Q and A

How much education do I need as a game artist?

It is good to recieve formal training to avoid pidgeon holing yourself into a career. While it isn't necessary to attend college I definately advise against not going to school. School is more important for YOU than it is for getting that job.

There are many schools that offer game related programs and courses today. I would suggest attending a school in California because they have more professionals teaching courses there than in other regions. CalArts or an Art Institute are some starting options for an art focused education.

 

What kinds of jobs are there for artists in games?

Level Designers lay out the landscape, place props, character spawn points, set lighting, etc.

Concept Artists create drawings and paintings of characters, props, and landscapes for the modelers to work off of.

Modelers make the creatures and props in 3D programs from the concept artists' drawings.

Texture Artists paint the modelers' models. Often a modeler and texturer are the same person.

Animators take the models and rig them to a skeleton and give them movement and life. Creatures, props, parts of the enviornment, etc. all need to be given movement. There is tons of work for animators!

 

What kinds of Software do I need to know?

As of now Photoshop, Painter, 3D Studio Max and Maya are the programs you NEED to know. We use Photoshop to texture our models and for everything else 2D.

As for peripherals, invest in a Wacom Tablet.

We use these for drawing in the computer with Photoshop. You don't even need paper these days. Wacoms require a little getting used to, but once you do you won't know how you lived without one. I would suggest a medium sized Wacom. The big ones I find tooooooo big, and the small ones don't have enough room to properly move your hand around. Try them out before you buy if you can. It all comes down to personal preference. (I like the Intuos 9x12)

 

Why do I do this?

I love monsters! I love videogames! I also have a short attention span. Games allow me to work on creatures and I get to work on lots of different creatures. Every few days I have a new little monster to make. It's great!

If I had gone into movies I'd have to work my way into making creatures over a long period of time, have little say or creativity in what I was making, and be working on the same thing for months if not longer. Tweak tweak tweak... sound so boring!

Games let me have tons of fun at work and I feel extremely satisfied because so much of myself makes it into the models. Even though I don't usually design my creatures the concept art leaves alot of room for creativity.

Also I work directly with the people making everything on the project so I can easily talk to someone when I have questions or ideas.

What do I dislike about my job?

Pizza. When we employees work late often times companies buy pizza for dinner. Eating pizza for long periods of time makes me feel gross and shrivels my inner child. Pizza is supposed to be special and fun!

Social skills?

Games are run on teams. You'll be instructed by your art director and working closely with modelers, animators, concept artists, etc.

You'll need to be able to handle constant critiques about your artwork and understand that the hours can be long and that you may have your work thrown away and have to start all over again.

You will have to be able to communicate well with other people to keep work flow going.

If you are very shy or easy to anger this may not be the best field for you.

I used to be rediculously shy, but I've been able to get beyond that at work. I try to walk around occassionally during the day keeping abreast of what the rest of the office is doing, and if someone is stressing out I go see if I can be of help. If I'm done with my assigned work I actively go find more, I don't wait for it. There is alot to do and if I don't do it someone else will have to.

Average salary range for a game artist?

Game Developer Magazine puts out salary charts each year that are fairly accurate.

Salary tends to get exponetially higher with experience and ranges on location. Also, you probably won't see much of a salary raise until your second job.

I'd put artist salary at about 18g to 30g for someone just starting. With a few years of experience this can go up to around 45g to 75g. That's about as high as they go, but this can vary. I've heard of a few people making it into the 100g range, but they are usually art directors at big companies. These estimates are based on American salaries in places like Los Angeles. You probably won't pull those numbers if you live in less metropolitan areas.

Job benefits?

Benefits vary from company to company. Here is a set of general ones: Sick leave, paid vacation, health insurance, vision, dental.

There some extra things as well like going to E3, company movie outings, access to a game library, excercise room, etc. that are frequent occurances at game companys.

Getting your first game job? How? What'll it be like?

That first job is always the tough one. You probably don't have any contacts and your art probably won't be quite on a professional level and you have no experience.

(My first portfolio had solid life drawings, lots of okay drawings of creatures, and some hideous 3D and hideous texture work. I had lens flares all over creation and used some default textures in 3D Studio Max. Big newbie mistakes.)

It may take quite some time to get your first job. You will see alot of rejection letters (Thank you for your interest blah blah blah). I sent out tons of portfolios to every company I could find out about.

I got my first job in six months, after moving from Georgia to Los Angeles, which I thought was fast. I took a very low level position, but I was extremely excited and happy about it.

Your first job will probably be texturing and making a prop here and there. The first month of work is going to be like boot camp. You will learn more in that time than in years of going to school.

 

Women and Games?

A few links I find interesting reguarding this topic.