Unsure about entering this industry.
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I have the opportunity to pursue Games Art as a degree at a great university while also having the opportunity to pursue a more 'sensible' degree. However, I'm worried about the volatility of the industry, mainly--as an overseas applicant who is neither American/Canadian or British/European and is basically from one of the countries deemed 'hard' for individuals to get a work visa.
I love Art and Games, I love creating them and I have found that I'm able to spend hours working on assets. I know that in terms of being hireable, it's a lot about the quality and focus of your portfolio and I am more than willing to put in all the effort that I have into it but I'm worried that since I'm Middle Eastern, companies are going to be put off from hiring me due to that.
My question is, in terms of the industry's volatility and my visa concerns, am I just overthinking things?
I love Art and Games, I love creating them and I have found that I'm able to spend hours working on assets. I know that in terms of being hireable, it's a lot about the quality and focus of your portfolio and I am more than willing to put in all the effort that I have into it but I'm worried that since I'm Middle Eastern, companies are going to be put off from hiring me due to that.
My question is, in terms of the industry's volatility and my visa concerns, am I just overthinking things?
Replies
Of course, you will still have to make a seperate portfolio that actually follows a real time/game asset workflow.
Biggest mistake anyone can make right now is trying to rush a portfolio to get into games. Just take your time, the games industry is not going away. We have consoles like the Playstation 4 selling millions year after year so the market for games shows no signs of dying. You just need to be patient and prove why you're a good candidate to be hired.
There is definitely much worse ways to make a living. I'd wager most ways to make a living are objectively worse -- but whatever, grass is always greener. In the 3d world, I'm a hobbyist with goals of working in the industry in some capacity at some point in the future, but I can without question say this is the absolute best work I've ever done. I mean, danger of becoming fat and nasty is much better than actual danger -- like danger of losing limbs, sight, etc.
About #4, I don't really know enough to argue about this, but how can you call game asset creation an archaic process? It's what, 20 years old? And although the general process might be more or less the same, I've seen big improvements in some of the software I use, and I've not even been at this for a full year.
I mean, digital art has definitely got to beat any other form of art in terms of sheer convenience.
However, pursuing a games art vs 'sensible' degree is your call. One will obviously open the doors to a lot more than just the games / 3d industry, if you decide that later on that maybe this isn't something you'd like to pursue.
10/10 IGN approved GOTY.
To the OP the only serious answer that i can give you is an answer dictated by objective things/the reality and from my experience of trying landing a job in Europe and some freelancing stuff:
If you take a look at the work history of many artists on ArtStation or on various forums you will see that 80 % of them already live in a country where there are a lot of game companies or CG companies like Canada, USA, UK and so on, that's a big advantage because even if you can't land a job in a big company because they want experience you will probably find a job in a small local company like a indie one and after some years you will have the possibility of landing another job in another company thanks to the experience you gained.
Another thing is that a lot of artists have a college degree in a design or art field but that's doesn't matter a lot.
Now you said that you don't live in Europe, USA/Canada or another country with a strong industry and you will need a VISA, ok it's normal.
Let's take a look at the requirements that a medium-big company usually ask on it's site:
- They will always ask for 3 or 5 years of experience in the role
- If it is a AAA company sometimes they will also ask for an AAA shipped title or more
- Proficiency in industry standard softwares
- Knowledge of English
- Knowledge of the various art stuff like composition, color etc.
- Maybe a degree in art
Now let's say that this company is in Germany, you are a 3D Environment Artist with a degree and you apply for the jobs and you have no experience because it is your first job and in your country there are no companies to apply for so you don't have experience.
You are competing against all the local artists there ( Germany )+the entire Europe for sure and maybe others eastern countries.
From the company perspective...why should i hire you and get through with all the VISA hassle if there are others 100 people in my country that want that job and they are equally good ?
There could be only 2 reasons really:
1) You are a top notch artist and you beat all the others 100 people
2) You have decade of experience in the role or you shipped famous title so you are valuable, but it is not your case because you don't have experience
And regarding indie companies...i doubt that a small company will hire someone overseas for his first job, unless you are ok with freelancing and remote work but that's another story.
I'm telling you all this stuff because i also live in a country where there are pratically no game or cg companies to apply for and because of that it is difficult to get experience to move abroad.
And you should always bear in mind that game development is a job like the others, maybe more fun but it is still a job and companies look at what suit them best.
To answer your question if you should pursue it or not...
Do you value your dream more than money ? Then yes, you should keep going with CG
Do you value money and stability more than your dream ? Then no, take a degree in another field to get a stable and secure job
My personal advise would be to take a degree in a "normal" field that will grant you a stable and well paid job but that you still like it and keep doing CG in your free time as a self taught with online tutorials and a lot of practice.
Also being employed in a company is not the only way to make money in this field, you can also sell assets on the marketplace ( unity, unreal ), freelancing, doing tutorials etc.
I wish you the best.