Getting into industry!!!

[tuittupaa]

You wonder how to get into industry? Not really use to go around studios' forums because tips from devs are rare and far between...

 

 

This is something of personal experience.. I'm an aspiring artist, so take it as you will, but it's more than nothing. And nothing is most what I have got when I have asked from people in industry. Find your own info; nobody will come and offer it to you. Search into it; know your business and where you're getting into. Get skills; you have to have some real talent, some real skills, some real knowlegde.. playing games for fun doesn't qualify you to get you into QA position. Going after desinger/artist position? Get to know game engines. At least one, it's always in-game system and a whole huge plus. Never Winter Nights toolset is one of most popular. It's a great start! There are whole lot of others. Get into mod-group and try it out. Never give up; keep sending portfolios out and learn to market yourself right! Be a team player. Know how to solve problems. Know how to work alone, under pressure and long hours. But most of all... be a team player.

 

Also.. if you get that offer: Know your rights!

 

Couple of links I have found personally to be interesting and useful:

http://www.sloperama.com/

http://www.cliffyb.com/rants/ - good read

http://docrob.cottages.polycount.com/Industry.html

http://www.gfxartist.com/ -for artists mainly

http://forums.cgsociety.org/ - for artists mainly

 

..search for more yourself and hey, if you feel like sharing, share them here.

 

 

 

 

This isn't much, but it might be a whole lot for someone like me. So, hopefully it serves some good.

[Gorth]

I think you can find quite a bit in this section of the forum too. The trick is to select "Show All" and not just show last 30 days of activity. Out of 19 pages, quite a few threads are about the gaming industry and how-to's (including tips from developers).

 

Anyway, good luck with your career pursuits

[tuittupaa]

I think you can find quite a bit in this section of the forum too. The trick is to select "Show All" and not just show last 30 days of activity. Out of 19 pages, quite a few threads are about the gaming industry and how-to's (including tips from developers).

 

 

Hey, thanks for the tip!

 

Can you tell me, as I don't know how to use this forum, are those links I posted, posted before too?

[Gorth]

You are welcome.

 

I can't say I have seen them before. The only one I recognised (from elsewhere) from top of my head was cgsociety. I think most of the people who put questions here are "geeks" as opposed to artists. Questions about programming, writing and game design seems to be more prevalent than questions about art.

 

Call it a hunch, but I would guess that most artists don't start out wanting to be game artists, it just happens naturally that they get contracts/commissions doing art, whether it be level art, texturing, modelling or concept art as part of what they do naturally, i.e. either doing or wanting to do art for a living.

 

It would be pretentious of me to speak on behalf of the gaming industry though, as it is not how I make my living