Self-study to professional game artist: What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

Alex_J

Whether you are working professionally right now or have in the past, knowing what you do now about the most current methods and workflows, what would your advice to somebody just getting started out be?

Specifically, what are techniques and programs you would focus on if you were just getting started? For character artist? For environment artist?

Just general guidelines for beginners. Like, if you want to be a character artist, you need to be able to do such and such in Zbrush, and also have some competency in ______. Or, when I was starting out, I wasted a lot of time focusing on ______, but it would have been better spent on something else.



Thanks for any feedback.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Make a video game.  Like now.  Contribute or join a team.  You don't need to wait.

Alex_J

Thanks.

I was doing that initially, but I felt like I needed to learn so much before I was ready to make a game. Probably the problem was that I was wanting to make my dream game, with AAA graphics and all. Haha.

What I ought to do is, like you said, find a team looking for help and start contributing that way. I think as soon as I finish up my current project, I'll start scouting for a suitable project to help out with.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Even if it's volunteer, do it.  But you still should do you research about how good the project and team is, etc.

Ashervisalis

I'm not a professional yet, but I'd definitely have tons of advice I could throw back at myself a few years ago. I knew I wanted to do 3D modeling, so I started doing online tutorials for prop modeling, character modeling, rendering, etc etc. I spread myself way too thin trying to learn a bit of everything. I studied stuff for game art, CG, etc. If I had just buckled down and decided to work only on game props and environments, I'd probably be a lot further ahead than I currently am.

JordanN

I've kept notes since 2015 about what my work habits are and what I always needed to do to improve them. 

I think the biggest mistake I made was always keeping my project scopes so small. Admittedly, some of this is do to some hardcore nostalgia I have growing up in the PS1/PS2 era, when games were designed to be ultra compact and gameplay was used to overcome those tech hurdles.

So instead of doing street corners, I should have made an entire environment that covers neighborhoods. Or instead of doing the inside of a convenience store with few items stocked on shelves, I should do an entire shopping mall. 

Eric Chadwick

My advice to my past self... keep doing what you're doing, it all ended up well.

You had no idea where you were going, but that's totally ok. You just worked your ass off, and that's what it took (takes!).

Keep putting your best effort into it, that's exactly what you should be doing.

sacboi

As a part-timer, rewinding the clock back I'd quite literally shout into my own left ear... 

"shed the self doubt and procrastination you dufus and just DO IT!" 

...would've been a less bumpy road if I knew then what I know now.  

aryarie

sacboi said:

As a part-timer, rewinding the clock back I'd quite literally shout into my own left ear... 

"shed the self doubt and procrastination you dufus and just DO IT!" 

...would've been a less bumpy road if I knew then what I know now.  

Battling with this at the moment Mostly the self doubt. Especially when I feel like I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. Sometimes I feel like I should just quit and go back to writing code, even though I hate it.

As someone who is currently self-studying, I would have told myself when I was younger that it's not all the technical tools that are going to make your art good, you have to learn some art fundamentals (at the time I didn't see the relationship between making art for games and traditional art so I ignored it). Trying to teach yourself both at the same time is hard!

NikhilR

Don't go with the herd, you don't have to be an game tester/environment/prop artist to get your foot in the door to later become a character artist. 
Just keep doing characters! You will make it in time.
You are a senior if your work shows it.
And being professional is an attitude not a job.

Neox

invest into gamecompany stock, buy bitcoins, buy property in berlin

NikhilR

Neox said:

invest into gamecompany stock, buy bitcoins, buy property in berlin

The investment part.
 I've had juniors viciously attack me when I bring that up. Many feel that its not polite to invest in the company you work for, lest your employer think you as less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur.

Alex_J

NikhilR said:

Neox said:

invest into gamecompany stock, buy bitcoins, buy property in berlin

The investment part.
 I've had juniors viciously attack me when I bring that up. Many feel that its not polite to invest in the company you work for, lest your employer think you as less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur.

Investing in your own company... wouldn't that indicate you had a vested interest in the companies performance?

NikhilR

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

NikhilR said:

Neox said:

invest into gamecompany stock, buy bitcoins, buy property in berlin

The investment part.
 I've had juniors viciously attack me when I bring that up. Many feel that its not polite to invest in the company you work for, lest your employer think you as less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur.

Investing in your own company... wouldn't that indicate you had a vested interest in the companies performance?

Of course, and this usually has a positive outcome.

Eric Chadwick

Only once for me did stock options actually amount to anything. Most of the time the stock became worthless in short order. Not through lack of hard work on our part as game developers.

I think it heavily depends on which companies you work with; are they publicly traded already, and are they profitable (or on the right track towards it).

If not, always go for more upfront compensation instead of options.

NikhilR

Eric Chadwick said:

Only once for me did stock options actually amount to anything. Most of the time the stock became worthless in short order. Not through lack of hard work on our part as game developers.

I think it heavily depends on which companies you work with; are they publicly traded already, and are they profitable (or on the right track towards it).

If not, always go for more upfront compensation instead of options.

Nothing beats upfront given how volatile the game industry is. But even that can be challenging to come by. 
I doubt any of the investors who actually own majority stock even play video games.

PixelMasher

Your competition is already working in the industry

networking is essential and a good side route into most jobs

The interview is 90% about showing you have OK social skills and are not a complete weirdo.

have patience and self discipline to get really good.

Alex_J

PixelMasher said:

The interview is 90% about showing you have OK social skills and are not a complete weirdo.

I love the subtlety. So it is fine to be mostly a weirdo, haha.

Thanks for the concise and useful advice, all.

Neox

NikhilR said:

Neox said:

invest into gamecompany stock, buy bitcoins, buy property in berlin

The investment part.
 I've had juniors viciously attack me when I bring that up. Many feel that its not polite to invest in the company you work for, lest your employer think you as less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur.

idiots are idiots... well i am not specifically speaking about investing into the companies you work for. but if i would have started buying stock regularly back when i started out (say, ubisoft, activision, nintendo) it would have given me a ton more money safety by now. oh well, would have could have  

BrianShray

Neox said:

NikhilR said:

Neox said:

invest into gamecompany stock, buy bitcoins, buy property in berlin

The investment part.
 I've had juniors viciously attack me when I bring that up. Many feel that its not polite to invest in the company you work for, lest your employer think you as less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur.

idiots are idiots... well i am not specifically speaking about investing into the companies you work for. but if i would have started buying stock regularly back when i started out (say, ubisoft, activision, nintendo) it would have given me a ton more money safety by now. oh well, would have could have  

True. most of these companies have grown multiple folds over the past handful of years. 
EA for example. grew almost 10 folds since just 2013.