ever feel like changing direction?

Ruz

I have been thinking a lot of late about changing to environmental art. not sure if its a good thing to do. I quite enjoy looking at environmental stuff. The thing is I do not enjoy overtly technical stuff, but like more fantasy/adventure style.
I think if I was to switch i would stick with building/props and trees not cars and guns.

I am just sick of doing zbrush heads and cloth folds for every bloody project I do:) might be just a phase , not really sure now.

I miss the days when characters were just low poly with a nice hand painted texture, seemed much more creative.

I am just a bit worried about learning all that modular stuff and worry I might just might not 'get it' somehow and also abandoning skillsets that I have spent the last 15 years building up.

I started building heads and characters in 1996, so it has been a long time, but I feel as though I never quite achieved the level i was after and it makes me a bit cranky too.

Justin Meisse

go for it, it's expanding your skillset. I've actually been mulling this idea over in my head for a while, programmers are flexible and can find work anywhere, why do game artists shoehorn themselves?

I recently switched to character art because there were no full time environment positions at my current studio. It's a bit terrifying because I'm still a bit hazy about where to put edge loops but I look at what the other character artists do and I try to learn from it. After doing this for almost a year now, I kind of want to switch disciplines again, I think in the next 5 years I'd like to switch to concept art.

My grand scheme is to start my own small studio by the time I'm 40, so I might as well hold every job in my chosen discipline of art.

Kwramm

i went from character artists (I never was that good to begin with) to environment and then back to characters and tech-art. It's never too late to switch. Plus I still keep hearing how Zbrush is super awesome and in high demand for env artists.
All the new hardsurface workflows and detailing techniques are still something many env artists have to learn. Also our clients keep asking for more hi-poly objects and sculpts for props and other env stuff.

Justin Meisse

I went to a indie games talk recently where Adam Saltsman, of Canabalt and Hundreds fame, said he made ends meet when he first went indie by specializing in low spec art - is there no demand for low poly, diffuse only characters in the freelance market?

Ruz

probably justin, but I feel a bit nervous going back to that, got a bit stuck in my sculpting stress mode.
I feel that unless I become 'very' good at something I can't bear to do it.
organic stuff/cloth work can be very hard to get right as though it is never finished somehow.
I am almost 45 now and that makes me even more nervous about the future. I have spent the last month just messing around playing android games, done nothing much work wise. trying to work out where i want to go at the moment.

Kwramm - good advice, hopefully I can just jump in there, have a go at some env stuff and see how it goes.

3DKnight

Are you thinking full blown level artist, or specialized prop artist? Some studios its quite different

Envart

It's a tough call, the choice between the heart and the head. Do you feel you're at the limit of ability as a character artist, or is it a lack of inspiration in your current projects? I remember you were thinking about applying for a studio position, are you still considering this?

Being a freelancer is a good position to be in, because you could gauge weather or not it will financially sustain itself by creating a environment art 'folio and seeing if you get any bites. You can give it a trial run, and financially perhaps take a hit of a couple months wage due to working on a new folio. It could also be a lot of fun re-learning the fundamentals (composition, colour theory et. al.) as applied to environment art.

You're a far more accomplished artist than me though, so I have no idea if any of this is useful!

Ruz

thanks for the feedback guys, yeah its an interesting one. I feel as though my character work is not really progressing and that i am only going to be judged how well I can do zbrush cloth lol.
I started out as a texture artist and i really enjoyed that, but the sculpting thing just irks me at times. I mean jeez all that time sulpting folds, It's just an exericise in how to depress yourself:/
I used to like doing head textures mainly but now the texture seems like an afterthought as the process of producing characters is now so mechanical/rigid

I think at this stage I would like to give building props a go, 3DKnight - seems a like a good way of dipping my toes in the water.

TeeJay - the problem is the money is not as good with mobile stuff, but the downside is that the high end stuff I do seems to get less and less, I sometimes just end up doing skinweighting or LOD's.
Some companies tend to use scanned humans for the high res stuff now, which seems to make my skillset more and more redundant.
So yeah i could go back to doing hand painted characters with some prop work as an extra skillset, but I will have to think really carefully about it.
I don't think I am the most naturally talented character artist but I have worked hard to get to a goodish standard.

Perhaps doing props might give me a break from my current woes and and I might just even enjoy it enough to go for it fully

I have made a living salary as a character arist this year, but need a way of sustaining myself consistently as some years it can be quite tough to keep going.

Walrus , some good points,I did find it useful

almighty_gir

any time you feel like you're no longer "growing" as an individual, that's when you should look into either a new discipline, or diverting your existing skillset to a new direction.

by moving into environment art, you'll be using SOME of your current skillset, but in a new way, and you'll be developing another set of skills entirely. by doing this you will eventually find growth in your current area of expertise (characters).

good luck to you man!

3DKnight

Level at is pretty deep to dive into. For a high mid to senior position, you basically need to know how plan this stage of a level:



and then get to this:



All within the timeline and memory budget. Different companies have different requirements of level artists. Some really split up the tasks into modelers, word builders, texture artists.. and so on. I think Naughty Dog does this.

At Bioware, you usually haves to do it all, including the lighting and streaming.

Ruz

Well I did actually do environmetal art as well when I was a junior artist at both Blitz Games and swordfish, so its not a complete unknown for me. It wasn't really modular though. I built stadiums for sports games and at blitz did bits of a wild west town.

almighty_gir - thanks man, I do feel that learning those other sills will complement my current skillset. I think I am going to pursue 3 avenues, my current stuff, some hand painted character stuff and also prop building. expect some new pimps from me sometime soon.

probably moving to Nottingham soon also, so might be a bit busy.