Week 19 - Life Changing Or Career Building?

When approaching a career as a game artist it is unclear what path one must take. Many games magazines will have advertisements for different universities in which you can study with the aim to become an artist in industry. However, how can anybody know which course is employable? Would a specialised course be considered too specialised?

Companies such as blitz value creativity over ability to use software when initially employing new talent. If that is the case should someone looking to be a game artist purely study fine art?

To answer this question first I need to determine what skills are needed within industry. A current job advert for an environment artist asks that the applicant "must have strong fundamental drawing skills and be capable of producing game quality work to the standar of other artists in team and.....have several years worth of experience in photoshop and 3Dsmax". This instantly suggests that when looking for a course to train themselves, a student must look for a course that teaches skills within photoshop and 3Dsmax but that also has a strong focus on the traditional side of art.

Many companies are explicitly requesting artists that know how to deal with realism. Colour theory, proportion and strong rendering techniques all seem high on the agenda when hiring an artist within the current gaming market. High definition games and the ever-increasing power of consoles demands that the boundaries of realism are constantly pushed. What more can computer game graphics do apart from push toward the more realistic if they are to be original and awe inspiring?

It is also important that people know how to use the tools that are being used, such as 3dsmax so that a company doesn't have to spend money training more people when they want to be making new games and making a profit. Some kind of training is needed aswell as having skills in traditional art.

I think ultimately, its a balance of the two scenarios. If a completely abstract artist tried to apply themselves to an industry project, they would find it difficult to produce the kind of work that they are expecting. The work-flow would probably be quite similar but the two are very different in the outcome that they would require.