'll see how that theory treats me when I go to college/get a job though
replace the guns with video game shit....
First image I see when I wake up....lovely XO
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryGameIndustry
The atmosphere is for the most part relaxed, it can have a "tense" undercurrent when things get busy, its almost better that way though, you really find out alot about the people you work with times get tough and often that is where the team really bonds together and the game comes together. For the most part though, its very chilled out, you can do and say what you please usually as-long as you remain professional. At Crytek UK at least, the hierarchy is quite flat, in terms of there isn't a massive barrier between you and your boss and everyone is usually made to feel equal.
Getting the job was probably the hardest thing ive ever had to do, I worked day and night for a year or 2, missed my 20th and 21st birthdays because I literally worked straight through. The interview was great fun, I was made to feel welcome and it was very informal. Getting to the point where I was good enough to be interviewed was pretty damn tough though, portfolio, portfolio, portfolio.
The job itself can be pretty hard work, there is alot to learn and it is fairly steep learning curve to become comfortable in the job. Hell im still learning something new every day almost 2 years after starting, I wouldn't say it ever becomes easy as usually the more comfortable you get, the more responsibility you gain, its better that way though. I think like everything you get out of it what you put in, the more you work, the more appreciation and responsibility you get and thus the more job satisfaction you're likely to get.
I was taken by surprise in some respects, I thought it would be a job that involved making highpoly bin a, bin b, fire extinguisher c and hot dog stand d, it is much more than that. Responsibilities ranged from Level concepting, brainstorming, level construction, asset creation, lighting, particles etc. All sorts, its very varied which is great.
All I can say, its best job in the world.
That's exactly what I did, although not as young as you when I did it. I had this idea that I'd be this famous beat maker producer big shot. That was a total pipe dream and a waste of time. But maybe you're good at them, I don't know. The chances of making a living off of beats (or music in general) is pretty much slim to zero. You're young though. I've always felt that at this age, it should about learning more about life, different experiences, self discovery, hanging out with friends, ect. Things that shape who you will be in the future. Because you've got plenty of time to worry about career later on when the real world hits you, haha. And who knows, by then you may want to be a dentist or something else.
My responses to your questions are pretty much the same as the others who answered, so I'll just answer this one
Difficult enough I guess. If it wasn't for a bit of luck in getting my very first position, I have no idea how long it would be until I finally got hired. It all comes down to your portfolio. Make it as great as you can. Make it LOOK like actual game art. If you can get portfolio up to a "work ready" level, people will start noticing it when you apply. As for the actual job, the first year was difficult but nothing I couldn't handle. But after that year, it's been easier. Mostly because of what I've learnt during my first production cycle and also getting even better at using 3ds max and photoshop. I think the difficulty comes when you're given a task, and it's an entire level. Then you kinda freak out cause you have so much to do in a limited amount of time. So eventually, you learn how to break down tasks into smaller bits, and learning how to manage your time well in order to meet the deadlines.
I can only talk about the studios I've been to which now is up to three. In essence they were relaxed but it was also dependent on what state the project was in. It's always a little bit awkward being the new guy in the art-team, if nobody else does the first-move and greet you properly you should really just put yourself out there and start talking to them. Befriend them go for a coffee maybe treat them to it.
After a while it becomes very chilled once they realize that you're a cool guy that can listen to instructions and follow them. You never really have to worry if you're a junior, they will teach you stuff but it's also up to you to make sure you listen in to everything important they say, if not to you then what they say to each other. Discussing the engine, modeling software hotkeys and tricks etc etc.
Whenever I'm in a team I make a big effort going around talking to people when I have the time. I feel that it's important that I know a little bit about each person, I also try to make sure we're laughing everyday and have fun.
I want the office to be a comfortable environment to work in and have fun even though we're doing very serious things. Getting to work with a good mindset and a good mood is important for this, so put on your favorite music everyday heading to work. Coming into work with a big smile on your face makes others feel better as well
"How difficult was it to get the job and while you had it?"
It's always difficult to get a job, I spent 8 hours a day for a year learning 3d from scratch. I had money and I said : Let's go for it. You have to spend your time on your craft to become successful.
Depending on what game you start working on you master different skillsets. I started working on a racing game so there was little to no high->lowpoly baking. Mostly tilable textures and modular objects. Big and bold shapes that could be seen from a distance etc.
I felt like it wasn't all that hard going in so I had to keep up with the high->lowpoly baking at home.
Either way you will still learn tons, you'll learn about workflow, about game-engines in general and that's why it's important to listen to the seniors. I agree with Scott on this as well, the more responsibility you have the better, you'll learn tons.
"What did you have to do?"
I started out making low-poly assets using tilable textures basically, that and tons and tons of Lodding. Doing all those damn lods taught me to appreciate good workflow and nice topology for lodding as well as setting up proper UV-shells for lodding as well. Nothing worse than deleting an unnecessary edge-loop and the texture goes retarded.
Later on I started working a bit more with concepting designs for some assets, then some world-creation. About the time I switched job to work on Wipeout I made lots of optimizations as well as some vehicle modeling + handpainted textures.
When I started working on Far Cry 3 I got a job as a level artist. So then I was responsible for my own levels which is a lot of fun. On that project though there were little to no modeling. Only focusing on the level as a whole leaving the modeling to the prop-team.
In the end it's been a lot of fun and I did miss modeling. So I did it in my own time ofcourse