Trouble specializing
Hello, my name is Bryan Willis. I'm an artist and art is my passion. I have aspirations of one day working in the video game industry, as games are a passion of mine as well.
I've been in an Art school in a video game based major for 2 years now. Along the way I've been introduced to traditional 2D art, Character modeling, hard surface modeling, aspects of level design, and animation.
I feel like my true love is art. No matter if it's sculpting up a figure study in Zbrush, gesturing a nude model in an open figure drawing session, or painting a beautiful flower field, the sense of purpose and euphoria I get from art and the creative process in general is amazing.
Aside from visual art, I feel like I also have a passion and a big talent for level Design. One of my teachers loved my level layouts so much, that he made me the lead level designer of the Game Development Club at my school, and I was only in my first year and I was directing/working with juniors and seniors.
I love writing as well... Writing is another wild card passion of mine. My peers and teachers alike have been known to give me good comments and positive feedback on the lore and stories that I love to create with my game concepts and characters I create. The very same teacher who loved my level designs, loved my writing in the same way.
In general... I just don't know what to decide on. I am in general a very creative person, and am caught between many things that I am passionate about. I feel as if picking one thing to do and only one thing to do will kill me, because I truly love and feel as if I can do all and any of the above mentioned positions for the rest of my life. I have heard the term "Generalist" being thrown around in the game industry from time to time, and was wondering if this was a realistic goal?
As a budding artisan, would any veterans here have any advice they could offer? It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much~
I've been in an Art school in a video game based major for 2 years now. Along the way I've been introduced to traditional 2D art, Character modeling, hard surface modeling, aspects of level design, and animation.
I feel like my true love is art. No matter if it's sculpting up a figure study in Zbrush, gesturing a nude model in an open figure drawing session, or painting a beautiful flower field, the sense of purpose and euphoria I get from art and the creative process in general is amazing.
Aside from visual art, I feel like I also have a passion and a big talent for level Design. One of my teachers loved my level layouts so much, that he made me the lead level designer of the Game Development Club at my school, and I was only in my first year and I was directing/working with juniors and seniors.
I love writing as well... Writing is another wild card passion of mine. My peers and teachers alike have been known to give me good comments and positive feedback on the lore and stories that I love to create with my game concepts and characters I create. The very same teacher who loved my level designs, loved my writing in the same way.
In general... I just don't know what to decide on. I am in general a very creative person, and am caught between many things that I am passionate about. I feel as if picking one thing to do and only one thing to do will kill me, because I truly love and feel as if I can do all and any of the above mentioned positions for the rest of my life. I have heard the term "Generalist" being thrown around in the game industry from time to time, and was wondering if this was a realistic goal?
As a budding artisan, would any veterans here have any advice they could offer? It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much~
Replies
Eventually you find something that you just can't help but nerd the hell out over. I mean REALLY nerd out over it. It'll just happen on its own. For me, it was anatomy. That's when I knew that while I love all of it, environments, texturing, animation, it's figures where I really belong.
I know this guy who absolutely nerds out over what makes materials look like what they are. What makes metal look like metal? What makes wood look like wood? etc etc. He makes some of the best textures I ever seen.
Right now I really really love anatomy myself, to the point where I feel like if I was paid to figure draw/gesture draw, I would be in heaven.
I love level design as well because I love the aspect of creating a senario and making that senario work in an original and fun way.
I'll keep searching! Thanks.
You're not making a choice that will lock you into only that one thing for all of eternity, you're free to master many things over the course of our career.
Also know that working at smaller studios often means you wear many hats and get to try out many things.
It's true with a lot of disciplines, characters, props, environments, even code. He who holds the purse strings has creative control.
Normally the bigger the studio the tighter the creative control. The smaller the studio individuals are typically given more control, its easier to build trust quickly and distinguish yourself in a smaller studio.