Not your Average "How do I break into Games" thread

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

Hey guys

During this year I have come to some hard decisions that will shape the rest of my life as far as career goes.

First off a little about me. Ever since I was a young child I have sketched monters and characters and gruesome things. I started college at the age of 21 thinking that Graphic Design would be the best field for me ( even though I loved video games, I never though it would actually be an obtainable career) I was young and lost my liscense. Consequently I had to drop out of school. I had to work construction for awhile and realized there was no way in hell that is how I would spend the rest of my days.

I met a girl, and between her and my mother they supported me enough to go back to school to finish my degree. We moved to the big city Lol and here I met a cool kid at work who introduced me to this AWESOME website, and I realized maybe a job in Games is not that unobtainable.

My first plan was to do graphic design while I trained to work in the games industry. The schoolwork is piling up and along comes DW4. I had to join. But there are definetly not enough hours in the day. BTW if I stay on course I should get my degree by December.

Now I find myself stretched between a Part-Time Job, schoolwork, and my true passion Gameart.

I am really losing interest in Graphic Design and find the whole thing rather boring compared to all of the research and learning of 3d programs and painting textures, and concept art.

Another problem that I am having with school is that as I search for Graphic Design jobs it seem that you are also required to be a website programmer which I have ABSOLUTELY no interest in.

I have just purchased a top of the line computer w/ Adobe Master Collection, Zbrush, a wacom, and 3ds Max and I am ready to start learning but keep finding myself torn. I am turning 28 and thinks it's time to decide what I should do with the rest of my years on this planet.

I guess I am just asking some proffessionals for some advice in which direction to take as far a school, graphic design, and game art. So far my teachers are hacks and my GF has no idea what to tell me lol. So I figured why not ask the men and women who might actually know some good suggestions. You guys!!

Thanks for listening to my life story lol. And BTW I love this community you guys are super helpful and chalk full of character. Proud to be a part!

[sage]

Graphic Design degree won't get you a job in the industry, but your reel will. I would work on your entry and self training on game art and treat it as a job. Post your work, listen to the feedback and get back to work on it. The other thing to keep in mind is your reel won't get you a graphic design job.

Finding Graphic Design jobs is very hard now, and you need more skills than just Quark since a lot of employers want you to do more than that. But what is going to get you a job there is your work as well. If you enjoy doing graphic design, make like 12 ads and find a local shop in your area. Ask if you can have an informational interview and show them what you have. A lot of job ads want you to be able to walk on water, but you just need to apply and see what happens. If they like your work they will give you an interview.

So far my teachers are hacks... sound like you are going to my school... LOL

Good luck.

Alex

[MRico]

I got a question, did you want to do 3d art, or 2d art for games? I saw you on the 2d side, but you mentioned you got 3ds max and zbrush...why aren't you kicking ass with the rest of us on the 3d challenge??

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

In all honesty, I want to do it all Autopsy Lol!!! I have natural talent for drawing and alot of traditional training, but I'm digging 3d and have a fast learning curve so what the hell, might as well do it all right??

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

Oh and right now I am working on my GF computer my SUPER COMPUTER Lol is in the mail right now and I didnt want to waste a 1 year liscense for 3ds Max on this Pos :)

[MRico]

That makes sense, I would do both but can't draw for shit -shrugs- so I stick to 3d, lol....share your comp specs with me please?

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

1 Intel Core2 processor Q8200 (2.33GHz,1333FSB) w/Quad Core Technology and 4MB cache

1 Red Bezel Chassis

1 8GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4X2GB

1 Dell S2409W 24 inch WidescreenFlat Panel Monitor

1 nVidia GeForce GTX 280 1024MB

1 SATA 2 RAID 0 With Dual 500GB Hard Drives

1 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition English

1 Dell USB 4 Button Premium Optical Mouse with Scroll

1 16X DVD-ROM and 16X DVD+/-RW

1 Roxio Creator 10.2 Dell Edition

1 Integrated Audio

1 Dell A525 30 Watt 2.1 stereo speakers w/subwoofer 45Hz-20Khz

1 McAfee SecurityCenter 15-month

1 Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition

1 DVI-VGA Adapter to connect 2 FP Monitors to dual monitor capable Video Card

Maybe not a SUPER COMPUTER but it should render some big stuff!!!!!

[MRico]

Man...now that is sweet! Well bro, good luck with your career now it all depends on you, you got your gear...or are getting it, now it all depends on how hard you try to get there.

And I can kinda relate, I've been working in graphic design for the past 2 years...and I'm sick of it! it's never what I wanted to do, just that my school set me up to have better chances to do graphic design than 3d...and yeah...wtf is up with all graphic artist needing to know how to code websites?? What you have to look for is graphic design for print...although it's mostly boring ass page layout and editing photography <-that's what I've been doing...and I hated it.

[SeanW]

Have you thought about doing UI for games? That might be a nice happy medium for you.

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

Actually I thought about it yesterday but wouldn't that also involve programming?

[zeke3d]

no, and yes to your question death smiles, sometimes programmers get that put on their plate and they then work with an artist to get it worked out, usually it takes extreme patience and communication on both parts. sometimes programmers who liked art and design at some point do the whole thing, there are a few dedicated UI programmers and artists out their, its like building websites that help people navigate around a game.

[rv_el]

Christ i think i wrote up about 3 huge responses to this thread and have deleted them. If i hit send on this one it will be a fucking miracle.

Uh i was gonna say something about the UI thing. Zeke kinda summed it up. Every place is different, but really i wouldn't worry about any real programming. Just have to be logically minded and all that. Think Dreamweaver vs HTML coding.


The main thing i wanted to say was go to the GDC. do the CA program (volunteer program) if you want to save money. And then talk with everybody you can. Ask veterans what to do at the GDC. Get ahold of people who are doing more or less what you want to do and get them to be frank.

Uh..... uh... to be frank, not a lot of people are going to be frank on the forums. :) Although this thread puts you ahead of what i was doing when i was in school.

ok i'm going to actually submit this one.

[mr_ace]

from most ppl i talk to/get lectures from, the emphasis is on specialisation, so going nuts with concept art, ui, 3d etc is probably not the best use of ur time. if u spend ur time getting good at one thing, eg characters, vehicles etc, then u can get an industry job, and if u find thats not exactly right for u, it probably wont b too tricky moving between jobs in a company.

my advice, not that i'm the most suitable person to take advice from, due to my lack of experience, wud b to break into the industry as a ui guy, then go from there. i would imagine you will learn ur 3d MUCH faster if you can show it about the office, get some immediate feedback, and ud b racking up industry experience, and getting some published titles under ur belt.

also, from working in a games company, ud have a better understanding of all the pipelines etc that wud b great on ur cv, wen it comes to applying for a 3d job.

im not sure of ur present 3d experience, but i would wait till uve finished some 3d work, textured, normal mapped etc, before deciding its for u. u may find once u actually get down to tweaking vertices and laying out uvs, it might not b for u after all

good luck anyway watever u do!

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

Thanks guys,
I've modeled one character so far and I thought that it was awesome!!! Far from anything I had ever done before! As Far as taking it to that next level well I get to utilize my 3DS Max in 1 week and we will see from there. I actually went out tonight to a bar, and obviously I was talking about the same stuff. My biggest response was " Hey man do what you love or in the end you will have cheated yourself and those who put stock in you" and I dont really think it could have hit home more than that. So you know what I am going to finish my degree, to have some sort of acheivement in my life but I am going to mainly be focusing on character desing. Hopefully you guys will keep my goal in realistic perspective once you see some of my work!!!

And thanks a tons to those who have commented so far, your opinions mean the world to a guy stuck in the middle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Niarbon]

My situation is simulair. Graphic design student, only recently figured out that it's game-art that I like more then the actual games and that you can even make a living out of it.

So for my internship I tried to find a game developer and just ask if I could learn concept art there. No way I could find that ofcourse with no experiance and no real good drawings (was stuck doing horse portraits for years).
But instead I found myself an internship as a graphic designer / UI designer at a games company. I'm working there for 2 months now, and learning a lot, not about graphic design, I have no real interest in that, but about 3d and the whole process of making games. And they are even letting me do the concept art for an upcomming game.

So my advice would be to try and do something simulair. Get yourself in the industry, even if it's not really the job you want to do. You will learn much more that way and get good connections so eventually you will get to do what you like best :) .

[coldkodiak]

goto this website:

http://www.creativeheads.net/
look at the requirements for positions you are interested in. Look up the company's work to figure out what your work should look like.
Work towards that, make a portfolio, submit.

Also, just fyi, the market is incredibly tough right now.

Good luck.

[zeke3d]

personally I am not a fan of people becoming robots in one area, learn as much as you can, enjoy the process and don't be quick to or let others put you in a box. you can learn, grow, have fun and never have to get "bored" with one thing, I think you will be way more valuable, marketable, and quick to land on your feet and meet new challenges if you go that route.

[Absorber]

Hi Death!
Niarbon, talked to you before so ill keep the story very short ;)

About the graphic designers going game-art.. I think its a virus! I got it to! :O
Now in my third year of graphic design, also doing internship but aint learning sh*t about game-art.. My colleges/workteam?! actually have nothing with the style/job.

So +1 'doubt-er' in your thread. And niarbon, ill send you a pm, about your internship again ;)

- What does UI means? User interface? Like designing interfaces in cool games?? Sounds cool :)

Ok cya, ill subscribe!

[DejaVooDoo]

personally I am not a fan of people becoming robots in one area, learn as much as you can, enjoy the process and don't be quick to or let others put you in a box. you can learn, grow, have fun and never have to get "bored" with one thing, I think you will be way more valuable, marketable, and quick to land on your feet and meet new challenges if you go that route.

I'm in this mindset too. Even tho I am constantly hearing otherwise. I was hired as an animator .. got to work side by side with a great modeler (onelung), and picked up so much knowledge from him. I asked to do a character when the schedule allowed, they let me .. it fit the style and quality .. and that's been part of my job ever since. At the same time, I was always leering over our concept artist's shoulder, asking questions about technique, brushes & style. When he left to start his own company, I was able to step up and contribute in that area as well.

I just love the entire process of creating game characters. If I only animated at work, I'd be modeling/texturing/concepting in my spare time. If I were only modeling/texturing .. I'd be animating in my spare time, etc. etc.. So, do what you love, and the rest will fall in place.

Always remember tho, that just because you love it doesn't make you good at it. Always set out to improve, expand, and polish the skills you have with every piece you create. Use your peers as a benchmark. Use other games as a benchmark. Use the best work on these forums as a benchmark.