Non-Art careers you had
interpolator
Hello lovely people of Polycount!
As a student who aspires to join the gaming industry as a concept artist (currently grinding through technicalities of 2D and 3D arts
), I was wondering if you are currently working as game artists, what kind of different jobs did you go through if you ever had to?
I finished my freshman year in Vancouver, then I turned 20 couple months ago and as a Korean that means I was conscripted as a soldier! I went through a month of learning how evil North Korea is and all that lovely cold war stuff, but I got reposted have been working as a translator and a counselor in immigration office.
I just wanted to know, because as a student, literally ALL of you artists are my role models and my aspirations! SOmetimes it seems like you were all born as this masterful artists and I know you all put in unimaginable number of hours and hard work to reach where you are at the moment. So I just wanted to get to know you guys as a person, before you became the incarnation of awesomeness.
As a student who aspires to join the gaming industry as a concept artist (currently grinding through technicalities of 2D and 3D arts
), I was wondering if you are currently working as game artists, what kind of different jobs did you go through if you ever had to?I finished my freshman year in Vancouver, then I turned 20 couple months ago and as a Korean that means I was conscripted as a soldier! I went through a month of learning how evil North Korea is and all that lovely cold war stuff, but I got reposted have been working as a translator and a counselor in immigration office.
I just wanted to know, because as a student, literally ALL of you artists are my role models and my aspirations! SOmetimes it seems like you were all born as this masterful artists and I know you all put in unimaginable number of hours and hard work to reach where you are at the moment. So I just wanted to get to know you guys as a person, before you became the incarnation of awesomeness.
Replies
Recently, I quit a restaurant job. After getting the portfolio advice, I just decided to stop showing up and just finish making the props/environments that will get me a 3D job.
After ten years in games: took a six year break from full-time games and became a Journeyman Electrician (wanted another back-up career in case I move to small town). Fire alarm, commercial electrical and a bit of industrial. I kept working in games part-time while I was becoming an electrician.
Now: back in games full-time, enjoying it more than ever
I feel you, dealing with number of people who they know they'll never see you again is JUST MINDBREAKINGLY HORRID. I really wish your 3D job hunting goes well!!!
@bounchfx
delivery at 4am sounds intense as hell!! Hard work does pay off, lesson learned from you
@RyanB
Whoa, that's both long and amazing list of work there. How did you eventually end up joining the game industry? I can already feel the inspiring story coming up
@Rockley Bonner
You just won the coolest work title ever. That's amazing! Are you still serving in Airforce?
Yep I have 2 months and 2 weeks left, a lot of it sucked but it was worth it. Best decision of my life. Ill be going to school right after in April.
Corn detasseling when I was 15 (its a rural midwest thing...)
Dishwasher
Cook
Very brief stint working at a video rental store...was working 2 jobs at the time
Delivery Driver at a fast food sandwich shop
QA Tester
Artist at a Military Sim company
Environment Artist at a game studio
Retails => Web Development Internship => QA Tester => Ballroom Instructor => Ballroom Instructor part-time.
Currently working part-time while working on my folio.
Did freelance cinematography and photography during that time as well.
Got a job full time in the game industry as an environment artist when I was 19.
20 now, and although I love my job. I've dabbled with ideas of breaking into the feature film industry and getting back into cinematography.
I guess the sense of professional accomplishment in whatever interests me at the time is something i'll be chasing the rest of my life.
I was working on elevators as an electronics technologist when Quake 1 came out. I started modding it at home, goofing around with bots and levels. Then I heard about 3D programs and found POV-Ray. After playing with that, I found 3DS Max and eventually took a part-time course at Vancouver Film School and eventually went to VFS full-time.
After VFS, I applied all over the world at every place I could find. Nothing. I started working at an audio-visual company thinking I wouldn't get a job. After two months, I sent my demo-reel to a company called BioWare in Edmonton. About a month later I got a call from them. They flew me out for an interview. Shortly after that, they told me I was hired.
I loaded as much as I could into my car and drove 16 hours to Edmonton. Starting salary was half of what I made in electronics. My only furniture the first year was a futon. That was 17 years ago and I've been mostly working in games ever since.
Having education and experience in math and programming (assembly, C++) as an electronics technologist has been a huge benefit. I do a lot of scripting at work and even more at home. I'm sort of at a crossroads of wanting to become a software engineer (tons of jobs) or get deep into learning Houdini.
Diary Queen for 1 year while doing community college
Customer Support for an Internet Service Provider for 1 year
IT for the last 4 years.
You should write a biography. I'd actually buy and read it.
@gsokol
How did you end up getting job for the military sim company??? That sounds hella intriguing!
@PyrZern
So are you currently working as a ballroom part time instructor? Retails must have been tough, dealing with masses of people just kills you slowly inside
@Jaston3D
THATS CRAZY! YOU NAILED FULL TIME JOB WHEN YOURE 19??? Dude, your hard work and passion must be out of le roof!!!!! Im sure whatever you do in future would be equally successful, cant help but feeling very jealous here
@RyanB
Er, I don't think if that qualifies as inspirational anything does. I CRIED WHEN I SAW BIOWARE it's like listening to fairytale stories
@ZacD
Whoa, are you still in IT and preparing for game industry, or are you in gaming industry now?
@cptSwing
That's an impressive range of career you have right there! What were you studying for ten years?
@Vincent3d
I dont know what the hollywood movie producers are doing, they should be making movies about stories like that right now!!
@Melazee
I feel you, I sorta work in retail environment at the moment and more you're kind more you get 'inefficient', sadly. Where did you attend university in?
Yeah, retail really wasn't suited to my personality at all. I studied at Falmouth University, Digital Animation and VFX... although weirdly, I came out as a character artist rather than an animator (I went in fully expecting to still want to be an animator at the end of it).
BioWare was a good place to start but at the time it wasn't well known outside of RPG fans. They were just finishing BG2 so I got to work on the cinematics even though I had no clue what I was doing. I just said yes to everything and learned to do it as fast as I could. After 2 1/2 years it was time to move on so I went back home to Vancouver and got a job at EA Blackbox.
I've lived in Vancouver all of my life except for my time in Edmonton. Most of my family is here and a lot of my wife's family is here. I would love to move to a smaller town but I can't take my kids away from their cousins and grandmothers.
But make no mistake. Sometimes it's quite shitty. Say, a couple is on the verge of a break up, and they sign up for dancing lessons. And so now you're pretty much a marriage therapist. Or a boyfriend who is quite a douche, and ignore any technique, and just use more force... Or when a couple tries to blame each other for mistakes they both make.
Usually troubled students don't last long, though. So usually only the good ones remain.