From Generalist to Specialist

So games are becoming a pretty big deal these days, it was only 10 years ago where an artist and a programmer could sit in a room and make gold ! As games are having more and more money pumped into them, companies now employ thousands of worker minions throughout the UK alone to complete their projects

Making a game is an involved and lengthy process where producers, give publishers lots of monies who hire a development team of varying sizes, to make lots of cool shit to wrap up and sell.

The industry is made up of lots of specialist roles and us, game art student have got to fit in there somewhere. So we need to choose our role in the industry, there’s no point just applying for everything, because unless youre super human you cant master everyaspect of Game Art. Initially Game Art is split into two categories, 2d and 3d.

2d artists produce sketches, paints and models which are presented to varying people to show them what stuff should look like. The art team has people working in specialist areas. Producing environmental, character or storyboard concepts etc. 2d artists are usually watched under the close eye of an Art Director who overseas every artist to make sure their vision is communicated the way they want. As the concepts are produced usually at the beginning of development, art directors take care to ensure that all work is kept consistent to allow modellers to translate this into the 3d world. Their work is pretty much used as a guide through the long and arduous task of development

They actually have a lot of pressure on them, it’s like launching a rocket 3 degrees too wrong !

Anyway I know for sure that I don’t want to be a concept artist. As much as I used to love drawing it’s just not for me. Also to be a successful concept artist you have to be extremely talented in what you do. The work isn’t too stable either, you’re basically becoming a freelance artist.  

3d artists are responsible in creating bulk of content for the game.  pretty much all the assets in game; vehicles, characters and environment. Pretty much everything the player can see in game, except for maybe on screen HUD and scenic backdrops which are digitally painted or photographed.

An environmental artist usually makes the terrain shape and general assets for the scene. The level designer is responsible for basically how the game will play, working from pre-production all the way through to the final stages of development. While it does help for the designer to have good artist skills & judgment, the visual appearance is left down to the artist.  

The artists can also specialise in character. The character artists use the concepts produced by 2d artists to recreate the style and feel of the design, but in the 3d world. They will also work alongside animators to ensure that the character can be rigged correctly ensuring the most life like animations are achieved.

Everyone member of the team has their own specialist role which contributes to the end product.  Although everyone is working individually on their own task, with communication and working alongside others is important to ensure everyone is pulling together in the same direction working towards the same goal.

The point of this course is to teach us everytihng then let us decide what we want to specialise in. I still haven’t quite figured out where I want to be in the industry. I’m leaning towards being an environmental artist just cause levels are cool. But we’ll see how developing an environment for my FMP will sway my decision.