[2D Art] When do you know it's time to, you know, give up?
Hello, let me introduce myself briefly.
I have always liked digital art and had a graphic tablet and drawing programs since I was in my teens. I couldn't afford art school, so I ended up doing coding in uni. I also did an year in an Academy of Fine Arts after that, and then I quit to move to London, and have been working as a digital designer for 3 years. I'm now 28.
I've never given up on the dream of being a 2D Game Artist, but it's hard to keep it up and stay motivated when you've got a full time job etc. Progress is so slow when you're self taught, and even though I have some money going now, I wouldn't be able to quit it all and go to uni for 3 years.
No matter how much effort I put in, it always feels like that I've got so much to catch up with, and that I'm always starting from square one. I compare my work to portfolios of people fresh out of art school, and it makes me feel quite hopeless.
When do you know it's time to, you know, give up?
I'm unhappy in my current job, and the idea of giving up this dream feels unbearable. At the same time, though, digital art has given me nothing but anxiety, frustration, self-hate, and some sort of sense of "guilt" as soon as I'm enjoying life instead of practicing. And this too has become unbearable.
Replies
Where's your portfolio?
The fact that you hate your job would suggest you need to take control of your life. Since coding is what you chose to feed yourself I would concentrate on fixing that first. Look around for jobs while you are working. Do it quietly is best.
@Brian "Panda" Choi I'm working on building one, but I don't have anything finished like that atm. I have an ArtStation page but it just features random things, a bit old too.
At the moment I'm trying to understand better character thumbnailing and shape design, and material rendering.
I'm attaching some recent WIPs and a recent piece I did for a friend (I tried to make the images display small but the website editor is glitching).
@kanga the job I have tbf is not too bad, it has a degree of creativity, but the company is small and I'm the only "graphics" person, so I have noone to learn from. It's a very flexible and comfortable position that allows me to focus on studying on the side, though. When I change I was kinda hoping to change my first job in the industry.
Thanks for your replies guys btw.
no need to quit, do whatever it is that you need to do, and when you pick up the brush, you again will always be an artist.
sometimes if i don't work all day I feel bad about it. But then if I work all day, I feel bad for not spending time outside in the sun.
When I do just the right amount of both, then I'm happy.
I think your art looks great, and I don't think you need a job in the field to verify that. Dunno what you want from the art, but the process of making the art is meant to be the enjoyable part, I thought.
I also think having a decent job that leaves you with time/energy to pursue other hobbies is pretty good. I mean life can always be better, but probably for most people it is worse than that.
"I have always liked digital art and had a graphic tablet and drawing programs since I was in my teens"
In an weird counter-intuitive way this could very well be partly the cause of this love/hate relationship you have with digital art. While many artists can (of course) create some great 2d art with graphics tablets, these devices (with or without a display) really are terrible tools for drawing. I'd go as far as saying that people create great art despite these awkward tools as opposed to thanks to them, with a huge amount of time being spent fighting the awkwardness.
Regular tablets force you to gesture in very awkward ways ; pen displays force you to zoom in and out all the time, making it impossible to get a clear view of proportions and perspective ; and then ipads apps throw in some weirdo on-screen controls on top of it all. The list goes on - that's a ton of wasted energy. Just look at videos of people doing fine lineart with a regular tablet - the amount of wasted time and energy is borderline absurd, compared to how fast oldschool animation cels (of similar quality) can be be made.
Just look at how broadly this artist can work, with the whole character spead vertically over what looks like two A3 sheets (hence at least 60cm) :
Now compare that to how you felt when refining that blue and yellow sea character of yours and what it felt like to make it fit inside your 19/6 display. And then imagine how much time it would take to bring it to the level of detail of that GiTS Arise pinup, zooming in constantly to redo the lines, and so on. It's also important to not that the artist in the video is not designing anything in terms of character-design - the illustration and concept stages are completely separated.
Of course the tools are not directly responsible for someone's lack of this or that aspect of art theory. But they absolutely slow down the learning process because of the way they give a false impression of efficiency.
So, I'm not an expert or anything, just some ideas that you could try:
You don't need to go to uni for 3 years to get art classes, there are a lot of quality online classes that you can take! I'd recommend for example Proko courses, Marc Brunet's artschool, you can check if any CGMA mentorship interests you: lots of resources await online for way cheaper than uni, and you can do them on the side! That would compensate for you not having a mentor at your workplace.
I think the most important thing is to try for the greatest happiness. If giving up frees you from the pressure you feel, and you're happier in the end, it's okay. You shouldn't stay stuck in a job that makes you unhappy though, if you give up, you'll need to find something else to do.
If you choose not to give up, maybe you could land a few job that are near the game industry, and little by little get better and get noticed, and one day get in a cool job you like? Like, some illustration work, or commissions, aim for some small work, not for the big ones right away (but still try to apply to them once in a while, you'll never know when you get the right level if you don't try)
If you know coding, you could also try to make some small games and show off your concept art / game assets skills, that would be a plus! I highly recommend participating in game jams too, that's a cool experience and free portfolio pieces! And you get to meet some people who make games too!
One important thing though is to keep your portfolio updated and try to have a presence online with your work. You can always remove artstation posts if you become unhappy about them, you should try to post your latest works every time you finish it! That's pretty important and you could miss nice opportunities if you don't have a readily available display of your art!
That's it, I don't know if it would work but I hope some of this advice helps you! Good luck!
When do you know it's time to, you know, give up?
Don't! But be realistic :)
Not everybody is a daVinci, and not everybody can work at triple A titles. So work within your borders. When it's enough to get a job, fine. If not, well, here comes reality. The market is indeed tough. But don't worry about others too much. There is always somebody better than you ...
If you know coding, you could also try to make some small games and show off your concept art / game assets skills, that would be a plus! I highly recommend participating in game jams too, that's a cool experience and free portfolio pieces! And you get to meet some people who make games too!
That's a good advice since you are skilled in both. It can even happen that it brings back the fun at coding for you, and that you work as a game programmer instead. It is better paid. But beware, making a game can be very time consuming.