Getting started... please advise.
Hello, first time posting here.
I've been reading these forums for a week or two now.
I'm 22 years old and looking for a career direction. I've been hopping around boring entry-level jobs and I'm tired of it. I'm starting to realize the value of "liking what you do" for a living which is what leads me here.
So, I looked at a local career school that offers a 14-month "Game Design" program that focuses first on Photoshop then 3DStudio Max among other classes geared towards getting in the industry. The program costs $22,000 and I'd be financing it myself.
A few questions for you folks...
Would such a forementioned school be the correct first step?
What can I do to remove any doubt that this is the right career path for me?
I've seen the median salary for beginners at around $45,000-$50,000, does this hold true?
How much trouble do well-qualified beginners have finding jobs?
For those of you deep in the industry... do you still love your job as much as you first did or initially thought you would?
Any other advice?
Thanks in advance!
I've been reading these forums for a week or two now.
I'm 22 years old and looking for a career direction. I've been hopping around boring entry-level jobs and I'm tired of it. I'm starting to realize the value of "liking what you do" for a living which is what leads me here.
So, I looked at a local career school that offers a 14-month "Game Design" program that focuses first on Photoshop then 3DStudio Max among other classes geared towards getting in the industry. The program costs $22,000 and I'd be financing it myself.
A few questions for you folks...
Would such a forementioned school be the correct first step?
What can I do to remove any doubt that this is the right career path for me?
I've seen the median salary for beginners at around $45,000-$50,000, does this hold true?
How much trouble do well-qualified beginners have finding jobs?
For those of you deep in the industry... do you still love your job as much as you first did or initially thought you would?
Any other advice?
Thanks in advance!
Replies
Now, 22k is a lot of cash to outlay if you are trying to decide on a career, and you OBVIOUSLY have doubts. So don't spend any money yet and do what the rest of old buggers did - have a go. It's not open heart surgery, grab Silo or XSI mod Tool and start modeling. There are thousands of tutorials out there to get you started.
Have fun.
Median salary depends on where you are. Here beginner artists seem to be starting more around 35k. Most of the people I know to have got a job recently are around there, a few of us were higher, a few lower.
Well-qualified is really hard to say. if you consider well-qualified just having gone through school, in my experience most have a quite hard time finding jobs. If you consider it having put in the work to get a quality portfolio, generally there is no problem getting a job.
I've only been working professionally for a year, so I'm not too far into it, but I still love it.
I'd recommend focusing more on good art education than specifically game-oriented education. Become a good artist, then make sure you can apply your art skills to game art production. Don't miss out on things like good solid drawing and design courses.
So if you're going to school hoping a degree will help you get a job, you're probably misguided. If you're looking to actually learn something, then you may be on the right track.
I'd stray far away from most "game schools" as they are generally a joke (Tighten up the graphics on level 5). Some places like guildhall and gnomon are the best ways to learn, and most of all, the internet.
It's easy for schools especially the condensed courses to get caught up in teaching only the button mashing, which normally leads to a dead end and a mountain of debt. At least someone gets what they want out of the deal...
Don't lose focus on what will land any 3D artist a job in the industry, a good portfolio. If school is the vehicle for you to create that, then awesome, have at it. But just know that a certificate is next to worthless without the art to back it up. How you get to an awesome portfolio is up to you.
Either way, you'll have to crash and burn on those first few pieces before you start to hit your stride. Personally paying 22k to crash a burn for the first time is not the route I would take. You might want to try it out like Rick (and just about everyone else has said). That way you crash and burn long before dropping the 22k, and those projects you create could actually be great.
Coincidently, if you factor in working a full time job while working on a portfolio, 14 mo is about the time it takes to do some really great portfolio pieces, provided you already know what you're doing. It's going to take longer if you factor in crashing and burning the first few times.
I would expect that if you do take up the class work that you don't expect those projects to land you a job. Its the work outside of class and after you graduate that will build up a great portfolio. Think of those class projects that the macaroni and cotton ball's glued to construction paper you did in kindergarten. They where fun, but the paste tasted horrible, and no one but your mom would hang it anywhere.
Personally I think you already found a good spot to start learning just by posting here.
You really need to consider your temperament as well. Can you handle sitting in front of a computer and making stuff all day long? Whenever my wife comes in to visit me at work, she says that she couldn't handle it due to the fact that we are all quietly sitting there working with our headphones on. It is just too quiet for her to handle, and this is coming from someone who also works in the software field.
If you want to work in this industry, you should know what you are getting into, especially before a big outlay of cash. You absolutely need to love art and creative expression. You need to be technically adept and enjoy learning new software and approaches. You must have a thick skin and be able to take critisism well, as it will happen regularly. You must be well organized and be able to plan well. You should be able to communicate well, and be willing to listen to guidance from other artists.
All in all, it's very odd right/left brain type work.
"so you went to school X? I went to school Y? Yeah, total waste of money, high five!"
good thing I was able to cheat the system and get away with $15k in dept, which I'll be paying off forevahs
Being self taught (as myself, and MANY others on here are), shows the studio that you have a drive and passion for what you do. In a single year of reading tutorials, being critiqued on Polycount and CGTalk, I got more experience and professional input than those in a 3yr art college. The experience you can get from this site alone can arm you with the information to be amazing.
As cheesy as it sounds, practice does make perfect. You have to seriously pump out some work to get the experience. Ask for critique, make adjustments and keep it up!
Also, check your ego at the door. The last thing you want to do is bump heads with your first time art director, or interviewer. If they say there's a problem with your work, take it like a man and agree. These guys are the pros. You, are not.
Definitely not, as others have said a traditionally acredited Degree, Masters or similar will be something you`d find invaluable if you should at any point wish to change your career in the future.
This, no one can answer for you. "Have I always been interested in Art and have I always been a fair bit better than those around me?" is probably the first question to ask of yourself.
So dependent on so many different factors, location, age, previous work experience, qualifications etc.
Mostly, everybody has `trouble` finding jobs. Being well qualified and an ok artist will get you further than being superb and unqualified, throughout the length of your potential career, from start to finish.
Not even remotely, it`s taken away far more than it`s given, I thought it would all be Quake, Resident Evil and Diablo... turns out it would be a long stream of increasingly ill conceived tripe that no one would wish to play.
It`s an unjust field much like life. For the most part, idiots hold reign.
It`s an unjust field much like life. For the most part, idiots hold reign. (Not a typo).
I`m honest atleast, hah!
I think I'm going to do both. Learn on my own and take some classes. At the very least I'm hoping the classes will keep me motivated through the rough stages of learning.
I've watched all of the demo clips on autodesk.com and was really fascinated by them. I've also been following the Dominance War and am amazed by some of the submitted concepts and 3d renders. I'm screwing around with basic objects in the free download for Silo as Rick suggested(frankly I feel like a toddler fisting a crayon.)
Does anyone have a good lead for online tutorials? I've tried googling for 3ds max tutorials but the pages it links are more spam advertising than anything else.
Art really comes naturally to me, though my experience doesn't go any further than high school classes, hand drawings and clay. I might look for basic art and design classes eventually but first I want to establish some understanding of the tools I'd be working with.
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt my interest. I doubt whether or not I'll be good enough to make it a worthwhile. I suppose only I can answer that for myself via the hard way.
Thanks again for all the insight. I plan to be trolling here regularly, though I'll creep in the shadows until I have something to show.
He has a crapload (no pun intended) of 3ds max video tutorials.
http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/money_mouth.htm
Read that, is all.
One rule of thumb I think most people would agree with: if you're starting out, start with the basics of art. That's drawing. If you've got a solid traditional foundation, you'll be a great artist no matter what medium you choose (including 3D). Don't make the mistake a lot of people make and leap into the modelling like it's what's going to get you a job. It won't. Your skill and craftsmanship, the beauty of your work, its presence and style is what will sell your work and get you a job. Just knowing Max or Maya never will. Learning the software is an important step if you want to work in games, but it is by no means the most important or even the most difficult.
The computer is the equivalent of a very complicated and expensive pencil. If you can make amazing things with a pencil and paper, it's not much of a leap to make amazing things with the computer. It's easier to start with the simple and cheap than the complicated and expensive.
That said, if you're not an amazing traditional artist right now (and you might be for all I know!), that's not a death sentence. If you've got the drive to do it, you can. It just takes a lot of work.
Edit: +1 for Flynny's post. Poop expresses it quite well there.
One good thing about going to school I guess would be mainly the chance for networking but so is everywhere else.