Creative Artist vs. Production Artist
polycounter lvl 14
So I'm getting a little confused and worried. I just had a discussion with my Zbrush instructor (worked on many prestigious titles including Coraline) talking about the differences of the creative artist and the production artist.
To sum it up, he was making a point that it is potentially a dangerous course to present yourself as both a creative and production artist... someone that can design characters & environments as well as model and texture from them.
The reason for this, is the assumption that from someone of my approach may take production work the wrong way and try to redesign something and that an employer may ward off people like me.
He suggested against presenting both 2D and 3D work in my portfolio. I kind of feel that it's important to show that your a diversified artist, albeit focused.
I'd like to hear from anyone and everyone from all sides of the spectrum of how they feel about this. If even some HR or leads could shed light it would be immensely appreciated!
To sum it up, he was making a point that it is potentially a dangerous course to present yourself as both a creative and production artist... someone that can design characters & environments as well as model and texture from them.
The reason for this, is the assumption that from someone of my approach may take production work the wrong way and try to redesign something and that an employer may ward off people like me.
He suggested against presenting both 2D and 3D work in my portfolio. I kind of feel that it's important to show that your a diversified artist, albeit focused.
I'd like to hear from anyone and everyone from all sides of the spectrum of how they feel about this. If even some HR or leads could shed light it would be immensely appreciated!
Replies
As for the way you're describing a "creative artist" - that's essentially a concept artist, which is an entirely separate position anyways.
As for showing 2D and 3D work, I'd show mostly what you're best at. If you're awesome at both, show both. If one is weak, don't show it. It's that simple.
I have seen so many concept guys who don't really think too much about how stuff will be built in 3d, so to have that knowledge of how a 2d image will translate in to 3d , is a great advantage in my book
I believe a person's 2D abilities transferring over to 3D are quite important, not to mention how much experience a concept artist would have with digital painting and how much that would help your 3D texturing skills.
I'm not in any position to hire people at my job, but when I see good production work AND original/stylized/creative work in someone's portfolio (2d or 3d), it's a really good thing. It shows that this artist enjoys making art so much that he does it in his free time. People who fall into this category seem to be, on average, more willing to work overtime and improve their skills on their own initiative, because art is more than just a source of income for them. IMO.
Quote for the Win!
It makes sense that these kinds of people would also continue to grow and develop and would in turn benefit the company by continuing to improve while employed.
Once you've made your main skill set clear, showing that you are capable of a variety of things will be more enticing to smaller developers. They'll want more rounded artists. Where a big studio will want specialized artists who're really really good at their specific task.
2nd, +1 to what everyone else already said. I think Tyler makes an especially good point. Clarity and then depth.
Sad thing is I want to get into the industry as a concept artist but that's probably not going to work out, considering most concept artists bounce around doing contract work so multi-year pros are hunting for the same jobs I would be.
3D would be the field to break into, but I still want to keep up my concept work.
This is why I was thinking it would be useful to be multifaceted:
http://www.blizzard.com/us/jobopp/artist-concept-2d-wow.html
In this kind of posting, they're asking you to be a good concept artist, modeler, AND texture artist in both environments and characters. That is much more of a broad skillset than being a "Character artist" or "Environment artist."
If you want to have more fun; do whatever you want.
If specializing on something is more fun than anything else; win.
oh, and some companies prefer people who are more diverse, so you can win there too, just fewer opportunities
Do i want to work for a company that approaches game design like you would a car?
If i wanted to work in a mind numbing factory i wouldn't have all these student loans piled up.
I think all you can really do is try your best at the things you enjoy and shoot for what you want to do.
Though i suppose if you want to work at a really cool company, there's a good chance you'd have to pay your dues somewhere else.
Gah, who knows.
Too bad we can't see the future and just prepare ourselves for it and make everything easy.
That wouldn't be very exciting, though ;p