Advice for career path for artist role
Hi Guys
I had some wonderful feedback on a previous thread and have come back for some more! I want to talk artist career paths. I have been digging deep to try and come up with an answer on.. what role to specialize in as I have read that this is the crunch and you have to focus on the end goal, Now
I have been having my bubble burst in a good way and am trying to pick a good direction so as not to lose focus and spiral out of control wasting more time.
In the end, I want to draw, and I want to paint, I am focusing on Anatomy and all the fundamentals, colour theory, composition, the works. I'm by no means good enough to apply for any such position, concept artists are one of the hardest jobs to get into, but aiming for that spot is going to make me land on a few golden clouds If I dont reach it I reckon, Ill still be able to draw/paint somewhere else!
So my question, whilst I know I'm going to have to spend another year or two polishing up my skills for a portfolio of art, I need to focus my attention on some role opportunities and I need to know what skills in a 3D sense to drop to get there in time.
I was going to aim for a texture artist, this requires painting/drawing skills, UV mapping and will head me in a good direction for a later career jump (I know this isnt advised but Im thinking stepping stones).
Backup skills that a texture artist would need is modelling, sculpting and maybe animation?
Skills that It wouldnt need is rigging/animation?
Any/all feedback is welcome guys, thanks for your time.
I had some wonderful feedback on a previous thread and have come back for some more! I want to talk artist career paths. I have been digging deep to try and come up with an answer on.. what role to specialize in as I have read that this is the crunch and you have to focus on the end goal, Now
I have been having my bubble burst in a good way and am trying to pick a good direction so as not to lose focus and spiral out of control wasting more time.
In the end, I want to draw, and I want to paint, I am focusing on Anatomy and all the fundamentals, colour theory, composition, the works. I'm by no means good enough to apply for any such position, concept artists are one of the hardest jobs to get into, but aiming for that spot is going to make me land on a few golden clouds If I dont reach it I reckon, Ill still be able to draw/paint somewhere else!
So my question, whilst I know I'm going to have to spend another year or two polishing up my skills for a portfolio of art, I need to focus my attention on some role opportunities and I need to know what skills in a 3D sense to drop to get there in time.
I was going to aim for a texture artist, this requires painting/drawing skills, UV mapping and will head me in a good direction for a later career jump (I know this isnt advised but Im thinking stepping stones).
Backup skills that a texture artist would need is modelling, sculpting and maybe animation?
Skills that It wouldnt need is rigging/animation?
Any/all feedback is welcome guys, thanks for your time.
Replies
Except if you postulate as a generalist you will never be ask to rig or animate.
Another bubble burst hah! Not to worry, I am just trying to find something to aim for. It seems that environment artists seem to be the most commonly advertised job?
All the pertinent info you need you can easily find by just researching the requirements listed in the latest job adverts for your desired position.
Example for texture artist: http://www.guerrilla-games.com/jobs/job/shader-&-texture-artist@Itemid=22&&job_id=44
You can limit your research to just the studios you dream working for or preferred location. If no current listing shows up use google date filter to check postings from the previous year.
I think dedicated texture artists would still be need in the games biz especially because of newer tools and technique like substance, quixel tools, photgrammetry. Yeah, ideally you're a competent modeller too but in a big pipeline production it's not gonna be efficient if your responsiblities also involve iterating the shaders and materials while you also have deadlines prepping the geometry stuff.
It's good a plan if you wanna enter as a texture guy. You can use the freebie models on gumroad (like those offered by Christopher Desse) to texture and use for your portfolio.
Good luck.
- Hai Phan's cgcircuit character art courses. (sorry, won't link 'em here, you do that work
- Alec Moody's 3dmotive/udemy courses, particularly hard surface tank texturing and the normal mapping tips. Use udemy, you just pay $5 for permanent viewing.
Both of these guys are polycount members. I don't know them personally but have purchased there lessons and I do recommend them.
Currently they don't touch on pbr in their lessons but regardless of your chosen 3d tool their lessons are still applicable now. Basic stuff you need to know in case you get asked questions about texturing theory and practice in a job interview.
Where you need to know the theory behind pbr is to watch allegorithmic's twitch channel. Wes McDermott has an easy to understand video explaining the basic theory why, what is, how to use....pbr. Of course other tools have pbr, but if you're gonna use substance designer and painter, I recommend checking out Allegorithmic's videos.
Re: concept art for games, there's current divergent thoughts regarding this. One is use 3d more in concepts like in AAA games by devs like Naughty Dog. Second "camp", if you can call it that, is more hand drawing and painting and less or no photo manipulation or 3D use. In other words, some studios prefer one style over another so do your research before sending your portfolio. Make sure it will match their expectations.
If you want to dig deeper, look for podcast interviews and panel talks by Naughty dog concept artists.
This is a valid point! I do jump around a lot, but I have that silly mentality of oh this is hard, lets begin from the start to learn that.. ohh something shiny! and begin to work on that. I do believe I have some clear ideas but just need to whittle down what isnt going to be worth me focusing so much on right now.
@magicsugar
I am currently enrolled into a distance learning course called Train2Game... which you all might have heard of, I am thinking about trying to cancel the contract (with some laborious law tactics) as the learning is just a bunch of tutorials... some random comments about why and hardly Any depthy knowledge of Why you are doing what you are doing when you follow along. The saleswoman promised me I'd be in the industry in 6 months! To which I had some bubble bursting 'have have a better chance finding a job yourself' when I spoke to the course advisors.
I have taken a look at Udemy, I heard mixed reviews about them and drifted towards Gnomon Workshop, but at that price I don't think you could go wrong!
I did find Hai Phan's tutorials, http://haikai.net/tutorials.html
I had not read a single thing on PBR mind you, so this will be an interesting read.
@Dustinbrown, Thanks for the article! Going to give that a good read as a skim looked quite good
Appreciate the assistance guys. I know I want a good solid fine art form and digital painting foundation to anything I do, so I like the tips!!
Ultimately I am finally finding myself on the forums talking to individuals like yourselves, I typcially dont seek any advice and think somehow I can make it all up on my own!
Great read thanks Dustin
Whatever good you would manage to master Zbrush and such there would be thousands and thousands of people who did it too. So do not waste your time to be one more among many.
Game environment field, especially outdoor, have a lot of areas still pretty undeveloped , engine specific, shader specific. With a huge variation of possibilities where nobody knows for sure how to do things right. Texture/shader wise. Photogrammetry vs procedural. Time spent vs quality. Closed space vs open . Stylized or not and how much.
Learn selectively. Don't waste your time for things other people already do much better . Try to find your own niche where you will be irreplaceable.
Most artists don't need to worry about animation or rigging these days. Usually there are dedicated people for that stuff.
How about doing the thing you enjoy and seeing where that takes you?
This, while it might seem that some roles are more needed then others at some point, doing what you like doing best will ensure that you'll have a good time at your job.
It's like playing an MMO, people like shamans cause they can ressurect, but you actually like playing a warlock more, but if you roll a shaman to favour the community, but end up playing a lot of levels playing a class you're not really fond of... plus warlock have that demon thing now and the patch notes sa... ANYWAY you get the general idea.
You should carefully choose a field where you see a free and promising niche for your personal succeed. Earlier is better.
Otherwise you are risking that what you love now turns into annoying routine 15 year after if you wouldn't climb enough up to the ladder or just make enough money. And it's like an eye blink actually. Game industry is not that creative self expression . Not at all.