Q: What do you do again?
polycounter lvl 12
When someone "outside" of the industry asks about what you do, how do you reply?
Sorry if this seems a silly and irrelevant thread to start. I ask because at the moment I don't have an industry job. So whenever anyone at work or otherwise asks what I'm looking to do, or what my portfolio is about, I have a hard time explaining.
The most appropriate title I guess would be "video game artist". But depending on who asks that response is usually met with a glazed expression, as if its a fake hobby that I just made it up. Like a fancy way of saying "I like to play video games".
I usually just explain it as computer animation. Most people seem to have a good handle on what that is.
Does anyone else ever have this problem?
I also ask because I'm rewriting mv CV so its suited to a job not related to video games. So i'm not sure how to word "video game artist" as a hobby, rather than something that I might be leaving to persue 3 months down the line.
Ps I'm aware this makes me sound a little arrogant. :poly122:
Sorry if this seems a silly and irrelevant thread to start. I ask because at the moment I don't have an industry job. So whenever anyone at work or otherwise asks what I'm looking to do, or what my portfolio is about, I have a hard time explaining.
The most appropriate title I guess would be "video game artist". But depending on who asks that response is usually met with a glazed expression, as if its a fake hobby that I just made it up. Like a fancy way of saying "I like to play video games".
I usually just explain it as computer animation. Most people seem to have a good handle on what that is.
Does anyone else ever have this problem?
I also ask because I'm rewriting mv CV so its suited to a job not related to video games. So i'm not sure how to word "video game artist" as a hobby, rather than something that I might be leaving to persue 3 months down the line.
Ps I'm aware this makes me sound a little arrogant. :poly122:
Replies
People generally know what a game is, so that's easy
Then its "what, do you design them or something?"
To which I usually reply "bits of them", which is generally true.
1) If the enquirer is a dick or not likely to really get the concept without tons of protracted explaining, i just say I work in IT.
2) If the person has a hope of understanding, I just tell them honestly what I do!
The only problem is if someone is a 2 and then turns into a 1 as the conversation goes on, that can be tricky. I usually switch the conversation to them and then escape.
I used to make jokes about various things to do with my job but I stopped after a few went pear shaped on me.
Outside of the industry:
What do you do?
I'm a lead character animator.
So what does a lead character animator do?
I lead the character animation team, make schedules, assign, oversee and check everyone's work. Work out technical problems and do a mountain of dialog and cinematics myself.
I bet that's fun?
It's pretty technical and repetitive at times [grit teeth] thanks to our engine[/grid teeth], I'm not sure I'd call it fun but it has high job satisfaction for me.
But you play games all day right?
I help test sometimes... Oh hold that thought I've got to go get another one of these...
(if not holding a drink pick up some random item and wonder off looking for another one).
Inside:
What do you do?
Lead character animator.
Oh yea where?
Her Interactive, we do Nancy Drew Mystery adventure games.
<Snickers> or oh...
5th year of full time stable work. Where do you work?
I'm taking some time off to work on personal projects, freelancing you know living the ronin lifestyle.
Cool. Hey have you checked out bla bla bla I hear its pretty fun?
Yea its sweet!
Tell me about it I haven't looked into it much, just heard good things.
Girl: "So what is your job exactly?"
Me: "I'm a 3d character artist for videogames"
Girl: "Oh so you draw up people and then they go into a game?"
Me: "No. That's a concept artist. A 3d character artist uses polygons
and other--"
Girl: "WHAT THE HELL IS A POLYGON?"
Me: "... I use digital 'cards' to make a person. Imagine someone making
a house of cards.
Now imagine a person making a sculpture of a person out of cards he
can stretch, but is allowed to use glue to stick em together. Then
after person is made I would have to paint it to look like a person"
Girl: "HO-LY SHIT. That sounds so impossible. You're amazing"
Me: "Yes. Yes I am"
I really just come up with something simple that doesn't require explanation, like 3D artist, digital artist or 3D animator (but I don't do animation :P).
People get the general idea if the word 3D is in it, and automatically think pixar or something like that.
www.drawingyourdreams.com
So what do you do?
I'm a video game character artist. More specifically I sculpt, model and colour members of the cast in games, and make them ready for animation bla bla.
That way the person has more subjects to latch onto to keep the conversation flowing and also does not feel dumb for not knowing what the hell you just said..
"See this brightly colored blue picture? Well this tricks the lights into thinking this object has a surface it doesn't have"
So when I was still doing freelance CG for a living I simply said I make characters on the computer like Woody in Toy Story. That clicked with people and they knew what I did. If they knew about video games, I asked them what their favorite game was, and if it was a 3d one, I said I make characters like *insert character name*.
Oh, and there's something about the concept of UVs that even people who have a basic understanding of 3d modeling have a hard time grasping. I think it's that the object exists on two different coordinate planes in different forms at the same time that blows people's minds.
I tell people think of it as a bear skin rug, you have to cut up the geometry like you have to add cuts to the bears skin to make it lay flat and even.
Haha, that usually ended up being the example I used, and just said once It's painted on, than it just appears on the model.
At least I'm not, nor never was a programmer. I feel like there are no easy ways to explain that one, other than "I make it so when you push a button, the character jumps".
Jacque: I make video games.
Girl: SO you just go in and play video games all day?
Jacque: Yup that's what I do. I go in for 8 hours, play video games, and 18 months later the game is done. It's similar to how movies are made, where the directors actors, sound guys, and everyone at the movie studio, just goes to the set, watches movies all day, and 6 months later their movie is just done.
Girl: Shut up.
A. Artist.
I am a dirty filthy whore, fuck yeah!
hey mistah, you wan animation? I make animation fo you, best animation 5 dollah.
Computer graphics artist, or digital artist works well for family members outside of my immediate family. I will say, thank god for Toy Story, because if it wasn't for that movie I think 95% of cg artists would have no idea how to get people to understand what they do.
^^ This
I do give an explanation of the kind of stuff I do. Its not like announce myself as a video game artist and then walk away laughing at there blank expression :P.
When its someone who has actually played a video game giving a decent explanation does usually help. But if its someone who's never held a controller in theirs hands before trying to give an explanation usually makes things more awkward.
Having said that, before now I've been explaining the kind of stuff I did at university to a co-worker, which yielded a pretty interesting discussions. They had hardly used a computer before, so talking about how much work goes into an animation left them quite intrigued.
A: I'm a student working towards being a character artist
Post-Q: ...oh, that's nice. CYA!
Yeah, I have to quote this. This is the best way I found to go about answering it. Then when they ask "what kind of art?" I say "I make characters for video-games".
I think I might switch to something like this, except say Environments instead of Characters. At least this will give them a chance of seeing me as an artist and not some kid who just sits at a computer all day messing around with games.
One of the most recent times this happened was when I was getting a haircut.
Girl: "So what do you do? Do you have a job or are you in school?"
Me: "I'm currently studying video game art." (Note how I went far enough to say Video Game but not far enough to state what specific area I work in. Also I didn't say I'm an artist, just that I study the art. This is a mistake.)
Girl: "Oh... Okay."
It seems that the concept of art in video games is somewhat hard to grasp for a lot of people. I don't think they see it as art, probably partly because they don't know how it's made or because they can't grasp the concept that the mouse, keyboard and tablet combined are just another artistic medium. Even one of my gamer friends from when I went to High School who's been fairly interested in what I do and asks a lot of questions about it regularly doesn't get it completely.
This is the curse we must live with I guess.
@Chadabees, ha... That's what my Mom has been going around telling people when they ask her what I do. It's not even close to what we do but it actually helps some people understand if they're told "Graphic Designer for Video Games."
Couple of months ago a builder came over to my house, with all my housemates out, i was stuck entertaining him. He asked what we did at university and I told him that we where "3D Games Artists" the conversation then progressed to:
"Oh really! my son wants to do that.."
"oh sweet, well hes in the right place, the university of hertfordshire is a great place to learn the ropes!"
"well, hes not really interested in learning, he just likes coming up with ideas for games.."
"okay....like what?"
"well he wants to make a game, basically its Prison Break the game, you have to like break out of prison..."
"hmm okay, well it doesnt really work like that im afraid, very few people actually get to make the ideas up, mostly the artists are there to put together the work that supports the ideas that are developed by the 'higher ups'"
"well he also had this awesome idea, its for Kidulthood (a british movie) the game, you have to like escape from london"
"okay, well i wish him the best of luck, im sure if he's determined he'll go far, how old is he by the way?"
"11"
Another conversation i had the other day was with the checkout lady at ASDA (walmart). it went something like:
"Oh, are you a student?"
"yeah im just finishing up my degree so not for long!"
"oh thats lovely, what is it you are doing?"
"3d Games Art, creating artwork to be used in video games"
"and you need a degree for that?!?"
*dies inside*
I've had that so many times now
"I work for a video games company."
"Oh. great. My son is always playing games. So do you have any sales on at the moment?"
"Sorry?"
"At the video games store."
"ah..no. I don't work in a games store. I make video games. I'm an artist."
"Oh....thats interesting...(*pause)....hey, did you see the Newcastle united win at the weekend?"
Q: So what are you studying?
A:Mechanical Engineering.
"So you can fix my car then"
Anybody I talk to says...."oh...so its like Avatar? Cooooool" and I usually just leave it at that.
But for some odd reason my Grandpa still has no f*cking clue what I do. He always asks me how my job in the factory is going. I've given up trying to tell him that I work in an office...(not even kidding)
heres my son he makes games on the computer with a pen lol
When I try to explain how 3d works I usually tell people that I sculpt, like clay, but digitally in the computer. They usually understand when I tell them that I do artist work but with a computer as a tool. When I explain to people that I work with games I tell them that we do the visual stuff that you see in games. People usually get it when I explain it like that...
Me: I'm an environment artist at a video game company.....I make everything you see in a the video game except for people.
Them: Oh.....cool. So you just place buildings and stuff like in Far Cry 2?
Me:.....Yeah......exactly.
I think everyone outside of the industry thinks environments and characters are built with level editors or those character customization tools some games have at the very beginning.
I guess they don't realize that there is people that have to make all those props and clothes for them to play with.
Me: I make 3D models for video games.
I've found that even when people ask me about personal projects and stuff that has basically nothing to do with actually putting things in real video games, it's easier to just say that. So far, this has not led to any confusion, even for people who aren't familiar with video games. Most people realize that the majority of games these days use 3D, so it's a quick, easy answer.
I used to say that.
The response would be "So you use a Mac"???
To which I would reply: No, I'm an EMPLOYED artist.
Next time I want to answer, "I'm a character artist rockstar"
"What do you do?"
"I'm an artist"
"For what?"
"I make the environments in video games"
"Oh so like a graphic designer?"
"Yea exactly like that...."
Hey now. My contract says Artist, I'm an artist. DUN TUN TUN!
nah. I'm an artist.
This. I dont really go into much more detail unless they ask / seeme interested.
hahah... man dont take it bad is just a personal opinion, I just got tired of the "artist" word thats all... heard it too often in the cg industry for whatever position you are doing...and it sort of lost its value for me... ironic thing is the the people I consider "real" artists as a whole, I never heard them saying hey you know I am a xyz artist man... more yeah I am painter, I play the flute, I am a singer...whatever...
Now I understand also that in this industry you should label yourself as
"xyz artist" in order to search for a job and fit a certain position, that's it, that is how this industry is built (therefor the term on your contract). Thats ok for me, again I probably just heard that too often thats all..
"I work doing 3D", that's what i say.
Girl: So what's your job?
Me: I'm a 3D artist.
Girl: Oh, what's that?
Me: Well, simply put, I model 3D objects that are then put into a game.
Girl: Oh! So you're like a mannequin right? What's it like to be a model?
Me: No, see, I'm not a model, I MAKE models.
Girl: What?! Models are people!
Me: *facepalm*