VanArts UC Students

Geoff Taylor

Forum:	geoff
Entry:	Tree of Life
Location:	Vancouver, Canada
Email:	geofftaylor70 [at] hotmail.com
Website:	www.royaldesigns.ca

Can you introduce yourself? Why game art and how did you get to where you are today?

Hi, I'm Geoff Taylor. I'm a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design. My background is in traditional illustration and sculpture. I worked as a freelance illustrator and gallery artist after OCAD and found my options to be somewhat limited. I became frustrated with the uncertainty of contract work, so I started looking for studio jobs. I became interested in game art and design (and production design for the film industry) based on the quality and content of the imagery being produced these days .I’m not too into playing video games, but the idea of designing the worlds and characters involved was too exciting to pass up. After reading a few job postings, it was clear that I needed to get serious about learning the latest computer software – and so began my studies at VanArts.

Are you familiar with w.i.p thread based competitions? Yes or No, what are your thoughts on the matter and would you recommend this form of competitions to friends?

My only real experience with contests doesn’t involve the w.i.p based format. In the past, I’ve submitted finished works of arts, which were either critiqued by members of an online forum or simply judged without any real feedback. This experience was much more valuable. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone at any stage in his or her career.

As a student, what was it like to enter the Unearthly Challenge? Learn anything?

We were able to use the contest as our term project - which was great, because that meant double the feedback. In addition to the instruction I receive at school, I was also getting advice from pros on the forum. This was my first full 3d environment - so I learned a great deal. Specifically, I learned how to budget my time and what I was up against in the job market.

What were your goals when you entered the challenge? Did you meet them?

My goal for this project was simple: create something I’m visually satisfied with in the time given. To be honest I’m never fully satisfied with anything I create, but I think that’s what keeps me interested in my work - and I don't think it will ever change. When UC finished, I was glad to be able to finish on time with a product I could take pride in submitting; which for me, was as close to my goal as I could hope to get.

What plans do you have for your future?

Right now, I’m in my final term at school and I’m completely focused on producing my demo reel. Hopefully, once my reel is in hand, it’s going to lead to some work in the industry. We've got a great studio system going on at VanArts where the grads stay around as teachers’ assistants for a few months while they’re looking for work. I’m excited for either possibility.

Sudarsan

Forum:	sgv3dmax
Entry:	Port of Peril
Location:	Vancouver, Canada
Email:	sgv3dmax [at] gmail.com
Website:	www.sgvartist.com

Can you introduce yourself? Why game art and how did you get to where you are today?

I was born and raised in the southern part of India. I did my formal education in Finance and worked in the financial industry for a while, but something deep and creative wanted to come out. As time passed, the suppressed need to create became unbearable and finally, I decided to change my career path. I did a short-term course in 3d animation where I learned 3d studio max. This gave me a chance to explore the wonderful world of creative freedom. Soon after, I got a job in an e-learning company as a 3d modeler and soon after that, I got a chance to play games like Half life, Far Cry, and Doom. I was so impressed that I immediately wanted to know how games were made. I joined various 3d game art forums and started exploring how games were made. Web sites like www.game-artist.net, www.gameartisans.org etc were invaluable to me. It was always in my mind to explore and learn things beyond physical boundaries and this search brought me to Canada. I joined VANARTS, Vancouver for Game Art and Design in February 2008 and I will now be graduating in February 2009.

Are you familiar with w.i.p thread based competitions? Yes or No, what are your thoughts on the matter and would you recommend this form of competitions to friends?

Yes. I am familiar with work in progress (wip) thread based competitions. I used to take part in speed modeling competitions and low-poly competitions on www.game-artist.net. Taking part in these competitions is a great resource for developing and improving one's work flow. The comments from other members are invaluable and your own observation skills improve as you learn how to creatively comment on other artists' work. Since I started, my art improved tremendously since I take comments from other artists seriously and make the necessary changes to my work. Also, my attitude towards fellow artists improved since I learned how and when to accept constructive criticism, which, I am positive, will help me become a great team player in the future. I would highly recommend these competitions to artists of all levels, be it student or professional. I have already recommended Unearthly Challenge to my friends and I will surely recommend similar future events.

As a student, what was it like to enter the Unearthly Challenge? Learn anything?

When I was informed about Unearthly Challenge, I was so eager to start my entry. It was a wonderful learning experience, especially since amazing artists took time out of their busy schedules to comment on my work. I had no idea there were so many good artists out there untill I got a chance to see their work in progress and receive their constructive critiques. As a student, this is the best opportunity I could get during my education - to get comments from artists around the world. It helped me a great deal and further made me want to explore the wonderful world of game art creation.

What were your goals when you entered the challenge? Did you meet them?

As a student my goal was to learn from great artists and Unearthly Challenge helped a great deal. It was a wonderful learning experience as I was able to show my work to other great artists and see other great artwork in the making, which made me want to try even harder. In the past, most of my learning experience came from friends who commented on my work, but they were mostly biased to a certain degree because they did not want to sound mean. Competitions like these make it possible to get comments and critiques that are not biased to any degree, and this is definitely helpful. Yes, I met my goals in Unearthly Challenge and I would never have learned what I know today if I had not taken part in this competition.

What plans do you have for your future?

I am totally involved in developing 3d art for games and I see myself working as a 3d environment artist with a team of great artists. The career path I chose is: “Game Art and Design,’ and I hope it will lead to a chair-sitting position within a game developing company. Until then, I will try my best to continue learning new techniques that will allow me to bring my creative designs to life - in games.

James Young

Forum:	Young007
Entry:	Ke-Ao Temple Gate
Location:	Vancouver, Canada
Email:	NA
Website:	NA

Can you introduce yourself? Why game art and how did you get to where you are today?

My name is James Young, I am 30 and married to the greatest women ever. I am a student of Game Art & Design at Vanarts (Van,BC). I left finance to pursue a higher calling:). I had a carrier that I was doing quite well in, but it wasn't satisfying my creative side. I grew up with a pencil in my hand and was either drawing, acting or building something since a young age. In my later years my family had me focus on sports and education since becoming an artist was not seen or promoted as a smart financial/carrier decision (Don't believe the hype!). I was always creating or involved in something creative outside of work but had largely put down my pencil and brush. Getting married last year was an awakening for me and with support from my wife I went back to school. I can't put my pencil down now, as I have re-found my love for sketching and this digital and 3D world is truly awesome. My classes as classmates have been great to learn from as all I want to do now is soak up as much as I can. I am only just starting to scratch the surface of what is possible. It is what I think is so cool about this industry. It constantly adapts to new technology and processes and as an artist you grow with it! I am pursuing becoming an environment modeler for the game industry. As an avid gamer it was always the unknown landscapes, buildings and worlds that I looked forward to viewing. I want to become apart of that process.

Are you familiar with w.i.p thread based competitions? Yes or No, what are your thoughts on the matter and would you recommend this form of competitions to friends?

This type of competition was all new to me, as like most of what I am learning now is all new to me. But it has been an awesome experience! The ability to post your work as you progress and receive and give feedback is so valuable. The creative process is one that more people should share. Forums such as this allow people to really interact through the creative process with amateurs and professionals from around the world. It's how you learn from the best. It's one thing to study completed images of professionals work, it's another to study the process of building that image and then to be able to dialog about it. This is I think how you really learn. My advise to anyone thinking about participating is... as Nike says “do it!” Post feedback, post work, and the fear of ideas being stolen I think is unfounded. To learn from those around us is how we all have done it since the beginning of time. Plus everyone wants to do their own entry in a unique way anyways. Feed back and criticism are important for us all, it allows us to reflect on our work and be subjective about a comment made. After all we don't have to agree with any of it. So become involved and post your work and comments. And please post more than just, “Wow it looks great” or “kind of sucks” - tell us why!

As a student, what was it like to enter the Unearthly Challenge? Learn anything?

As a student learning from the challenge was key. For me, so much of this was a first time experience as I had no 3D training prior to the start of my game art program. The challenge forced me to focus my ideas and create a work flow that kept me progressing and learning within a schedule. Deadlines are important to all fields. As working to a deadline and parameters are mandatory in the real word. The challenge deadline helped me work through aspects that may have held me up with out one. As all of this was new to me I was able to assess what needs more work. For example my first beauty shot took the majority of my time and I am pleased with it. I think there are still aspects that need improving but all in all I like it. My second shot...I would rather have not posted it! As I don't think it's even close to where it should be, but I was forced to hand something in to meet the challenge deadline. Now I have to look at what I could do to save time in the future. How much time should I allocate for different components of my pipeline. Damn.. need to define my camera shots early first thing! And wow...for just image planes organics are hard. I really need to work on creating those! So as a student learning this all for the first time, the challenge was eye opening and fun.

What were your goals when you entered the challenge? Did you meet them?

My only goal for the challenge was to learn and have fun with it. I met both of those challenges easily. I am all ready twice as fast with everything I did, as all of it is practice. My goal was to have 2 completed pieces for the challenge but I feel as though I really only had one (not a fan of my second shot), so even though my speed has increased to help that in the future, I would say defining a schedule and working to it was a lesson learned. In addition, defining all of your shots early is so important. In all future works, I will put more time into my texturing and learning the subtleness's of spec, color and other maps.

What plans do you have for your future?

Well I want to create amazing looking game assets and worlds. I will continue to develop and practice my skills for the rest of my life, now that I am back and participating in art again. I think that the technology of the new platforms and game engines being used are really allowing the game industry to develop as a true art. The interactive ability of a game allows a viewer to almost get into an artists mind to explore the worlds that exist in our heads and that is sweet! I will graduate in February 2009 and I’ll be actively entering the job hunt. Plus I hope to give back a little to my program as a teacher’s assistant. The people around me have been great and art is just too much fun to pass up. As “Young007” in the forum I will have a link up to my site, etc in February. Oh ...007? Come on we all need role models.