Art Direction Advice needed ...

[tarickTDS]

Ok so ive done my degree (Bachelor of Interactive Entertainment-Animation Major)
Ive got some skills (Wow Style Texture Painting, General Game Asset Modeling, Some form of Architectural concept drawing skill, 2D interface Art skill) Ive got one title under my belt as QA / Art Help

I always thought i was a free thinker, able to forge my own path and choose my own direction but ive recently realised,,, im anything but. I wish someone could just come in and tell me what to do, im floundering in a sea of self doubt and confusion as to which way to go with my art ...

"My current direction" I decided to create some WOW style assets to match the world of wow (cos i love the art in there), concept, model, texture. I figure low poly is a pretty needed type of asset these days and environment artists seem to be in some demand also with not as much competition as character artists.

What do you guys think,,, good direction ... or something else ?

Any thought questions comments or crits would be gratefully appreciated ... no flowers or chocolates though im afraid :p

[tarickTDS]

Does this make any sense to anyone or am i just loosing my mind ?

[Draxxuss]

You need direction, get a wife! :)

Seriously though, you seem to have some learnin' but really just need to find an outlet. Get involved with the competitions around here to start with. They don't last long and won't eat up a bunch of your time so there is really no BIG commitment issues deal with. They are also a great place to keep in shape, artistically speaking, and just have plain old fun.

I'm not about to tell you to go in a certain direction as I think you need to find that out for yourself and getting involved in online comps will help you decide.

The one tip I will tell you is to make sure you have all of your bases covered. What I mean by that is be proficient in the current trends as well as the old skool techniques. Practice alpha use, ultra low poly modeling, tiny textures, high poly sculpts, Normal map creation, glow maps, the list can go on and on. Once you finish with that modeling stuff, take on the animation side of things. In doing this you should, hopefully, begin to see an area that really appeals to you as well as things you simply dislike. Consider these "practice times" as directional markers that help steer you towards the Motel of Creativity on your journey down the 3d Highway of Art.

[Hazardous]

I dont usually spam my own journals around, but.... this is the best advice i can give you. http://hyperdivine.deviantart.com/journal/30393504/

[Mrpearlzildjian]

Dude, hazardous... Tenacious D... that was some funny shit. *stick around if you don't mind some cream in your jeans* XD

Great blog though. Going to work on my stuff now.

[Tipatlong]

If I may ask, from your degree I'm assuming you took a Qantm course?
If yes, how did you find the course and the instructors and which Qantm did you go to?

Sorry for not answering your question and changing the topic, but as I am still a high school student, I cannot give advice yet.

[Grubber]

I dont usually spam my own journals around, but.... this is the best advice i can give you. http://hyperdivine.deviantart.com/journal/30393504/

Damn nice writing!
Thanks a bunch :thumb:

[Tipatlong]

Oh, and pretty inspiring words (to me anyways) Hazardous!

[Mike_K]

I dont usually spam my own journals around, but.... this is the best advice i can give you. http://hyperdivine.deviantart.com/journal/30393504/

great read man

[zeke3d]

wake up every morning and kill it, thats all I got

[tarickTDS]

If I may ask, from your degree I'm assuming you took a Qantm course?
If yes, how did you find the course and the instructors and which Qantm did you go to?

Sorry for not answering your question and changing the topic, but as I am still a high school student, I cannot give advice yet.

Man, A degree is a degree but it doesnt teach you much about being an artist. Im better qualified now to run a games studio than to work in one :uhh:

Just depends what you want... I wanted to do a degree, wanted to be a professional and thats what i am, an out of work and aspiring artist maybe but a professional none the less.

QANTM's degree had some downfalls, not being a university as such i think let it down a bit and the quality of the lectures and tutes was questionable at times. My advice for you if you are wanting to really learn how to be a good artist ... Go to Uni and do visual arts degree.

I can kinda only give advice on the stage im at but by the sounds of it i got a a few things learnt above you so here is a little ... if you want to make art for a living then do lots of it, whether you choose to do a degree or not, irrelevant really, going to QANTM ... mmm id advise not.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and posts !!! :thumb: im so glad GA exists :inocent:

[tarickTDS]

Thanks man, I loved your text on this matter.

I really appreciate your honesty adn bluntness, everything you were saying made so much sense and after taking hte last few days to centre myself on my interests ... I am happy to say i am currently off on an amazingly inspiring journey into an area of art that has been dieing to come out and be realised!!!

Im not saying i got it all sorted now but you have def helped me to confirm the first step of finding my passion again.

Now for the hard work ;)

Thank you so much mate!

[tarickTDS]

You need direction, get a wife! :)

Seriously though, you seem to have some learnin' but really just need to find an outlet. Get involved with the competitions around here to start with. They don't last long and won't eat up a bunch of your time so there is really no BIG commitment issues deal with. They are also a great place to keep in shape, artistically speaking, and just have plain old fun.

I'm not about to tell you to go in a certain direction as I think you need to find that out for yourself and getting involved in online comps will help you decide.

The one tip I will tell you is to make sure you have all of your bases covered. What I mean by that is be proficient in the current trends as well as the old skool techniques. Practice alpha use, ultra low poly modeling, tiny textures, high poly sculpts, Normal map creation, glow maps, the list can go on and on. Once you finish with that modeling stuff, take on the animation side of things. In doing this you should, hopefully, begin to see an area that really appeals to you as well as things you simply dislike. Consider these "practice times" as directional markers that help steer you towards the Motel of Creativity on your journey down the 3d Highway of Art.

Hey man, sorry for the late reply buts its taken me a while to filter this in. See here is the thing, I've already tried a heap of things during my degree and afterwards, animation, high poly sculpt, low poly creation, 2D illustration and all the others even game design and programming ... ok ... so I have made up my mind, mostly, what I'm looking at doing is Environment art. So what I'm asking for is some backup for whether or not this sounds like a good plan of attack for me? Perhaps I left out some other important rational which ill explain now.

#1 I love to paint, love the simplicity of it, and I'm good at colour, shading, perspective etc.

#2 Currently I am good at drawing anything but people, i have drawn people a bit but I just don't have the anatomy down at present.

#3 I like creating spaces, i have just finished writing up a skeleton back story for a new "zone" for a level i want to make in the World of Warcraft style. Ive started to work on my top down view and level layout and also several basic concept sketches to get an idea of colours and mood.

#4 Competition for character artist positions seems to be very high

#5 Environment artists seem to be a pretty commonly needed position in games.

#6 "Low Poly" World of Warcraft type polycount assets seem to be pretty common these days in MMO's and also on mobile and smaller devices.

#7 Ive tried a heap of different art styles and have found that i don't really like effects, animation, concept art, technical art, interface art and i guess a few others as much as much as building models and texturing them and also building levels or scenes.

#8 I am also not as skilled in a variety of other art specifics such as concept art, animation, technical art, illustration as i am in building environmental models and texturing.

------------ So, basically im asking for advice on weather or not those 8 rational points seems to make sense or if some of the points i made don't necessaries follow?

sorry for repetition and or bad writing.

Thank you so much for your reply, sorry my first post didnt really explain the situation fully, anymore words you have on this would be greatly appreciated.

[tarickTDS]

wake up every morning and kill it, thats all I got

Thanks man, I also appreciate this alot,,, i mean essentially that is it aint it, i know it, everyone knows it,,, Nike said it

"Just Do it"

appreciate your sentiment man, i needed to hear that too.

peace!