Hello. Which is preferred? A Specialist or a Generalist?
polycounter lvl 14
Hello everyone. I didn't see a sticky for new people so I thought I'd just make an introduction here. I'm relatively new here and I'm hoping to make some new *online* friends at polycount. A lot of you do really amazing work! I've been lurking for a while and I posted some work of my own a while back but never really got much in the way of comments.
Anywho, I always wanted to get into the industry but sometimes I wonder if I am getting in too late? I'm going to be 30 soon and I never really landed my foot in with a "triple A" dev. Maybe that is a funny thing to be fretting about but I'm sort of going thru my own personal *early* mid-life crisis because of it. I've only had odd jobs here and there. What it comes down to is that I am bored to death with my current position and I really want a change.
I took some classes and completed an associates degree in "3D Animation" as they called it back in 2000. I ended up taking an easy job doing very basic industrial machine work for sales presentations. It's nothing really outstanding I'd be proud to show and unfortunately I feel it softened my eye for detail that I thought I once had.
Well now that I bored you with my personal problems, I was just wondering if there is room in the industry for someone with a specialized high-poly modeling focus? Or is it mostly generalists that developers prefer? I've recently been trying to get back into the swing of this with a new portfolio. It's early and still needs more work added to it.
http://www.forbrook.com
I'm probably wanting to get into the industry at a really bad time. A recession combined with all sorts of layoffs means only the vets will be snatched up first. oh well, I've said enough. Thanks for reading/looking.
Anywho, I always wanted to get into the industry but sometimes I wonder if I am getting in too late? I'm going to be 30 soon and I never really landed my foot in with a "triple A" dev. Maybe that is a funny thing to be fretting about but I'm sort of going thru my own personal *early* mid-life crisis because of it. I've only had odd jobs here and there. What it comes down to is that I am bored to death with my current position and I really want a change.
I took some classes and completed an associates degree in "3D Animation" as they called it back in 2000. I ended up taking an easy job doing very basic industrial machine work for sales presentations. It's nothing really outstanding I'd be proud to show and unfortunately I feel it softened my eye for detail that I thought I once had.
Well now that I bored you with my personal problems, I was just wondering if there is room in the industry for someone with a specialized high-poly modeling focus? Or is it mostly generalists that developers prefer? I've recently been trying to get back into the swing of this with a new portfolio. It's early and still needs more work added to it.
http://www.forbrook.com
I'm probably wanting to get into the industry at a really bad time. A recession combined with all sorts of layoffs means only the vets will be snatched up first. oh well, I've said enough. Thanks for reading/looking.
Replies
I have never worked in the games industry, but from what I've seen its a bad (worst) time to get an entry position in this business. But if you are trying, I would say go specialist over generalist, personally IMO.
I think this is my advice for you as much as its worth. Instead of quitting your boring job now and going balls out to find a job in the industry, use your experiences in this shit job to inspire great art, read some Kafka, and then join a mod team. This should relieve some of your need to make game art. This is the advice Im following myself.
Look at it this way. If you join a mod, you will have a lot more input and creative license than you would if you get an entry level position. The point here is to make the art. If you point is strictly about getting the money for the art then your art is answering to the wrong demons, look at a different profession.
your art is good, keep at it, dont get depressed cause you dont have a job in the industry, there are so many other reasons to be depressed about, then turn those depressions into art.
If you improve your 2d skills, you will perform better at 3d aswell.
Besides that you use different techniques, they have alot incomen. Think of anatomy, shapes and sizes so on..
I do alot of different art forms, and from my own exp. i can tell you that if you know how to get shapes right on paper, you can also do it in 3d. or vice versa.
Its beter to be good in general, but you do need to specialize in something. It is really hard to perfect multiple art forms, so choose one you really like and boost it.
I'm exaggerating, but the point is that it's highly dependent on the company, and what the rest of the team does. I interviewed for a position with an indie (independent company, meaning no publisher to tell them what to do), and it was two programmers and two artists. In that kind of a team, you're not likely to make an impression unless you can wear many (arty) hats.
I was 29 when I switched.
I think Pea put it pretty well.
The smaller the studio the more generalist you'll probably with less chances of advancement but less competition for said advancements. You're just as likely to invent a new position as opposed to inherit one.
The bigger the place the more specialized and a bit more of a "chance" for advancement, however bureaucracy and competition are rampant... In these cases the more incompetent you are the higher you'll go and the less art you'll create. As opposed to working at a small place where you get rewarded for everything little thing.
You're also more likely to be blamed for the company going under because you wield an enormous amount of finite resources, at a small studio.
Big fish small pond, small fish big pond. 6 of 1, half dozen of another... Both pay about the same for the same kind of work. Well actually you'll probably make more at the small place provided they can keep their books in order. Since both are prone to horrible miss management you'll have to just pull the trigger through gritted teeth.
You shouldn't have problems to find job if you are specialized in one area of 3D.
Like they have said, all depends on where you will work. For that reason, is good to be specialized in one area, and know the basics of other areas of 3d work like rigging (TDs), lighting, Animation, Textures, FX, etc. You always can learn while working ^^.
regards!
Generalist have an easier time finding entry level work and are easily replaced.
Specialist are borne from senior positions over time and generally are hard to replace.
From personal experience I disagree with this. Especially when the economy is in a recession like...now.
One can market themselves as specialist but that doesn't mean it's evil to have generalist skills. Generalist doesn't even mean you must know everything 3d. Think of it more as a secondary/ complementary skill that you can market in case your specialist position got cut or you're facing a competitive game artist market (like in Vancouver, where there's a lot of mass layoffs recently for animators).
Having more skills than one, of course, works well in your favor if you're a freelancer.
I liked your highpoly work, but I think you need to take some more characters to completion. Get a diverse range of character types and styles represented in your folio and you'll be golden I think.
You've got Monsters and mechanical terrors covered.
Give us a soft beautiful woman. Give us an animal/non-biped. Give us a small innocent child.
Take a mundane concept and let your superior execution sell your skills as an artist. I think this is a challenge all too common in the industry, and all too often ignored in folios.
I mean...somebody has to model "guy in business suit" and make it look awesome. You don't always get to model the Mega 8-armed ex-ninja space marine pirate cyborg
Myself?
I'm 29, no degree, part-time working in a remotely related pc graphics field, and looking at being a newbie in an market saturated with freshly laid off experienced artists in a backsliding economy. I'm hoping the similar things as you I think. That a guy can get a job just doing the high/low poly + textures on characters or environs.
Good luck to us both!
Yeah it should probably go without saying that smaller companies can't afford specialists. I was just curious because it seems that, even companies as big as Blizzard, only seem to love generalists. I suppose you could say the generalists they take in are practically specialists in every category...lol
Microneezia: I'm definitely not looking or expecting to get rich with art, but it would be nice to make a living doing it...even if it was a poor living, heh. I just want to have enough to pay the bills and bury my nose in this stuff. I guess I have been putting off the idea of a mod but I think I'll look into it closer now.
ScoobyDoofus: Good advice. I still have one more "mechical terror" I want to finish up here.
Simultaneously if an environment artist doesn't know anything about gameplay they may cause problems for the designers who try to use their assets.
And concept artists who don't know anything about the technical limits of games can be an enormous problem.
You can get around these problems but it's much easier if the people in a studio know a bit about what other people are doing.
Most specialists I know aren't really that specialised, they're just awesome at one thing.
i think when you want to work in this industry it doesent hurt to learn as much as possible about the different roles as it will help you overall knowing how a game is made from simple polygon to and ingame asset with animations and code and such would help you enourmously in the industry.
its late sorry for grammer :P
EDIT:
Just read your post, AE. GEEz, that's depressing that you think it's too late for you to get in because you're 20. Pfft. Pick yourself up soldier.
I agree.
If one goes the studio career track route, i.e. grunt work to lead to director, you practically need to at least competently know how other art components work and how to do them right...on top of people/organizational skills.
It's possible to just remain as a staff specialist forever, but pigeon holing yourself will eventually hurt you down the road in terms of promotion, pay or even job security.
Think too if you actually get interviewed, what you'll answer if you get asked what else you can give the company skillwise besides your specialty.