Character Artist = Creature Artist?

LemmesMesh

Hello everyone, 

As I'm studying Character arts, I want to create realistic characters, at least that's my goal, to keep it short and simple, I want to ask, do I need to study Creature Art as well or is that a job for other people? Where like there are weird looking aliens or monsters, I mean those are characters as well, right?
If I am to create a portfolio, do I include those as well? Let's say I'm applying in Ubisoft/Naughty Dog etc, do I need creature work too in my portfolio apart from just realistic looking humans?

Neox

first of all, get used to your position beein constantly at risk. due to scanning and simulation, so stay on top of these. Nobody pays for all handcrafted realism, it is taking too much time.  That doesn't mean you should be reliant on scans, or simulation. Show that you can handle it without but the sad truth is. What can be scanned or simulated will be. There is no way around that.

That said, no you don't HAVE to study creature art, but would it hurt to study animal anatomy alongside the human one? There are tons of connections anyways, can't hurt to have that knowledge. You will very likely not only create realistic humans in your carreer. How about Alien Humanoids? The animal knowledge might help you there.

Kevin Albers

At smaller studios, you would probably be expected to do non-humanoids as well. At really large studios, you might end up so specialized you don't do whole characters, you just do bodies, or just make heads etc.

I think having 1 realistic quadruped (maybe a dog, or horse) would be a great addition to a portfolio, but not critical.