How to get hired as a 2d game artist? by furnut5158 < Journal

7 years, 7 months ago

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You need to be born already fated to do it. If not, you'll just make unfinished games that you'll sell, collect money and run away before players notice of how much bad they are :p

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ FurCollector

HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT WAS MY PLA-uh i mean, thats a horrible way to do things. >_>;;;

Sakuramoto

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ furnut5158

Come on man, live the Kickstarter dream!

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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Edited 7 years, 7 months ago by Owner

@ Sakuramoto

yeah i'd definitely start getting Kicked alright......like a soccerball.

Andybanez

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ FurCollector

i just noticed a thing

EN FINAL TE HICHISTE VIVO TIO! tuve miedo para ti ;3

FurCollector

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Andybanez

Ghost Reporting O|||°o

Andybanez

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ FurCollector

*hugs teh ghost* finally..*sob* i thought i lost you X3

or did i? O_o

FurCollector

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Andybanez

I can tell I'm back, but probably I will never be the same again

Andybanez

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ FurCollector

there...i knew it x3 Illuminati abducted you ...little bastards x3

seriously, i SENSED something happened....i'm on skype now...

SashaBelle

7 years, 7 months ago

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I've not ever been in any kind of industry, but I do recommend looking at CubeBrush on Youtube for direction. He's got a good amount of videos on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owYaZ_cxNzI

You can look at the related videos on the side to find more of his about the industry (and also videos on his art process in general, which is very very helpful!).

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ SashaBelle

oooh thanks very much :D ill go nao

Dragonofdarkness13

7 years, 7 months ago

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if you find out I'd like to know too XD

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Dragonofdarkness13

keep an eye on this journal then. u might see someone respond with a good answer :D

icelink256

7 years, 7 months ago

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A portfolio may or may not matter, depending on what you have/are working on. If you're capable of both drawing/coding a game, you're more likely to be picked up by a company, for commissioned work.

Having your own sprite style can be nice, but it's absolutely not a requirement. Being capable of adapting, and learning a style really helps, though.

I've done both art/code work for a few companies across the last decade. (The most recent being pixel art for an upcoming Nintendo game.) I never finished high school. So that's a thing.

The mileage with being an artist for games may vary, depending on the people you are able to work with.

A few years ago, I worked on a certain high-profile Kickstarter indie game, and the head of the project was a complete scumbag. Never again! It's left a bad taste in my mouth, towards indie developers.

Last year I worked directly for Nintendo, which was a much nicer experience!

I've since resigned for personal reasons, and now I'm exclusively making porn games!

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ icelink256

Oh man......sucks to have a bad experience with some indie devs :(

Yeah I've been taking coding classes and it's just killing me. Learning Python, Java, and later, Java script. I don't think i'm able to keep it up any more.

Thats awesome that you've been able to work with Nintendo, and great to hear they are good toward you.

Porn games eh? Would making art for porn games help with making art for the mainstream game industry? >_>;;

GreenReaper

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ furnut5158

Probably only inasmuch as it develops your skills. They're a little tricky to include in your portfolio. Plus, do you reeeealllly want a boss who knows you for your porn? :-D

icelink256

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ furnut5158

Yeah. It did suck. I'm not saying never work with indie developers, just be very cautious when you do.

If you're not up for complex coding, being able to provide the animation data for your art, can go a long way in helping out the programmer. Perhaps look into animation coding? It's all quite simple, at it's basic level. Mostly frame indexes, and timing.

To be honest? Porn doesn't hurt.
My last employer was amazed by my previous animation work in the hentai industry.

Many well-known 2D artists also have porn kicking around in their galleries, somewhere.
(Konjak, Arne, Paul Robertson, etc.)

hentaiboy

7 years, 7 months ago

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A few things that I've found is that you have better chances depending on where you live and who you know.  A lot of places are leery about taking people that need to relocate for work (especially if it's from another country), so if you have the bad luck of living in a city that doesn't have much of a game industry, you might have to resort to remote work.
As for who you know, this can be a difficult hurdle for some devs, who are often not terribly social people.  But, I've found that the more you get out to social functions (assuming your local dev community has any), the more opportunities open for you.  Lately, I've been participating in 'game jams' in my dev community, where all the devs get together for a weekend and break into groups in order to make a game in under 3 days.  The game itself is usually nothing special, but it lets you get out and show off your talent and work ethic to other devs.
If you're trying to get by on illustration alone, I'd recommend getting to know a few minor technical skills, like learning how to import your work into game engines like Unity or Unreal, or how to build texture atlases for user interface, or even just optimization tricks for 2d art.  Even in 2D, there are a lot of technical aspects you can learn that will make you look more prepared to developers.  Also, in general, be open to learning new tricks... you said NO animation and NO 3D?  You might find yourself needing to know a bit of the basics in those areas somewhere down the road.
Anyhow, good luck with all that!

HB

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ hentaiboy

That's some good points about social functions like game jams. I've read about some of those, and I wondered why people do them.

Yeah i'm not a social person at all. I rarely leave the house and only talk to my immediate family. >_>;

hentaiboy

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ furnut5158

Yeah, I know what you mean about not being sociable. I have a small circle of friends, and I prefer to be alone as well... but at the thing is, a lot of people in the video game industry feel the same way. If you go out to dev community functions, you'll probably find many people have a similar attitude. It can be a pretty awkward atmosphere, and tough to break the ice, but if you can find some way to show off what you can do, make yourself useful, or even just participate in conversation, you might suddenly run into opportunities you hadn't known existed. It's one of those pills you have to swallow. :-)

HB

GreenReaper

7 years, 7 months ago

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Edited 7 years, 7 months ago by Owner

Having a degree can indeed be a bonus - especially a degree directly related to your job! But really the portfolio is what sells you, as well as work ethic and your ability to work with a team. Even if it's a very small company, you be working with other people, and you need to be flexible to their needs.

You don't have to be master-coder, but having a reasonable understanding of coding-related issues helps. Plus, you'll probably be called on to do testing now and then at a smaller company; even if you aren't, it may be useful to report any issues you run into in a comprehensive way, and knowing how code flows can help.

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ GreenReaper

I might just go with programming instead. I did a bit more research and am horrified at the amount of stuff people put up with just to survive in the games industry for any type of art position. I don't want to end up hating my life.

But thanks for the reply :)

FreeFlySpecter

7 years, 7 months ago

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Edited 7 years, 7 months ago by Owner

I will hire you only if you are working for free, just Joking (or maybe one day)

"	Do I need to have my own style, or show that I can copy other people's styles?

It's more about adapting the style into the game because of software and hardware limitation. Own or copy another is still a chose from your director.

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ FreeFlySpecter

i work for lap dances given from cute bunny girls. oh wait, those don't exist in real life. ;__;

kamperkiller

7 years, 7 months ago

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How to get hired as a 2d game artist?
~ Apply to companies that use 2d art. Get your name out and show them what you've got.
~~ Comic conventions, Startups, Indy Groups, online groups, and so on.

"Game artist, as in, illustration/painting, NOT animation, and NOT 3d models."
~ I wish you luck in this.... but you've already made yourself unhirable

"I'm interested in drawing art stuff for games. From what I hear, one way to be accepted is for you to have a really really good portfolio. Is this still true?"
~ being okay is fine but style and constancy is what most are looking for.

Do I need to have my own style, or show that I can copy other people's styles?
~ Yes

Does having a Bachelor of Fine Arts help me?
~ just a collection will do but some formal training is also good. one of the better courses you can take would be basic descriptive writing, and communication skills both technical and public, also get some basic programming and history/design courses. They don't ahve to be as intensive if you are going into but being able to talk to the other groups is good. Also, Learn ALL the art. knowledge and understanding of art and the art world will work well for designs.

Does having ANY BA help me?
~ HAhahahahahahahahahhahhahhah.... no. In game's it's Skill not paper that wins the game. it sucks but dumping resources into Deviant art contests and the like is a good way to get your art out there but... it's DA and they sell ALL artwork submitted to the contests to ad companies so...

Have anyone worked in the games industry? Is it horrible for game artists? Is it great?
~ I worked QA for Microsoft a few times but basically Depends on the game, the company, the leads, and everything else in between. the main hurdle is when a company is working on planning for a new project they go In house first and may or may not open new spots until halfway through a project. where if... IF you get hired you have to use the current art styles and the like.

Check this group out
FIRST Watch this > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGar7KC6Wiw

If you survive ~ check them out.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCreditz

kamperkiller

7 years, 7 months ago

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Edited 7 years, 7 months ago by Owner

@ kamperkiller

oh right, as it stands no game company will EVER give you a job if you have "Game College" on your name. Between being useless, for the most part uncredited even among their sister schools, and currently under federal investigation for all the money laundering and illegal practice, and the stuff they have you learning is almost 4 years behind standards regardless of when you you start or finish.

They also teach you useless programs and unsupported industry suites, and VERY bad industry "stuff"

Chu

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ kamperkiller

This is different in EU, just in case it matters to someone reading this. :)

kamperkiller

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Chu

yeah, our's are ran by the ITT Tech and other Scalpers.

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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Edited 7 years, 7 months ago by Owner

@ kamperkiller

Thx for the reply. yeah i don't hear good things from any game college. plus they charge you an arm and a leg :P

It does seem like 2d animation and 3d modeling/animation is where it's at. unfortunately i tried both and am really not compatible with those. also, thanks for the vid links. That first one was funny and really really to the point.

Welp guess it's back to the programming degree for me ._.

kamperkiller

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ furnut5158

well, the arm and leg the charge you is because of the scalped credentials are in another state meaning you are going to a school outside of your local state bubble. to make things more bullshit the schools they bought in your state your local education credentials to charge other students from other states. Plus all the truly Illegal things they do makes even being associated with them even more reason to not have your name attached to them.

http://www.attn.com/stories/10990/itt-tech-facing-sanc...

here's the rub, ANY school that has a commercial on TV is not a federally approved Education. they are "For profit" and thus can charge $54K for 2 years which is the literal max money you can get from a Fasfa or Military Education program period. the "School" is actaully a consultation firm and the school is... under their employ so they can get around the legal bullshit.

If you want to go to school, ALL the big named universities have free online education, libraries, and assistance for nearly all entry level course. Plus some even come with a certificate and possible credits.

If you want to spend money on it, nearly all Community colleges have university level courses that meet or exceed the benchmark. you just don't get the "I went to mega university coffee mug and Shirt" where a "Local Student" price is about $60 to $220 a quarter per class instead of the $650+ for a local university or the $58k a year out of state university.

as for Game stuff, there are plenty of online tutorials and the like to get you there.

http://library.harvard.edu/
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/100_...

kamperkiller

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ furnut5158

here we go, this is a list of free online schools and learning resources! Spread the word, copy paste them int your journal whatever, Learning is the key to all!

https://inkbunny.net/journalview.php?id=209477

Chu

7 years, 7 months ago

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I'm interested in drawing art stuff for games. From what I hear, one way to be accepted is for you to have a really really good portfolio. Is this still true?
-Unless they know you from before, they have no way of knowing if you're any good without a portfolio, so they are going to ask for one. And when they look at it, the better it is, the better are your chances. It helps a great deal if you have something you made for a game or in a style/format that is usable in a game.

Remember to also list the tools you can work with, and not just the art programs. Chances are that you will also be adding/testing/adjust something in the game development tool itself. I would say Unity is the most common one at the moment, it will help you if you know at least the basics.

Do I need to have my own style, or show that I can copy other people's styles?
-You will most likely work in a small team of artists, in which case you need to adapt to whichever style the art lead has chosen. In your portfolio, it helps if you can show you'll be able to do a variety of styles, some of which can be your own. I would be vary about adding porn, depending on where you're applying, though I wouldn't turn down an artist for that.

Does having a Bachelor of Fine Arts help me?
-Only if it can help you build a better portfolio. It can matter to some people, but not most, I would say.

Does having ANY BA help me?
-Same as above.

Have anyone worked in the games industry? Is it horrible for game artists? Is it great?
-Yes, but not as an artist. The artists I know find it more interesting than whatever they would be doing otherwise. The level of greatness depends on the company you end up working for, or even the team you'll end up working in. Chances are that it will be both at times. You will most likely find yourself crunching at some point, something the industry is notorious for, but the perks can be amazing too.

Best of luck!

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Chu

Thanks very much. seems like it really isn't for me. I'll probably stick to game programming, but not going to a game school, meaning learning actual programming but with my own interest into games. hope that'll work out >_>;

GreenReaper

7 years, 7 months ago

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Edited 7 years, 7 months ago by Owner

@ furnut5158

Worked well enough for me. Just bear in mind that game developers work possibly even longer hours than the artists. We went out from the office at 9AM once, after having spent the prior 15 hours fixing issues and testing. Midnight-2AM was fairly common in crunch time. <o_o>

Carrot

7 years, 7 months ago

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Yo yo! Just depends what exactly you're looking for.

Keep in mind a lot of games these days are taking advantage of the serious amount of processing they have at their disposal. They also tend to go for realistic designs. This being the case, a concept artist/pre-visualization artist for games is PRETTY similar to a pre-visualization artist for a movie.

Aside from mad cred and a stunning folio, you're going to want to be able to whip out VERY solid concepts VERY quickly. Mastery of color, material, camera, anatomical knowledge, story telling, and visual flow in a single image. Concept artist/Pre-vis is THE MOST competitive field in the industry. Because the amount of people who want to do it is amazing, and you're battling using nothing but pure visual artistry alone. To give you an idea, some of these concept artists whip out 3 full scenes (not fully detailed/rendered paintings, but enough to be blown away) in a day.

This is, if you're talking about high end industry stuff.

There are lots of smaller studios and indi studios popping up that are needing illustration/2D assets. These can be a bit hit or miss. Anything that is successful will have some serious standards, everything else will be a roll of the dice.

This day and age, I would suggest digging deep down and figuring out what you really want.

If you wanted to make a game, you're entirely capable of doing so on your own or at least with the help of a programmer. If you'd like to have the abilities of concept artists you see online, you'll have an entirely different route of mastering foundations and visual artistry. Studying things from painting, to camera, to animation to really get your visual images to explode with something different.

As many people have suggested, I'd also suggest dabbling in several different things. Focusing in an area is good and important, but you'd be surprised to see how many mechanics of art fold over to other fields. Game design is only a very very small part of visual design, it's a lot of story, theme, interaction, immersion, and accessibility. It's another art field entirely that, like film, has many different mechanics, and can be successful for a multitude of reasons - visual art alone never being the case.

I know programming is PRETTY dry. But if you can find ways of making it fun and just figuring out the bases, you'll be MILES ahead. You'll then come up with ideas/concepts and mechanics and actually have an idea of implementing it - and then you can come up with ways to synergize mechanics in the game, AND in the code.

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Carrot

I'm just seeing what my options are at the moment.  From what I hear yeah its a super hard to get to the top of the game art industry, but I'm not aiming for that.

Plus from what i hear, most companies treat their art employees pretty badly.  I think i'll continue trying out programming by taking classes.

My main goal is to just get a job.  And my plan is to get any BA to get a job, but while i'm at it, I might as well try to get a BA that I'm interested in.  That's when i was looking into art degrees, and thus art jobs, which lead to looking into art jobs in games.  But I guess that path sounds full of pain and regret.

If possible, i'm trying to get a job that have something to do with games.  If not, maybe just art in general, but that doesn't sound very marketable either.  Not sure if i even want to art for a living.

I used to love art, and drew everyday, but now I just barely draw anything.  I have already tried all sorts of tricks and habit changing tips, but nothing really revived my love of drawing.  If not art, what the heck can I do?

That's kinda where I'm at right now.  Just....... lost.  X_x;

Masakados

7 years, 7 months ago

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if they track down your artstyle back to your cub porn, you're done for.

no company would ever hire a known cub porn artist because of the bad rep that would generate from the normalfags. Closest thing you can do is team up with someone who wants to program a 2d game but sucks at drawing (and isn't put off by some lewd drawings).

harmarist made his own game about an anubis cub (or more like demo of a game).

furnut5158

7 years, 7 months ago

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@ Masakados

yikes. i didnt even think of that. its ok, i think i'll go with programming :D

ill check out harmarist's game :D

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