It's probably a good idea to avoid the term game art, I say I do environment art for video games as a hobby. And if they are not sure what that entails, I say something like you know how older movies like Starwars were filmed using miniature models of spaceships and cities. Well now they do all that prop work with…
Yes! If you work with something besides general jobs, don't expect anyone outside your industry understanding what you do. I think more than often, if you have it as a hobby, you'd be regarded as a "nerd", which I could easily be pointed out to. But then I never care what people think of what I do, so never care to tell…