Artists in Game Development

[Xanthippe]

I have a friend with a teenaged daughter, who is interested in working in video or pc games as an artist.  (She's still in high school).  Can anyone advise on what sort of training and/or education a game artist needs in order to go into that field?

She's not interested in designing games themselves, but rather is interested in the rendering of images or designing images for the games. 

Thanks much.  I'll pass along the information to my friend.

[Stephen Zepp]

I have a friend with a teenaged daughter, who is interested in working in video or pc games as an artist.  (She's still in high school).  Can anyone advise on what sort of training and/or education a game artist needs in order to go into that field?

She's not interested in designing games themselves, but rather is interested in the rendering of images or designing images for the games. 

Thanks much.  I'll pass along the information to my friend.

Is she looking for guidance on post-high school education, or simply what to focus on in her spare time?

Her best bet right now is probably to sample all the major aspects of computer art, going from concept art to modeling to skinning to animating, and seeing where her strengths and interests lie.

Honestly, it's probably a bit too early to tell her to get into a project (any project--one of the nice things about indie projects for artists is that it doesn't ultimately matter if the project publishes--they still can get portfolio work out of it), but it wouldn't really hurt either.

It is important for her to understand that even though her final media is going to be on computers, the classical theories and techniques all still apply, and her best bet this early on is to keep working on classical art approaches while learning what she can about her interests in modern tech means.

One major point of advice from a career perspective: the most valuable artists are those that can both make the art in their modeling program(s) of choice, and also make the same art look good within the engine--which requires at least some level of technical expertise.

a "technical artist" as I call them is one of the most valuable assets on any production team, and a really good one can just about write their own ticket.

[Samwise]

Odds are good there's a college near her with a game art curriculum (here's an example).  Failing that, even a generic art practice degree at almost any college will probably include a couple of 3D modeling courses, and as Stephen said, having a good background in "classical" art techniques is also very useful.

[ShynDarkly]

Everything Stephen said, plus getting your hands on the common tools of the trade (check out education versions of the likes of Photoshop, Maya and 3d Studio Max). From chatting to folks here, most would recommend beginning by being a generalist, don't specialise in either one distinct discipline, or one toolset too early. Lot more opportunities for her long term if she can readily adapt her skills to whichever tools a studio uses rather than having too narrow focus, especially early in her career. Also, anything GOOD she comes up with at home or during college, whether it be pure concept art, or models or whatever, make sure she keeps copies of - will be useful for filling her portfolio to show prospective employers; but be mercenary and dump any pieces that aren't up to snuff - a bloated portfolio of so so pieces is worse than a small portfolio of really nice pieces.

[Stephen Zepp]

We had an intern at GG that took some great lengths to discuss what he learned while working on a demo for TGB, and it might be very good reading for her (or anyone else interested in a 2D art pipeline)

"The Making of Mighty Fist, Part 1" -- http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/17248/10300

"The Making of Mighty Fist, Part 2" -- http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/17248/10301

(links left raw for cut and paste ease)

[CaptBewil]

This eraly on?  If she's in High-School and just not thinking about this, then she's behind the ball, IMHO.

She needs to find an easy game to Mod.  I would start with some older games.  My first real Modding experience was with Dark Force II:  Jedi Knight, which still has a fairly good size community.  It will also introduce her to working with both possitive and negative space.

http://www.massassi.net/ - Has lots of well thought out tutorials (though many are outdated).  Tell her to stay away from the forum community though.
http://jkhub.net/ - Should be her primary source for program downloads and help.  It will also be a great place to jump on her first project when she's ready.

Then she should move to a newer engine which supports shaders and the like.  At that point, Blender3d is a good freeware package that is widely supported by Crystalspace3d, Ogre3d, and others.  It also supports a variety of plug-ins which increases it's compatibility.  Gimp is a decent 2D art tool.  Again, lots of plugins that will help with making normal and height maps.

I wish her good luck, because she has a long ways to go.

[Stephen Zepp]

This eraly on?  If she's in High-School and just not thinking about this, then she's behind the ball, IMHO.

She needs to find an easy game to Mod.  I would start with some older games.  My first real Modding experience was with Dark Force II:  Jedi Knight, which still has a fairly good size community.  It will also introduce her to working with both possitive and negative space.

http://www.massassi.net/ - Has lots of well thought out tutorials (though many are outdated).  Tell her to stay away from the forum community though.
http://jkhub.net/ - Should be her primary source for program downloads and help.  It will also be a great place to jump on her first project when she's ready.

Then she should move to a newer engine which supports shaders and the like.  At that point, Blender3d is a good freeware package that is widely supported by Crystalspace3d, Ogre3d, and others.  It also supports a variety of plug-ins which increases it's compatibility.  Gimp is a decent 2D art tool.  Again, lots of plugins that will help with making normal and height maps.

I wish her good luck, because she has a long ways to go.

I guess you have a different perspective, but all I can offer is what I see working in actual commercial studios that I train, combined with the internship program here at GG.

At GG at least, we've only once hired someone from an internship into an entry level position that focused on moving directly to game engine artwork like you suggest--and that's only because the guy was simply amazing, and had in fact spent most of his time working on classical art education.

If an intern comes to GG and demonstrates high experience with game development-specific techniques, but doesn't have the understanding and training of a classical art background, we'd send him back to school. Conversely, if an intern comes in with no game development-specific experience, but has a demonstrable knowledge of classical principles, we can teach him the game stuff.

If her goal is to get hired immediately into the game development art production pipeline as a drudge worker and fight her way up, then sure, spend your time in high school digging into modding games/engines, making models and building your portfolio.

If your goal is to become a quality artist, her time in high school is best spent building a fundamental understanding of classical art techniques, and acquire a firm foundation of skills that apply directly to all media, with the aim of attending an art/media school that builds on those foundations and trains the theory and skills required for an asset production pipeline.

To provide a programmer's comparison:

When in high school you can muck about modding games, or you can learn the underlying concepts of computer science, and follow on with a formal education in software engineering (with or without a focus on game design/development)--but if you don't have the background skill set and firm foundation in the fundamentals of software development, you are going to have a huge struggle working your way up in a career.

Given two candidates of otherwise equal footing, I'd take the guy with a formal computer science degree and the background that implies over a guy that has been modding games for those 4 years hands down.

I can teach the guy who has the "classical" education what they need to know for game design, but I can't/won't teach the guy that understands how to mod games/engines the foundational principles of software development.

[Krakrok]

I'd recommend practicing with sprites/artwork in Flash.

Given two candidates of otherwise equal footing, I'd take the guy with a formal computer science degree and the background that implies over a guy that has been modding games for those 4 years hands down.

Depends on what the job required. I'd probably take the game modder over the 'professional' though.

[Stephen Zepp]

I'd recommend practicing with sprites/artwork in Flash.

Given two candidates of otherwise equal footing, I'd take the guy with a formal computer science degree and the background that implies over a guy that has been modding games for those 4 years hands down.

Depends on what the job required. I'd probably take the game modder over the 'professional' though.

Why? I can teach ::processTick() and how to apply theories of matrix math to 3 space integrated simulation synchronization to someone that understands the underlying theory of matrix math, and has at least a baseline understanding of networking protocols.

As a game development studio, I'm not equipped, nor do I have the time/interest/expertise to teach concepts of recursive techniques, the protocol differences between TCP/IP and UDP, or discrete math.

[ajax34i]

[...]
theories of matrix math to 3 space integrated simulation synchronization to someone that understands the underlying theory of matrix math, and has at least a baseline understanding of networking protocols.
[...]
concepts of recursive techniques, the protocol differences between TCP/IP and UDP, or discrete math.

HAY!  I NO WUT U R SPAEKING ABOUT!  Which is really weird, seeing how I don't have a programming background, or any real experience.  But, took a lot of math classes a long time ago when I was in college (I used to like math), and some computer hardware and systems classes.

I also know someone at work whose daughter is in high-school (graduating next year I think) and planning to go into computer art.  Kinda gave the same advice, go to college, study art, get a hold of the graphics and modeling applications.  Unfortunately, the situation with the college is being complicated by a boyfriend; from what I understand the parents (my coworker and her husband) want to pay for college but the daughter and her boyfriend have other ideas about life right now, which is of course driving my coworker nuts.

Eh, kids.

[Stephen Zepp]

I'd recommend practicing with sprites/artwork in Flash.

Given two candidates of otherwise equal footing, I'd take the guy with a formal computer science degree and the background that implies over a guy that has been modding games for those 4 years hands down.

Depends on what the job required. I'd probably take the game modder over the 'professional' though.

Just to go one step further: People with modding experience vs foundational knowledge may get hired for a project first, but they aren't going to get hired for (long term) careers, and are almost certainly going to be the first laid off when the project is complete. They may of course by then have proven they can adapt, and get put on the next project, but that's a never-ending cycle.

[CaptBewil]

I'd recommend practicing with sprites/artwork in Flash.

Given two candidates of otherwise equal footing, I'd take the guy with a formal computer science degree and the background that implies over a guy that has been modding games for those 4 years hands down.

Depends on what the job required. I'd probably take the game modder over the 'professional' though.

Just to go one step further: People with modding experience vs foundational knowledge may get hired for a project first, but they aren't going to get hired for (long term) careers, and are almost certainly going to be the first laid off when the project is complete. They may of course by then have proven they can adapt, and get put on the next project, but that's a never-ending cycle.

Such is the modern age.  More and more we are seeing Job openings which require a 4-yr degree OR equivalent experience.  I have known a number of people, personally, who got hired straight out of High School who modded video games (WITH NO FORMAL TRAINING).  The thing about modding games, and most employers are beginning to realize this, but you generaly have to be a "jack-of-all-trades".  It's not always easy to find people to work on a project with you, so you have to be able to do a little bit of programming, do your own models, textures, animations, sprites, shaders, UI, Level / Environment Design.

Switching companies after projects?  Pfft, that's extreamly common in the industry now.  Why keep getting paid for the same salary when there's someone else out there who pay more now that you've help ship a project?  Most guys live from contract to contract, because on an average, you come out financially better.  Much of the Salary based world is moving to this model.

Don't take my comments personal, it's just what my experiences have been and what I've seen/heard about other people.

[Trippy]

I have a friend with a teenaged daughter, who is interested in working in video or pc games as an artist.  (She's still in high school).  Can anyone advise on what sort of training and/or education a game artist needs in order to go into that field?

She's not interested in designing games themselves, but rather is interested in the rendering of images or designing images for the games. 

Thanks much.  I'll pass along the information to my friend.

Have your friend or her daughter buy The Art of Maya: An Introduction to 3D Computer Graphics (the more recent the edition the better but any of them will do). It's essentially a propaganda piece for the Maya program but that's okay cause it covers all basic techniques for creating 3D graphics of the kind used in video games and movies today. It's *not* a tutorial on how to use Maya -- there are truck loads of other books for that -- it's more a coffee table type book, but it should give her an idea of the types of skills needed to do different aspects of 3D graphics.

What Stephen said about her learning classical art techniques is critical -- it's much much easier to teach an artist to use tools like Maya, 3ds Max or XSI then it is to teach a "techie" how to be an artist. She should also consider learning about film making and cinematography since those skills are needed as well when making many types video games.

[Krakrok]

Just to go one step further: People with modding experience vs foundational knowledge may get hired for a project first, but they aren't going to get hired for (long term) careers, and are almost certainly going to be the first laid off when the project is complete. They may of course by then have proven they can adapt, and get put on the next project, but that's a never-ending cycle.

If I were building maybe a game engine from scratch then yes the professional would be necessary. However, there is so much middleware out there at this point that I wouldn't do that. I would hire the modder who has real world experience with what amounts to middleware and get the product to market as quickly as possible on a smaller budget with a higher return.

But then I'm outside the game industry where 2-4 year time to markets are unthinkable.

Artists on the other hand are a different story.

[Lightstalker]

We had an intern at GG that took some great lengths to discuss what he learned while working on a demo for TGB, and it might be very good reading for her (or anyone else interested in a 2D art pipeline)

"The Making of Mighty Fist, Part 1" -- http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/17248/10300

"The Making of Mighty Fist, Part 2" -- http://www.garagegames.com/blogs/17248/10301

(links left raw for cut and paste ease)

I like that your intern had enough awareness about what the game was about to let it influence where the animated character was placed in its bounding rectangle.  That, I think, shows classical training (composition) shining through vs. the technical/tools aspect of rendering an appropriate character.   It is an easy thing to recognize that this is a game about punching and make really awesome mighty fists, it is another step beyond to recognize that where the fists interact with the world will be the important focus for the user during gameplay, so the character should emphasize not where the fists are, but where they will be used.

[Xanthippe]

Is she looking for guidance on post-high school education, or simply what to focus on in her spare time?

Both, I think. 

Thanks for all the information.  I'm passing it along.

As far as I know, her art work has been her focus, and she hasn't done any modding or programming at all.

[Stephen Zepp]

Is she looking for guidance on post-high school education, or simply what to focus on in her spare time?

Both, I think. 

Thanks for all the information.  I'm passing it along.

As far as I know, her art work has been her focus, and she hasn't done any modding or programming at all.

Well, you've gotten two different fundamental opinions, and while I obviously support one, there isn't an issue with finding a hybrid of both--honestly, it really comes down to how far along she is regarding her art skills, and what she has the time/energy to do.

I will say this though: it's more rare for artists to get hired based on pure talent and no formal post-high school education than it is for modders/level designers (from the programming side). A production studio is going to want to hire artists that already have an understanding of pipelines--something that you can rarely get "on your own" by modding a single game/engine.

I guess my point is that sure, modding experience is good, but right now a lot of other things are better.

[CaptBewil]

If she's already started doing art stuff, she needs to start seeing how that crosses over digitally.

So, her next step, should be to get a paint program (like GIMP) and a 3D modeling program (like Blender) and read lots of tutorials (especially for Blender because the interface isn't very intuitive...but is a better work environment once you get used to it).  She should then try to duplicate some of her real life work into digital format.  Clay Sculptures into 3D models, Paintings/Drawings into 2D images (with concentration on fully utilizing a power of 2 dimension (ie, 512x512, 2048x2048, etc).

I think obtaining this basic understanding of how the art is translated to digital is a pretty key at this point (as a short term goal).  Would you agree Stephen?

[Sairon]

I'd get photoshop and a decent 3d modelling program, like maya or 3ds max. I mean adobe even release cracks for their software themselves, it's not like they'd loose any money. It's the way they became industry standard.

[tazelbain]

Bible school, lots and lots of Bible school.

[Stephen Zepp]

If she's already started doing art stuff, she needs to start seeing how that crosses over digitally.

So, her next step, should be to get a paint program (like GIMP) and a 3D modeling program (like Blender) and read lots of tutorials (especially for Blender because the interface isn't very intuitive...but is a better work environment once you get used to it).  She should then try to duplicate some of her real life work into digital format.  Clay Sculptures into 3D models, Paintings/Drawings into 2D images (with concentration on fully utilizing a power of 2 dimension (ie, 512x512, 2048x2048, etc).

I think obtaining this basic understanding of how the art is translated to digital is a pretty key at this point (as a short term goal).  Would you agree Stephen?

Again, in my professional opinion it depends on what state she's at right now. She could have had one art class in high school where she did a water color, or she could be getting her portfolio ready for (insert the name of a non-performing art school equivalent to Juliard)--we just don't know enough :)

If she is planning on going to any type of digital media formal school, they will teach her computer based modeling (without picking up bad habits and "indie vs professional" issues regarding computer art). If she's not, then yes I would agree she might want to start picking up some skills in that area.

[Jobu]

She's got a head start already because she's a girl. Art teams are often impressed by or desperate for female talent because a diversified team will always produce better art than a homogeneous one.

It's important not to overload her with technicalities. Books on Maya, books on 3D Max, books on game development are far too deep. Generalized overview books would be best.

Artists tend to respond best to "fiddling", so I would suggest you just toss her a Wacom Tablet and Photoshop, and let her have fun. She can explore what she does and doesn't like. If she's into scultping, find a copy of Zbrush or Mudbox somewhere (digital scultpting tools similar to Photoshop) and let her play with it.

The easiest advice to give, is to just keep drawing. She can go to a fine-art school and learn all the nuances of gauche vs. oil. She can go to a technical trade school and learn how to setup multi-pass shaders in DirectX10. She can go to CalArts and learn the fine craft of animation... and at every single one they will tell her to never stop drawing.

[CaptBewil]

"Who you callin' a Homo?"

I just couldn't resist...