Game Artist by Paul Jones

Author:Paul Jones [Jones, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781915008022
Publisher: Sonola & Jones Ltd.
Published: 2022-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Generalist or specialist?

As your career develops and you look to rank up, your skills grow, expand, and strengthen. Time spent at your desk will no doubt propel you in various directions; some you expect as you aim there deliberately, and some will be a surprise as the project creates new challenges. How you position yourself, how you utilise your new skills, will affect your career path. Eventually you’ll come to a fork in the road. Let’s look at your options.

Generalist – A good proportion of the art team is filled with generalists, and I would say that most artists start in this category, which is natural. You know a bit about everything, which means you have a strong foundation to build from. From here you can decide to continue to grow in all directions or focus in; there is no right or wrong here by the way.

Specialist – The other path you might choose would be to specialise. Say you pick character art, you might choose to specialise in sci-fi armour, or become the character head specialist, someone known to craft craniums, faces, hair, expressions, materials and so on, and make them the best in the business. Your other work might be good, but your specialism is where your talent and passion really shows.

In games, specialists are needed to provide the final layer of quality to your assets, so your specialist might be your Principal Artist or a seasoned Senior. They can help by informing the team about general improvements, or by taking what the other artists call ‘done’ and then giving them final polish, quality or delivery.

Combo(ist) – Ok, I made that up, but it works for this illustration! There’s an area that I would define as a combination artist. Someone who didn’t want to become a specialist because they enjoy the variety of working in different areas but can provide support and a high degree of art skills to anything they touch.

Because of the way I came to be a 3D Artist, by working on sports stadiums, flying logos, animated characters, promo pieces and many long nights of nursing rendering farms, I had gained a strong multi-disciplined skill-set, a mixture of art, animation and technical. As I mentioned at the beginning, I class myself as specialising in being a generalist, and I don’t think I’d be an Art Director today if I didn’t have this broad range of skills.

TIP: There is no need to specialise right away, enjoy your journey first and foremost. Your specialism will develop over time and in areas that you naturally enjoy.

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