Are there good employment opportunities for a low poly 3D artist? (without sculpting)
polycounter lvl 2
For the last year or so I've been making animations with maya and modelling small characters, nothing serious, but I've really enjoyed it. In the past I learnt to paint a bit and programmed some games but now I kind of want to make a concrete decision to move from a hobbyist to someone actually pursuing a professional level of expertise in something.
One role I've been considering is as a 3D artist for games. However, when I research what new talent/rookies in the industry are producing and what is popular on more industry oriented sights like Artstation, the dominant style seems to detailed high poly sculpts with lower poly re-topology and realistic painting and lighting. Realistic soldiers covered in dust seem to be a favourite too. Often the texturing seems not to have been done by hand but instead using programs like substance painter. Unfortunately the work I've been producing doesn't really match this at all.
I really like a super simplified low poly style, artists like http://simplecg.tumblr.com/ or http://www.kennethfejer.com/3d.html or whoever did the image at the bottom of my post, most things in the giant <1000 triangle thread on these forums. Basically, this is the kind of work I would like to produce: low poly hand modelled and painted characters or props. I'm not entirely a purist or anything like that, I'm not against projecting ambient occlusion onto a mesh for painting or even using sculpting to create details, but the stuff I like to create is much simpler and more stylised in general. I wouldn't mind learning to sculpt from just an interest point of view, but the highly detailed characters and environments that seem to be the standard for 'industry' work fill me with little excitement. To be clear, I'm not complaining that this style is dominant, or that there is a problem with it. I just want to be informed as to whether it is this kind of stuff that makes up the majority of available industry work before I commit a lot of time and energy to pursuing professional aspirations.
In summary: "Is there a reasonable amount of work available for 3D artists focussed on low polygon/stylised assets? Is it possible to make a living without producing highly realistic detailed characters from sculpts?"
Thank you for reading. I'm grateful for any advice.
One role I've been considering is as a 3D artist for games. However, when I research what new talent/rookies in the industry are producing and what is popular on more industry oriented sights like Artstation, the dominant style seems to detailed high poly sculpts with lower poly re-topology and realistic painting and lighting. Realistic soldiers covered in dust seem to be a favourite too. Often the texturing seems not to have been done by hand but instead using programs like substance painter. Unfortunately the work I've been producing doesn't really match this at all.
I really like a super simplified low poly style, artists like http://simplecg.tumblr.com/ or http://www.kennethfejer.com/3d.html or whoever did the image at the bottom of my post, most things in the giant <1000 triangle thread on these forums. Basically, this is the kind of work I would like to produce: low poly hand modelled and painted characters or props. I'm not entirely a purist or anything like that, I'm not against projecting ambient occlusion onto a mesh for painting or even using sculpting to create details, but the stuff I like to create is much simpler and more stylised in general. I wouldn't mind learning to sculpt from just an interest point of view, but the highly detailed characters and environments that seem to be the standard for 'industry' work fill me with little excitement. To be clear, I'm not complaining that this style is dominant, or that there is a problem with it. I just want to be informed as to whether it is this kind of stuff that makes up the majority of available industry work before I commit a lot of time and energy to pursuing professional aspirations.
In summary: "Is there a reasonable amount of work available for 3D artists focussed on low polygon/stylised assets? Is it possible to make a living without producing highly realistic detailed characters from sculpts?"
Thank you for reading. I'm grateful for any advice.
Replies
being familiar and comfortable with that workflow would only benefit you as an artist, and greatly increase your chances of finding a job. Just focus on becoming the best artist you can be, and create work in the art style of places you would actually want to work at. sit down and do like 6 hours of research on various studios and games that appeal to you and then come up with a plan by reverse engineering everything you can find out about how that studio works.
the transition from hobbyist to professional artist can be hard, you are going to have to massivley increase your output in most cases and apply patience and long term thinking, as in "if i keep at this, i might be able to get a job 2 years from now". not always the case, but more often than not. Know what you are getting yourself into and commit hard if you think it's right for you
Don't let this stop your dreams however. It's just something to think about.
Some of the new high end smartphones have even more impressive GPU than Nintendo Switch. The iPhone X Apple A11 Bionic is really powerful. Either way unless there is massive nostalgia for low poly it is probably going to die.
It would be interesting if someone brings Zelda OOT or Majora Mask look to PC. Maybe there is a gap in the market for that, sort of like there was a gap in a market that Stardew Valley addressed.
Yeah, I would love a job making assets for blizzard, but it's probably not a good idea to pin my entire career on one company and one game.
Do you have any examples of artists who you would describe as doing stylised or simplified work who use sculpting and retopology in their workflow?
I totally agree. I'm probably just whining, apologies for that, I will endeavour to learn some sculpting but I guess I'll have to rethink whether 3D asset work is really a good idea as a career goal. I just really want to figure out a concrete goal, something that aim towards and produce, which is easier said than done...
In any case, it's useful to know that I'll probably have to adjust my work expectations for the low poly aspect of my art but there's always painting and 2D assets / concept art to look into. Of course, it seems like the opportunities for those professions aren't great either, but from the sounds of this thread they are doing better than traditional low poly art!
Forgive my ignorance but how does this impact low poly? Is it just that its a high powered GPU so there's no point is doing things the old way, or is there something explicitly changing in the way technology works that makes doing things the old way undesirable? (Like they're removing diffuse textures and bringing in a whole new system?)
Yeah, the more research it seems like it might be best to keep this stuff as a niche interest and build it up independently rather than trying to get a job. I'm sure there's a market for this style of 3D art... or at least... I hope there is! lol
But now that they caught up to PS4/XB1 (although still being weaker than both), the incentives for making two different games like in the past is no longer as big, as developers will just turn down certain settings and port the same game to Switch.
On concept art the use of Zbrush is becoming more common. Feng Zhu tells student to learn it in there second term. If you look at Vitaly Bulgarov maybe concept art is going in that direction.