Haha yeah. I'll never forget that one girl from my 3d animation class who was crying in front of the teacher how her only zip disc died with all her work on it. Lots of tears there. I think she really never made a backup.
god I dont know a CG artist who hasnt lost at least half his work in some drive failure at some point.
its one of the harshest lessons you can learn, but the point im at now it would bother me more to lose my texture library's then my models, my skills have taken such a jump now most of my old stuff I could do so much better and faster, but losing my 50 gigs of texture reference and concept ive collected over the last 7 years would drive me insane (hence why I keep a copy on 2 drives a USB and rw discs).
i lost my mac hardrive last month... been a busy year and i hadnt backed up nearly a whole year of photos and a months worth of work (working day week month over about five months) project that i was about to post on polycount...all gone...
just bought a wifi timemachine so i dont go through that again out of lazyness
and it got posted yesterday, so you know what that means.
i hate yellow
use low contrast themes for your slides, you dont want to ruin your future coworkers eyes
Or maybe they do...
Also, it's kind of funny you're bashing yellow on black...
said the yellow man on a black background, lol. I agree with you, but its just funny that you happen to be saying it.
Those are all awesome. Does anybody else go to art school for games/movies and like more than half of the people do not do anything? There are kids in my school who sit around campus for hours on end all week long play LoL. I just think to myself, what do you expect to happen when you get out of here?!?!!?
Sounds just like my uni! 'Gamers' who think they can make/design games because they play them all the time. Then, when the pressure starts towards the end of the year the excuses come out and extensions are given because they've been lazy all year and start claiming to have all sorts of problems.
Ya.
I'm also thinking of getting 'If it isn't almost breaking you, youre not working hard enough.' Printed onto a freaking t-shirt.
Thanks man it's appreciated. Actually the end is what I'm most afraid of. I simply have no confidence in getting a job at all - in either the discipline I am studying and the game industry. Oh well it all sounds like what should be in another thread. Of course I don't really want to post it; Polycount gets enough whiners and I don't want to bother people with my problems.
MobyGames is terrible at summarizing peoples' work histories. Very patchy and incomplete. I tried improving mine, but they will only list games that have your name in the credits, and games don't print the credits in a handbook anymore, nor in an easily-accessible place.
I don't blame them. There are no standards for credits, so it's all over the place. It's just kind of a flawed premise to begin with, trying to make an encyclopedic game-credit system.
I believe her linkedin has more accurate data, I've googled around when this thread started, and found a quite extensive job list
however
most of it is barely touching ps3/360-gen (she graduated in early 90s), and past four (?) years she's been pretty much only teaching, not working in game development.
the fact that I can find this but I'm yet to see her actual work (not in the field of feminist twitter-wanking) is not giving her extra credibility too
Does it matter? Nothing she said was really that controversial except the two slides about what to put in your portfolio and that is nothing Cliff Bleszinski hasn't said before and I hear he has been pretty successful in the game industry.
okay, lbr - I find her stance aggravating, she's trying to hard 2 sound cool while gives well-summarized but still common sense advice, and there's the school that she is indirectly promoting that just put this out
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2GJz5Pqs8s"]ct bottoms up - YouTube[/ame]
if this is a result of a 3 year fulltime course in "what doesnt break you ought 2 make you" I hope she's a wonderful teacher in some other area that is not represented anywhere online.
I have no idea what Cliff B. does these days, but some ten years ago his opinion was lightyears ahead than that of hers in the credibility aspect.
wasn't it agreed that the "oh yeah, well show me your portfolio!" response to critique is a dick move?
I mean, seriously, what's wrong with anything on this list that's getting your hackles up?
If you guys are getting all upset about a woman saying "no porn elves" perhaps you haven't browsed over student work in a while.
I'll give you an example of a painting a fellow student did in my figure painting class: a back view of a girl in a g-string, squatting down in a desert showing her ass to the viewer with a large, phallic, desert rock structure in the background. These are kids out of high-school who are still fairly naive with almost no social skills - so no porn elves means exactly that, no naked sweaty elves grasping a magical staff that you don't realize looks like a cock. If anyone is at that age, I'm sorry but it's true, in 10 years you'll look back and go "AAAAUGH, what was wrong with me!?"
it may be common sense but I know a lot of people including myself that failed to follow some of her advice. I think you overestimate young adults.
and seriously why does it matter who she is? its sound advice. it seems lke you have a personal vendetta about the university, school in general or her imo
wasn't it agreed that the "oh yeah, well show me your portfolio!" response to critique is a dick move?
is it a dick move to ask for grizzled veteran artist's work samples?
I'm not talking about personal fights on the internet right now, and you probably know it too.
I mean, seriously, what's wrong with anything on this list that's getting your hackles up?
are you notch? I'm falling into the void of dispair. you just learned something new. think about it for a minute.
If you guys are getting all upset about a woman saying "no porn elves" perhaps you haven't browsed over student work in a while.
okay lbr, did your abovementioned classmate paint his phallus over gluteus maximus like this?
because I'm pretty sure he'd be hired straight of school if he did with a whole portfolio of screaming nude elveans, wriggling in climatic drowsiness with that sort of skill.
this particular woman is supposed to teach students how to do better than porn-elves because they commission her as an educator. (with an art background, by the way - Kaye does not do code.)
the "no porn elves"/"no thug niggaz" (I would assume she's fine with thug misses tho) is not an advice, it's pretty straightforward posing and shaming.
and meanwhile, sega is selling their "yakuza" - does it get more Japanese gangsta than this? - and capcom released RE5, that this person would probably kill during pre-production, and Allods have elvean boobs.
These are kids out of high-school who are still fairly naive with almost no social skills
and seriously why does it matter who she is? its sound advice. it seems lke you have a personal vendetta about the university, school in general or her imo
okay lbr, did your abovementioned classmate paint his phallus over gluteus maximus like this?
because I'm pretty sure he'd be hired straight of school if he did with a whole portfolio of screaming nude elveans, wriggling in climatic drowsiness with that sort of skill.
I'm sure that portfolio would close more doors than an artist of similar skill levels that had a more "rated E" portfolio.
I think I've been doing this long enough to look at that list and say, yup sounds about right. I can cut her some slack because she has to deal students all day - If I had to hear kids whining about how HARRRD it is to unwrap models or make textures I'd be a little acerbic too.
Some of the advice in these slides is a little over the top sure, but honestly, for some fresh faced kids straight out of highschool that don't know any better the vast majority of it is very good advice.
But really, relax, nobody is coming to take away your porn elves.
the "no porn elves"/"no thug niggaz" (I would assume she's fine with thug misses tho) is not an advice, it's pretty straightforward posing and shaming.
I suspect that might have been her intent based on the examples she gave but I think there is still merit to what she is saying.
Lots of people here pass their portfolio review and their art test only to get rejected in the interview process because the studio didn't feel their personality was a good fit for them. You get judged by more than just your skills as an artist and people assume a lot about your personality from the subject matter in your portfolio.
Imagine if someone made a scene where they modeled Anita Sarkeesian as a super hero fighting sexist trolls. I guarantee you a lot of studios wouldn't touch that applicant with a ten foot pole. Opposite end of the spectrum, same outcome. Different workplaces have different cultures and nobody wants an employee that is going to cause conflict and be difficult to work with.
I am usually first in line here to criticize people that I think are on a moral crusade but I'm not so naive as to think that there will be no social or professional consequences to people who simply make whatever they want. Everybody likes to think that we should all get our opinion and everybody should respect it and you shouldn't be held back by it. It's a convenient desire but that isn't how the real world works. When people disagree on contentious issues in the real world there's a decent chance they're going to get pissed at each other.
I am usually first in line here to criticize people that I think are on a moral crusade but I'm not so naive as to think that there will be no social or professional consequences to people who simply make whatever they want. Everybody likes to think that we should all get our opinion and everybody should respect it and you shouldn't be held back by it. It's a convenient desire but that isn't how the real world works.
Pretty much this. Better be safe than sorry when it comes to the content of the folio that's intended to get you your very first job in the industry. Maybe you'll not get a second chance.
Since everyone stresses it's the art that gets you the job, then you could just as well leave out the "controversial" part, avoiding pissing any people off who don't just care about the art part when making that hiring decision.
I really find this very good advice. If you can avoid pissing people off, then do it, especially when it is you who wants something - i.e. a job.
I feel like I've seen these slides a couple of years ago....anyways...its pretty much good advice. The "no porn elves/racial/gangsta" whatever bit just sounds a bit biased and could be worded better IMO.
"Porn Elves" to me needs clarification because a lot of whats done today falls under her description of "porn elves". If your talking about the kind of things you see on deviant art(which lets be honest, most art students start there) I can agree that has no place on a portfolio. On the other hand you see "under-dressed" women everywhere in our media professionally, even making "top row" on various other cg sites. I guess it all depends what studio you aim to work in.
I see where she is coming from, in regards to "students", but that bit could still use better clarification than just "NO!".
I think she just want them to think more critically about what they create. Tonnes of excited students will just make whatever they feel like and their expressions will be informed by what they have consumed over time, and what we consume these days are built on tropes and archetypes we've all seen multiple times. Making something new and not so derivative takes more effort in the conceptual phase and will result in better, more original artwork.
So really they could still make porn elves and racial archetypes, but they should feel unique and authentic, showing personality, maybe have a back-story that would succintly inform reasoning for being scantily clad or coming from a particular racial background etc etc. Nobody wants to see some artwork and go "wow another porn elf" knowing that you're right because it looks like all the other shallow pointless goddamn porn elves.
Hmmm....She mentioned the gory type of fellows are no good, then why is it that many folks here are gory and work at gory places?
Also why would anyone want to make the porn types? Seems a bit perverted if you ask me.
That's no good.
Also she didn't seem to mention anything about making monstrous types of guys, so by her standards would I be in the clear?
Hmmm....She mentioned the gory type of fellows are no good, then why is it that many folks here are gory and work at gory places?
Also why would anyone want to make the porn types? Seems a bit perverted if you ask me.
That's no good.
Also she didn't seem to mention anything about making monstrous types of guys, so by her standards would I be in the clear?
The sentence "..why is it that many folks here are gory and work at gory places?" makes very little sense grammatically. Also, you probably shouldn't be basing your portfolio off of a single person's POV.
Perhaps if there is a studio you wish to apply to, you look up their work and choose pieces similar to what they do -- or, barring that, you research their culture, and determine to the best of your ability what is acceptable, and what isn't.
I think she just want them to think more critically about what they create. Tonnes of excited students will just make whatever they feel like and their expressions will be informed by what they have consumed over time, and what we consume these days are built on tropes and archetypes we've all seen multiple times. Making something new and not so derivative takes more effort in the conceptual phase and will result in better, more original artwork.
So really they could still make porn elves and racial archetypes, but they should feel unique and authentic, showing personality, maybe have a back-story that would succintly inform reasoning for being scantily clad or coming from a particular racial background etc etc. Nobody wants to see some artwork and go "wow another porn elf" knowing that you're right because it looks like all the other shallow pointless goddamn porn elves.
Snaccum, correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that one of your last artistic contributions to your sketchbook was a completely naked female devil, showing side-boob and ass... with elf ears.
Pretty much this. Better be safe than sorry when it comes to the content of the folio that's intended to get you your very first job in the industry. Maybe you'll not get a second chance.
Since everyone stresses it's the art that gets you the job, then you could just as well leave out the "controversial" part, avoiding pissing any people off who don't just care about the art part when making that hiring decision.
I really find this very good advice. If you can avoid pissing people off, then do it, especially when it is you who wants something - i.e. a job.
This seems like the best advice to me. And to amend it, perhaps if you have a question about one of your pieces, you research the company culture to which you are applying, and also the work they have done in the past. This should help inform your decision making.
Beyond that, do the art you want to do, just with the knowledge that if you are going to push the envelope, you might be creating an unsuitable portfolio piece. It's okay to do art for art sake sometimes.
Snaccum, correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that one of your last artistic contributions to your sketchbook was a completely naked female devil, showing side-boob and ass... with elf ears.
haha, oh man I thought nobody was paying attention to that. Well there you go it proves my point. I can personally vouch for that character having next to no concept of character and personality when I drew it. The extent of reasoning for her nakedness is that I was thinking about my life-drawing exercises and anatomy and didn't at all want to think about drapery. Even then the anatomy will be poor with no reference and it's not a folio piece, it's just a sketchbook diddle I made while watching TV.
Actually since that I've considered the character behind the sketch more and if I was to make a final folio piece out of her all dressed up then not even her face would be visible. *edit* Not due to this conversation of course.
This list reminds me of a study some years ago. The top 100 business/success books were analyzed and over 90% of the content was considered "common sense."
If there is a "prime directive" for students it would be "You've gotta want to make games more than you want to play them. Making games is a business and you have to make games that people want to buy in order to stay in business. You must work on a team and get along with people as well as be reliable. Learn how to accept criticism. Get your shit done and constantly practice in order to improve. Exercise regularly. Drink quality beer."
A lot of great advice in this thread. Someone suggested making a compiled version of the advice here and the slides. So.. I went ahead and did that. I also added other pieces of advice I picked up on polycount over time.
Maybe this or something similar can be used to help game art students and aspiring game artists. But anyway, this is just an idea. Lot's of other points can be added etc.
Only one I kinda disagree with is number 15."You gotta love making games more than playing them"
You can love whatever your hobbies are more than making games, what matters is that you are dedicated enough to your career that you can reduce the time spent with any said hobbies.
I just think it would be like saying "Joe the lawyer likes watching football on Sunday more than his job and that makes him a bad lawyer"
Edit: On number 23 you spelled change wrong, just letting you know!
Oh, that is ironic. Nr. 3 slapped me right in the face. Thanks for pointing that out.
And regarding "You gotta love making games more than playing them".
Of course you can love playing games more as a hobby. I probably should have written that in a different way.
That's how I understood it:
During college I came across two situations related to that.
1) Some students would sit in class and play pokemon or whatever instead of paying attention.
2) We would get tougher assignments that would take time to do and some students didn't bother doing them, instead they chose to play games until the day before the deadline and rush-produced something, just to say "well I did the assignment".
So that's why I put that in the list. But I agree with you.
Oh, that is ironic. Nr. 3 slapped me right in the face. Thanks for pointing that out.
And regarding "You gotta love making games more than playing them".
Of course you can love playing games more as a hobby. I probably should have written that in a different way.
That's how I understood it:
During college I came across two situations related to that.
1) Some students would sit in class and play pokemon or whatever instead of paying attention.
2) We would get tougher assignments that would take time to do and some students didn't bother doing them, instead they chose to play games until the day before the deadline and rush-produced something, just to say "well I did the assignment".
So that's why I put that in the list. But I agree with you.
Bah so true man. I had the same kind of people, they would play WoW the entire class then bugging the teacher 20 min before class is over about how to do the work.
The slides in terms of advice aren't all that bad, and MiAlx I really like the idea, though I think it should be editable in some way... maybe a thread or a google doc that anyone can edit and add to?
I think with portfolio pieces it is best to play it safe rather than sorry in terms of porn and violence, especially when you are trying to break in. However when it comes to client or studio work, what you make isn't really your call. Perhaps somebody else who has a little more knowledge could answer this; if you where to put some of the more "distasteful" pieces in your portfolio that are client or studio work, does that reflect as badly on you than if you did them as personal pieces?
okay, lbr - I find her stance aggravating, she's trying to hard 2 sound cool while gives well-summarized but still common sense advice, and there's the school that she is indirectly promoting that just put this out ct bottoms up - YouTube
if this is a result of a 3 year fulltime course in "what doesnt break you ought 2 make you" I hope she's a wonderful teacher in some other area that is not represented anywhere online.
I have no idea what Cliff B. does these days, but some ten years ago his opinion was lightyears ahead than that of hers in the credibility aspect.
Sigh, a lot of what's wrong with this industry in one post.
For one, if Cliff B. and this chick say the same (correct) thing, how on earth is he 'more right' because of experience? C'mon...
Also, we don't know where she's been, what she's done. Personal attacks because you don't like what you read... well... I guess this is the internet.
Secondly, that's not a bad short. It was probably done in an academic year, maaaaybe written and storyboarded over the previous summer. Animation is rough, sure, but I've seen infinitely worse; it's pretty readable IMO, I understood what was going on. The story is quite good too, I see so many student shorts with a pathetic attempt at a punchline; this one was quite good. One guy wrote, storyboarded, modelled, rigged, textured, animated and rendered this, in a year or less, as well has having other projects, and probably a thesis.
So, y'know, maybe chill.
Sigh, a lot of what's wrong with this industry in one post.
if you didn't make this generalization an opener to your comment, I would bother replying to it a tad more seriously, but
For one, if Cliff B. and this chick say the same (correct) thing, how on earth is he 'more right' because of experience? C'mon...
being credible and being correct are two unrelated concepts, one does not exclude other, but one can benefit other too.
C.B. made a career in games, yet I'm not sure he is teaching.
someone peaking at Bratz the videogame comes out with a dickish presentation, flops as a grammar nazi, and when I ask if anyone seen her work, I'm being called the wrong of teh games?
it's def. time to chillax, my orange mocha frappuccino is on its way, have one too.
Well I didn't expect you to hold your hands up and say 'Y'know what', I guess what you said is fair'. I also see you didn't anything smart to say about my last point.
Do enjoy your orange frappucino though. That sounds delicious.
I apologize if that came off sharp/dickish/immature - however
You make really valid points all the way and I'm not arguing with them. - rant ahead
Maybe I'm really that much pressed about what she says (I don't deny that either, but there's that invisible line where I would stfu at badly worded stuff...given author's work is good.) -
And on the opposite end of spectrum, generally, good artists and good teachers know how to deliver stuff without sounding obnoxious
(given my own experience with both lead artists teaching and lead artists in the workplace, esp. when it comes to their attitude towards newcomers.)
Maybe I'm projecting my own experience at stuff she says and react too much.
And I don't dislike the overall vibe of her, presenting this industry as a misogynist haven ridden by self-proclaimed grammar nazis 2 elite 2 use spell-checking themselves.
Replies
its one of the harshest lessons you can learn, but the point im at now it would bother me more to lose my texture library's then my models, my skills have taken such a jump now most of my old stuff I could do so much better and faster, but losing my 50 gigs of texture reference and concept ive collected over the last 7 years would drive me insane (hence why I keep a copy on 2 drives a USB and rw discs).
just bought a wifi timemachine so i dont go through that again out of lazyness
and it got posted yesterday, so you know what that means.
i hate yellow
use low contrast themes for your slides, you dont want to ruin your future coworkers eyes
Or maybe they do...
Also, it's kind of funny you're bashing yellow on black...
said the yellow man on a black background, lol. I agree with you, but its just funny that you happen to be saying it.
Sounds just like my uni! 'Gamers' who think they can make/design games because they play them all the time. Then, when the pressure starts towards the end of the year the excuses come out and extensions are given because they've been lazy all year and start claiming to have all sorts of problems.
Ya.
I'm also thinking of getting 'If it isn't almost breaking you, youre not working hard enough.' Printed onto a freaking t-shirt.
but a 100x100 px avatar is not a 10 minute slide XD
*edit* because I am pretty much breaking.
I'll take one too :thumbup:
Wait till you finish all the work. You won't know what to do in the wake of handing everything in ;') Last exam on the 8th! Horah
I want to get that tattooed on my fucking arm!
Really great read and I like a lot of the others mentioned in this thread.
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,206737/
I don't blame them. There are no standards for credits, so it's all over the place. It's just kind of a flawed premise to begin with, trying to make an encyclopedic game-credit system.
I believe her linkedin has more accurate data, I've googled around when this thread started, and found a quite extensive job list
however
most of it is barely touching ps3/360-gen (she graduated in early 90s), and past four (?) years she's been pretty much only teaching, not working in game development.
the fact that I can find this but I'm yet to see her actual work (not in the field of feminist twitter-wanking) is not giving her extra credibility too
upd. http://k0k0k0.wordpress.com/about/ this too
[ame="
if this is a result of a 3 year fulltime course in "what doesnt break you ought 2 make you" I hope she's a wonderful teacher in some other area that is not represented anywhere online.
I have no idea what Cliff B. does these days, but some ten years ago his opinion was lightyears ahead than that of hers in the credibility aspect.
I mean, seriously, what's wrong with anything on this list that's getting your hackles up?
If you guys are getting all upset about a woman saying "no porn elves" perhaps you haven't browsed over student work in a while.
I'll give you an example of a painting a fellow student did in my figure painting class: a back view of a girl in a g-string, squatting down in a desert showing her ass to the viewer with a large, phallic, desert rock structure in the background. These are kids out of high-school who are still fairly naive with almost no social skills - so no porn elves means exactly that, no naked sweaty elves grasping a magical staff that you don't realize looks like a cock. If anyone is at that age, I'm sorry but it's true, in 10 years you'll look back and go "AAAAUGH, what was wrong with me!?"
and seriously why does it matter who she is? its sound advice. it seems lke you have a personal vendetta about the university, school in general or her imo
I'm not talking about personal fights on the internet right now, and you probably know it too.
are you notch? I'm falling into the void of dispair. you just learned something new. think about it for a minute.
okay lbr, did your abovementioned classmate paint his phallus over gluteus maximus like this?
because I'm pretty sure he'd be hired straight of school if he did with a whole portfolio of screaming nude elveans, wriggling in climatic drowsiness with that sort of skill.
this particular woman is supposed to teach students how to do better than porn-elves because they commission her as an educator. (with an art background, by the way - Kaye does not do code.)
the "no porn elves"/"no thug niggaz" (I would assume she's fine with thug misses tho) is not an advice, it's pretty straightforward posing and shaming.
and meanwhile, sega is selling their "yakuza" - does it get more Japanese gangsta than this? - and capcom released RE5, that this person would probably kill during pre-production, and Allods have elvean boobs.
now this is horrifying.
"it seems", exactly.
I'm sure that portfolio would close more doors than an artist of similar skill levels that had a more "rated E" portfolio.
I think I've been doing this long enough to look at that list and say, yup sounds about right. I can cut her some slack because she has to deal students all day - If I had to hear kids whining about how HARRRD it is to unwrap models or make textures I'd be a little acerbic too.
But really, relax, nobody is coming to take away your porn elves.
Lots of people here pass their portfolio review and their art test only to get rejected in the interview process because the studio didn't feel their personality was a good fit for them. You get judged by more than just your skills as an artist and people assume a lot about your personality from the subject matter in your portfolio.
Imagine if someone made a scene where they modeled Anita Sarkeesian as a super hero fighting sexist trolls. I guarantee you a lot of studios wouldn't touch that applicant with a ten foot pole. Opposite end of the spectrum, same outcome. Different workplaces have different cultures and nobody wants an employee that is going to cause conflict and be difficult to work with.
I am usually first in line here to criticize people that I think are on a moral crusade but I'm not so naive as to think that there will be no social or professional consequences to people who simply make whatever they want. Everybody likes to think that we should all get our opinion and everybody should respect it and you shouldn't be held back by it. It's a convenient desire but that isn't how the real world works. When people disagree on contentious issues in the real world there's a decent chance they're going to get pissed at each other.
Pretty much this. Better be safe than sorry when it comes to the content of the folio that's intended to get you your very first job in the industry. Maybe you'll not get a second chance.
Since everyone stresses it's the art that gets you the job, then you could just as well leave out the "controversial" part, avoiding pissing any people off who don't just care about the art part when making that hiring decision.
I really find this very good advice. If you can avoid pissing people off, then do it, especially when it is you who wants something - i.e. a job.
"Porn Elves" to me needs clarification because a lot of whats done today falls under her description of "porn elves". If your talking about the kind of things you see on deviant art(which lets be honest, most art students start there) I can agree that has no place on a portfolio. On the other hand you see "under-dressed" women everywhere in our media professionally, even making "top row" on various other cg sites. I guess it all depends what studio you aim to work in.
I see where she is coming from, in regards to "students", but that bit could still use better clarification than just "NO!".
So really they could still make porn elves and racial archetypes, but they should feel unique and authentic, showing personality, maybe have a back-story that would succintly inform reasoning for being scantily clad or coming from a particular racial background etc etc. Nobody wants to see some artwork and go "wow another porn elf" knowing that you're right because it looks like all the other shallow pointless goddamn porn elves.
Also why would anyone want to make the porn types? Seems a bit perverted if you ask me.
That's no good.
Also she didn't seem to mention anything about making monstrous types of guys, so by her standards would I be in the clear?
The sentence "..why is it that many folks here are gory and work at gory places?" makes very little sense grammatically. Also, you probably shouldn't be basing your portfolio off of a single person's POV.
Perhaps if there is a studio you wish to apply to, you look up their work and choose pieces similar to what they do -- or, barring that, you research their culture, and determine to the best of your ability what is acceptable, and what isn't.
Snaccum, correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that one of your last artistic contributions to your sketchbook was a completely naked female devil, showing side-boob and ass... with elf ears.
This seems like the best advice to me. And to amend it, perhaps if you have a question about one of your pieces, you research the company culture to which you are applying, and also the work they have done in the past. This should help inform your decision making.
Beyond that, do the art you want to do, just with the knowledge that if you are going to push the envelope, you might be creating an unsuitable portfolio piece. It's okay to do art for art sake sometimes.
haha, oh man I thought nobody was paying attention to that. Well there you go it proves my point. I can personally vouch for that character having next to no concept of character and personality when I drew it. The extent of reasoning for her nakedness is that I was thinking about my life-drawing exercises and anatomy and didn't at all want to think about drapery. Even then the anatomy will be poor with no reference and it's not a folio piece, it's just a sketchbook diddle I made while watching TV.
Actually since that I've considered the character behind the sketch more and if I was to make a final folio piece out of her all dressed up then not even her face would be visible. *edit* Not due to this conversation of course.
If there is a "prime directive" for students it would be "You've gotta want to make games more than you want to play them. Making games is a business and you have to make games that people want to buy in order to stay in business. You must work on a team and get along with people as well as be reliable. Learn how to accept criticism. Get your shit done and constantly practice in order to improve. Exercise regularly. Drink quality beer."
Take a look:
Things every game artist should know
Maybe this or something similar can be used to help game art students and aspiring game artists. But anyway, this is just an idea. Lot's of other points can be added etc.
Only one I kinda disagree with is number 15."You gotta love making games more than playing them"
You can love whatever your hobbies are more than making games, what matters is that you are dedicated enough to your career that you can reduce the time spent with any said hobbies.
I just think it would be like saying "Joe the lawyer likes watching football on Sunday more than his job and that makes him a bad lawyer"
Edit: On number 23 you spelled change wrong, just letting you know!
And regarding "You gotta love making games more than playing them".
Of course you can love playing games more as a hobby. I probably should have written that in a different way.
That's how I understood it:
During college I came across two situations related to that.
1) Some students would sit in class and play pokemon or whatever instead of paying attention.
2) We would get tougher assignments that would take time to do and some students didn't bother doing them, instead they chose to play games until the day before the deadline and rush-produced something, just to say "well I did the assignment".
So that's why I put that in the list. But I agree with you.
Bah so true man. I had the same kind of people, they would play WoW the entire class then bugging the teacher 20 min before class is over about how to do the work.
I think with portfolio pieces it is best to play it safe rather than sorry in terms of porn and violence, especially when you are trying to break in. However when it comes to client or studio work, what you make isn't really your call. Perhaps somebody else who has a little more knowledge could answer this; if you where to put some of the more "distasteful" pieces in your portfolio that are client or studio work, does that reflect as badly on you than if you did them as personal pieces?
Sigh, a lot of what's wrong with this industry in one post.
For one, if Cliff B. and this chick say the same (correct) thing, how on earth is he 'more right' because of experience? C'mon...
Also, we don't know where she's been, what she's done. Personal attacks because you don't like what you read... well... I guess this is the internet.
Secondly, that's not a bad short. It was probably done in an academic year, maaaaybe written and storyboarded over the previous summer. Animation is rough, sure, but I've seen infinitely worse; it's pretty readable IMO, I understood what was going on. The story is quite good too, I see so many student shorts with a pathetic attempt at a punchline; this one was quite good. One guy wrote, storyboarded, modelled, rigged, textured, animated and rendered this, in a year or less, as well has having other projects, and probably a thesis.
So, y'know, maybe chill.
if you didn't make this generalization an opener to your comment, I would bother replying to it a tad more seriously, but
being credible and being correct are two unrelated concepts, one does not exclude other, but one can benefit other too.
C.B. made a career in games, yet I'm not sure he is teaching.
someone peaking at Bratz the videogame comes out with a dickish presentation, flops as a grammar nazi, and when I ask if anyone seen her work, I'm being called the wrong of teh games?
it's def. time to chillax, my orange mocha frappuccino is on its way, have one too.
Do enjoy your orange frappucino though. That sounds delicious.
You make really valid points all the way and I'm not arguing with them. - rant ahead
And on the opposite end of spectrum, generally, good artists and good teachers know how to deliver stuff without sounding obnoxious
(given my own experience with both lead artists teaching and lead artists in the workplace, esp. when it comes to their attitude towards newcomers.)
Maybe I'm projecting my own experience at stuff she says and react too much.
And I don't dislike the overall vibe of her, presenting this industry as a misogynist haven ridden by self-proclaimed grammar nazis 2 elite 2 use spell-checking themselves.
That makes sense? Hope so.
Thanks, it was good!