Breaking into industry. Need help
Hello
I'm 17, my dream is to work in the Game industry and I'm very motivated to achieve my goals. I have been studying in a Traditional Art school along with a normal school and I'm about to get my degree this year. This school has very traditional and academic, you may say very 'old-school'-ish ways of teaching. For 10 years I've been taught the fundamentals: composition, perspective, anatomy etc. Most of the time I had to draw still life and portraits (With Graphite/pencil or with watercolors), but there were also classes where I had to use my imagination and creativity to draw various illustrations.
Couple of years ago I bought my first graphics tablet, knowing Photoshop pretty well, it was just a matter of time to get used to it.
Next year, I will have to decide what my future profession will be. As I said, I want to work in the Game industry. But the problem is, the country I live in (Georgia) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING even slightly related to this industry. This refers both to Colleges and Studios. So, the closest thing to me is Architecture, it answers my passion for both computers and drawing. I will almost certainly take a 4 year course to become a bachelor. But I don't want these 4 years to be a waste of time and I don't want to forget about my dream. I'd like to see myself being a concept artist or even some really low position job rather than Architect.
So what do you say, should I just bury my dreams deep inside me and go on or is there at least some hope for me to get into this industry and do what I really want to do for all my life? Thanks!
I'm 17, my dream is to work in the Game industry and I'm very motivated to achieve my goals. I have been studying in a Traditional Art school along with a normal school and I'm about to get my degree this year. This school has very traditional and academic, you may say very 'old-school'-ish ways of teaching. For 10 years I've been taught the fundamentals: composition, perspective, anatomy etc. Most of the time I had to draw still life and portraits (With Graphite/pencil or with watercolors), but there were also classes where I had to use my imagination and creativity to draw various illustrations.
Couple of years ago I bought my first graphics tablet, knowing Photoshop pretty well, it was just a matter of time to get used to it.
Next year, I will have to decide what my future profession will be. As I said, I want to work in the Game industry. But the problem is, the country I live in (Georgia) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING even slightly related to this industry. This refers both to Colleges and Studios. So, the closest thing to me is Architecture, it answers my passion for both computers and drawing. I will almost certainly take a 4 year course to become a bachelor. But I don't want these 4 years to be a waste of time and I don't want to forget about my dream. I'd like to see myself being a concept artist or even some really low position job rather than Architect.
So what do you say, should I just bury my dreams deep inside me and go on or is there at least some hope for me to get into this industry and do what I really want to do for all my life? Thanks!
Replies
Getting any kind of 4 year degree may be helpful in getting a work visa. If your college education is state funded then definitely take advantage of that.
Everything software related that you need to know in order to get a job is available on-line, for free, at sites like this.
Do not bury your dreams. Work towards them in an intelligent manner, and have a secondary career plan to keep you alive until you can make your dreams real.
I think it's a great idea to get a degree in a parallel field and if you spend time to learn game art specific tools and work practices, all that art skill will shine though.
I'm not so sure about going for architechture though, It's always come across to me as an all or nothing field for people very driven by the subject. (much like game art!)
However, if you are looking to do more arch viz stuff, then a bachelors degree is usually more than sufficient and you don't have to worry about getting licensed.
Honestly, your skills will be wasted in architecture if that is not your passion. For a long time you will be working under the principal architect and some of the can be the most uncreative people possible. They like certain forms, and that's all they use. Rinse, wash, repeat.
Architecture and any sort of industrial design will probably help further your skills as a concept artist. It's that extra knowledge of realism in design that helps push a concept to the next level imo!
for example.... http://www.tinfoilgames.com/ on his info page he says he studied art and achiteecture as well as industrial design. It is my personal opinion that Daniel having some of the most badass art around and what he choose to study are very connected.
I'm not sure how busy your schedule is going to be for the next four years, but if it's possible 2 study fulltime and do some free-lance & portfolio work meanwhile, you'll go pretty far by the time you'll be graduating (at 21-23, or so);
having a degree will help you with getting work visas; otherwise, it's pretty difficult to give you any more or less credible advice at this point, bc. economy has not been very stable in the past few years, and, if you read these boards more or less frequently, you see a lot of lay-offs happening around. I don't honestly see anyone hiring you straight out of college and going through all related visa work.
I would assume it would be realistic for you to move to Russia and work for a few years after graduation, there're a few fast growing mobile/social gaming companies, and there probably will be more coming, and there's a demand for quality 2D work.
When you have some actual industry experience, it would be safe to look for options abroad.
Another possible route - finishing your BA first and getting masters in Europe, looking for possible employment meanwhile.
Realistically, you still will be very very young after graduation, and you'll have > 10 years of instructed drawing and painting behind.
Best of luck.
If I ever do a Master degree I want it to be somewhere outside my country.
Thanks for advices guys, I really appreciate them.