More Than Pushing Polys: How To Become A Better Artist And Videogame Professional
The IGDA Toronto chapter committee is excited to invite you to our next meeting featuring Adam Bromell, the Principal Editor of Polycount. Polycount is an online artist community created, maintained and contributed to by professional videogame artists and boasts over 4 million viewers per month. Having worked at companies such as Threewave, Relic, and currently at Ubisoft, Adam is an integral part of the Polycount Forum where 33,000+ contributing artists post their work to collaborate, critique, and help each other develop their craft.
Please join us on Thursday October 20 at 7:30pm where Adam will be giving a talk based on his adventures throughout his career, and what he has learned along the way. Some topics he will be presenting will include essential advice on how to make your work stand out, improving your value as a professional game developer, and how to stay passionate about your work. This talk is aimed at amateurs and veterans alike…and not just artists!
The document discusses the benefits of exercise for mental health. Regular physical activity can help reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood and cognitive functioning. Exercise causes chemical changes in the brain that may help protect against mental illness and improve symptoms.
Nicoletta Basile is an 18-year-old student currently studying at Inholland University of Applied Sciences-Diemen. She is fluent in English, Italian, and French and previously studied at Scuola Europea di Varese. Her work experience includes tutoring a drama class for children and working stage at American Airlines. After completing her Masters degree, she aims to work in the advertising industry for companies like Billabong, Vans, or Teen Vogue and to travel the world.
Victoria’s Photo Album The Collins EditionTonyCollins
This photo album documents the lives of Harold Leonard Collins and Victoria May (nee Clark) and their family through photos from the 1940s-1960s. It includes photos of Harold and Victoria's wedding in 1946, their first home with their sons Reg and Tony in St. Albans, Reg's national service in Malaya in 1959, Reg and Brenda's wedding in 1962, and photos of their children Maureen, David and Tony growing up. The album provides context and descriptions for each photo added by Collins to document the family history.
Victoria's Photo Album The Clark EditionTonyCollins
This document contains captions written by Victoria Clark describing photographs in her photo album from 1916-1941. The photos document important events and family members in Victoria's life such as her parents' wedding, her siblings, homes, jobs, time spent with family and friends during World War 2 when she and her siblings were evacuated to Harberford, Devon for safety. Additional context has been added below some photos.
Personal Branding & Geekdom Ambassador ProgramAlan Weinkrantz
This document outlines a personal branding and content ambassador program for community members at Geekdom. The twofold objective is to help members master personal branding within the context of Geekdom and help promote the Geekdom brand. Members are encouraged to associate their personal brands with Geekdom to help both grow globally. Doing small daily content contributions on social media platforms can help define members' influence while connecting them to others.
Presentation to community members at Geekdom San Antonio on principles of branding a collaborative workspace based on the members sharing their personal brands
This document provides information about media studies options at Sprowston Community High School, including GCSE Media Studies and BTEC Media.
For GCSE Media Studies, students study for 5 hours a fortnight over 2 years and complete coursework and an exam. BTEC Media is studied for 10 hours a fortnight over 2 years and is worth up to 3 GCSEs. It involves 4 compulsory units of study and optional units, and is assessed through coursework only.
Both courses allow students to develop practical skills like video production, animation, photography and scriptwriting, while exploring topics such as advertising, documentaries, music videos and careers in the media industry.
This document provides guidance for aspiring designers. It discusses why passion is important, how to get started in design by exploring interests and learning software. The design process is described as iterative, involving research, prototyping, and feedback. Finding work involves building a strong portfolio and marketing skills. When working with clients, it's important to understand their needs, set clear expectations, and help educate them on design value. The document also offers tips on productivity, pricing work appropriately, and recommends resources for continuing education.
The document discusses the benefits of exercise for mental health. Regular physical activity can help reduce anxiety and depression and improve mood and cognitive functioning. Exercise causes chemical changes in the brain that may help protect against mental illness and improve symptoms.
Nicoletta Basile is an 18-year-old student currently studying at Inholland University of Applied Sciences-Diemen. She is fluent in English, Italian, and French and previously studied at Scuola Europea di Varese. Her work experience includes tutoring a drama class for children and working stage at American Airlines. After completing her Masters degree, she aims to work in the advertising industry for companies like Billabong, Vans, or Teen Vogue and to travel the world.
Victoria’s Photo Album The Collins EditionTonyCollins
This photo album documents the lives of Harold Leonard Collins and Victoria May (nee Clark) and their family through photos from the 1940s-1960s. It includes photos of Harold and Victoria's wedding in 1946, their first home with their sons Reg and Tony in St. Albans, Reg's national service in Malaya in 1959, Reg and Brenda's wedding in 1962, and photos of their children Maureen, David and Tony growing up. The album provides context and descriptions for each photo added by Collins to document the family history.
Victoria's Photo Album The Clark EditionTonyCollins
This document contains captions written by Victoria Clark describing photographs in her photo album from 1916-1941. The photos document important events and family members in Victoria's life such as her parents' wedding, her siblings, homes, jobs, time spent with family and friends during World War 2 when she and her siblings were evacuated to Harberford, Devon for safety. Additional context has been added below some photos.
Personal Branding & Geekdom Ambassador ProgramAlan Weinkrantz
This document outlines a personal branding and content ambassador program for community members at Geekdom. The twofold objective is to help members master personal branding within the context of Geekdom and help promote the Geekdom brand. Members are encouraged to associate their personal brands with Geekdom to help both grow globally. Doing small daily content contributions on social media platforms can help define members' influence while connecting them to others.
Presentation to community members at Geekdom San Antonio on principles of branding a collaborative workspace based on the members sharing their personal brands
This document provides information about media studies options at Sprowston Community High School, including GCSE Media Studies and BTEC Media.
For GCSE Media Studies, students study for 5 hours a fortnight over 2 years and complete coursework and an exam. BTEC Media is studied for 10 hours a fortnight over 2 years and is worth up to 3 GCSEs. It involves 4 compulsory units of study and optional units, and is assessed through coursework only.
Both courses allow students to develop practical skills like video production, animation, photography and scriptwriting, while exploring topics such as advertising, documentaries, music videos and careers in the media industry.
This document provides guidance for aspiring designers. It discusses why passion is important, how to get started in design by exploring interests and learning software. The design process is described as iterative, involving research, prototyping, and feedback. Finding work involves building a strong portfolio and marketing skills. When working with clients, it's important to understand their needs, set clear expectations, and help educate them on design value. The document also offers tips on productivity, pricing work appropriately, and recommends resources for continuing education.
In the course of her career working solo, in a duo, with agencies, with corporations, and with a startup, Meagan's learned a few valuable lessons (some the hard way) about how to grow as a designer. She'll talk about how she got started, as well as insights on collaborating, evolving your style, and getting things launched. You'll also hear about the design maxims she holds dear (and which ones she ignores), and the web development techniques that have strengthened her design skills. She hopes to leave you with some ideas for how to be a web design champion.
Techniche is the annual techno-management festival of IIT Guwahati held in early September for three days. It hosts various lectures, competitions, games, exhibitions and cultural events. Some key events include an acclaimed lecture series featuring prominent speakers, an industrial conclave allowing students to interact with industry leaders, and the Brain Child business plan competition where winners can receive funding and incubation support. Techniche also includes various technical competitions and rush-hour modules covering topics like robotics, cryptography, and coding.
This document provides guidance on pitching a startup or product to investors. It recommends structuring the pitch in 4 minutes with 2-4 minutes for Q&A. Key elements to include are: stating the problem being solved; describing the solution and technical details through visuals like videos or prototypes; demonstrating the team's ability; validating the market opportunity; outlining the revenue model, marketing strategy, and competition; and presenting goals, plans, and strengths to leave a good impression. Practice is emphasized to fit the content within the time limit and receive feedback to improve.
A video game developer is someone who creates video games for a living. They require skills in programming, 3D modeling, animation, writing, sound design, and level design. While a degree is not required, most have a bachelor's degree in video game design or computer science. Experience is also important for success. Salaries start around $45,000 entry level but can exceed $100,000 with experience. Developers typically work 40 hours a week in an office or studio environment, though stress levels increase near a game's release date. Two experienced God of War developers will teach a graduate-level course on video game design at UCLA in September.
The students created posters for their Design For Change challenge project to illustrate why math is important. They discussed making the posters for their school's math corner. The materials needed included pencils, markers, crayons, paper, scissors, glue and tape. Creating the posters was stressful but taught them teamwork, excellence and commitment. The posters aim to change people's thinking about math by helping them understand its relevance and reducing math-related stress. Upon completion, the students felt happy and realized their efforts could help motivate friends in learning math.
Samuli Snellman discusses the importance of art style in games. Art style supports gameplay, increases player experience and value, and helps create immersive worlds. To have good art style, it is important to maintain quality, consistency through tools like styleguides and art bibles, and flexibility to changes over time. The overall goals are to engage players through emotional connections to characters and setting.
DIYDays - Working with a Creative Technologistheidihysell
These slides were a part of a presentation given at DIYDays Conference on March 3rd in NYC at The New School. Most of the participants at the conference were story tellers and were interested in how to better work with technology to tell a story. Our goal was to help them know when in a project to start to work with a technologist, what to expect and where to find them.
Mario is from Kyoto and Fez is from Montreal: Colocation and collaborationCreativeslides
This document summarizes a workshop on game development locations and collaboration spaces. It includes a quiz about where different game studios are located globally. It then discusses factors like critical mass, spontaneity, and comfort that make coworking spaces successful for indie game developers. The document profiles Arch Creatives, a nonprofit coworking hub for indie game developers in Leamington Spa, UK, describing how they organized and fund their space to support the local game development community. Finally, workshop participants break into groups to propose their own ideas for an indie game coworking hub.
This document provides an overview of a presentation for parents on digital literacy and parenting in the digital age. It discusses digital life and literacy, technology used for learning at NIS including MacBooks, iWork, wikis and iCal. It covers tips for parents on social networks, online gaming, creating secure passwords and balancing digital and non-digital activities. It also advertises a workshop on creating podcasts.
This document provides guidance on building a video brand for public radio stations. It recommends starting small with available equipment like phones and developing a strategy that incorporates video into existing station communications and events. Pre-production is key to planning video projects that add value for the target audience. Stations should take advantage of their audio talents and focus on telling stories in short, entertaining videos distributed through social media. Proper lighting, audio, and editing are essential to creating polished videos on a limited budget.
SAMOCA (San Angelico Museum of Contemporary Art) is an art museum with a focus on Modern Art from the last 75 years. This presentation is used for volunteer orientation.
Using technology in the outdoors CLOtC ConferenceNick Lapthorn
1) The document discusses using technology to enhance outdoor learning or learning on the curriculum (LOtC).
2) It provides examples of different types of technologies that can be used like smartphones, audio recordings, images, videos, and digital storytelling.
3) Attendees are encouraged to think of ways to use the technologies, like smartphones, provided to engage students on a topic of their choice and enhance their LOtC experience.
Technology Public Relations Consultant, Alan Weinkrantz, presents his views on how to approach the first steps in building your personal brand. For the purpose of this presentation, it's based on building your personal brand starting with being at Geekdom. For non-Geekdom members, the same principles apply.
This presentation discusses starting a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It covers the steps of getting an idea, developing the idea with prototypes, leveraging friends and family for support, managing the soft launch period before the official campaign launch, and ongoing project management like responding to backers and providing weekly updates. The presentation warns that after Kickstarter fees, payment and delivery costs, the funds raised may not amount to as much as anticipated. It encourages learning from watching other successful campaigns to understand what works well.
What’s the secret to creating content that spreads like wildfire? There are no guarantees when it comes to going viral in social media, but there are certain types of content that do better than others. Adapted from previous presentations by Amy Vernon, this was the first in a three-part webinar series with Bill Belew and Phil Hollows.
This document describes a mobile storytelling platform called Best Scene in Town (BSiT) that allows users to easily create and share location-based interactive mobile experiences without programming. It provides an overview of the key features and capabilities of the platform, including visual editing tools, publishing and sharing scenes, playing scenes on mobile devices, and the company's roadmap. It also describes a design challenge called BSiT @ PICNIC that will have international student teams using the platform to create an experience for the PICNIC festival in Amsterdam.
This document provides guidance on pitching a startup project to investors in 4 minutes. It recommends including an attractive logo on the first slide, clearly stating the problem being solved, describing the solution and technical details through pictures and video, demonstrating the team's abilities, validating the market opportunity, and outlining the business model, competition, and future goals to leave a good impression. The document emphasizes practicing the pitch with feedback to fit within the 4 minute time limit and be memorable.
StartupWeekend Tuzla pitching like a bossMichal Maxian
This document provides guidance on pitching a startup project to investors in 4 minutes. It recommends including an attractive logo on the first slide, clearly stating the problem being solved, describing the solution and technical details through pictures and video, demonstrating the team's abilities, validating the market opportunity, outlining the business model and revenue streams, addressing competition, and finishing with future goals to leave a strong impression. The document emphasizes practicing multiple times, getting feedback, using the full 4 minutes, and preparing for technical issues to deliver an effective pitch within the allotted time.
IT Career Hacks Navigate the Tech Jungle with a RoadmapBase Camp
Feeling overwhelmed by IT options? This presentation unlocks your personalized roadmap! Learn key skills, explore career paths & build your IT dream job strategy. Visit now & navigate the tech world with confidence! Visit https://www.basecamp.com.sg for more details.
In the course of her career working solo, in a duo, with agencies, with corporations, and with a startup, Meagan's learned a few valuable lessons (some the hard way) about how to grow as a designer. She'll talk about how she got started, as well as insights on collaborating, evolving your style, and getting things launched. You'll also hear about the design maxims she holds dear (and which ones she ignores), and the web development techniques that have strengthened her design skills. She hopes to leave you with some ideas for how to be a web design champion.
Techniche is the annual techno-management festival of IIT Guwahati held in early September for three days. It hosts various lectures, competitions, games, exhibitions and cultural events. Some key events include an acclaimed lecture series featuring prominent speakers, an industrial conclave allowing students to interact with industry leaders, and the Brain Child business plan competition where winners can receive funding and incubation support. Techniche also includes various technical competitions and rush-hour modules covering topics like robotics, cryptography, and coding.
This document provides guidance on pitching a startup or product to investors. It recommends structuring the pitch in 4 minutes with 2-4 minutes for Q&A. Key elements to include are: stating the problem being solved; describing the solution and technical details through visuals like videos or prototypes; demonstrating the team's ability; validating the market opportunity; outlining the revenue model, marketing strategy, and competition; and presenting goals, plans, and strengths to leave a good impression. Practice is emphasized to fit the content within the time limit and receive feedback to improve.
A video game developer is someone who creates video games for a living. They require skills in programming, 3D modeling, animation, writing, sound design, and level design. While a degree is not required, most have a bachelor's degree in video game design or computer science. Experience is also important for success. Salaries start around $45,000 entry level but can exceed $100,000 with experience. Developers typically work 40 hours a week in an office or studio environment, though stress levels increase near a game's release date. Two experienced God of War developers will teach a graduate-level course on video game design at UCLA in September.
The students created posters for their Design For Change challenge project to illustrate why math is important. They discussed making the posters for their school's math corner. The materials needed included pencils, markers, crayons, paper, scissors, glue and tape. Creating the posters was stressful but taught them teamwork, excellence and commitment. The posters aim to change people's thinking about math by helping them understand its relevance and reducing math-related stress. Upon completion, the students felt happy and realized their efforts could help motivate friends in learning math.
Samuli Snellman discusses the importance of art style in games. Art style supports gameplay, increases player experience and value, and helps create immersive worlds. To have good art style, it is important to maintain quality, consistency through tools like styleguides and art bibles, and flexibility to changes over time. The overall goals are to engage players through emotional connections to characters and setting.
DIYDays - Working with a Creative Technologistheidihysell
These slides were a part of a presentation given at DIYDays Conference on March 3rd in NYC at The New School. Most of the participants at the conference were story tellers and were interested in how to better work with technology to tell a story. Our goal was to help them know when in a project to start to work with a technologist, what to expect and where to find them.
Mario is from Kyoto and Fez is from Montreal: Colocation and collaborationCreativeslides
This document summarizes a workshop on game development locations and collaboration spaces. It includes a quiz about where different game studios are located globally. It then discusses factors like critical mass, spontaneity, and comfort that make coworking spaces successful for indie game developers. The document profiles Arch Creatives, a nonprofit coworking hub for indie game developers in Leamington Spa, UK, describing how they organized and fund their space to support the local game development community. Finally, workshop participants break into groups to propose their own ideas for an indie game coworking hub.
This document provides an overview of a presentation for parents on digital literacy and parenting in the digital age. It discusses digital life and literacy, technology used for learning at NIS including MacBooks, iWork, wikis and iCal. It covers tips for parents on social networks, online gaming, creating secure passwords and balancing digital and non-digital activities. It also advertises a workshop on creating podcasts.
This document provides guidance on building a video brand for public radio stations. It recommends starting small with available equipment like phones and developing a strategy that incorporates video into existing station communications and events. Pre-production is key to planning video projects that add value for the target audience. Stations should take advantage of their audio talents and focus on telling stories in short, entertaining videos distributed through social media. Proper lighting, audio, and editing are essential to creating polished videos on a limited budget.
SAMOCA (San Angelico Museum of Contemporary Art) is an art museum with a focus on Modern Art from the last 75 years. This presentation is used for volunteer orientation.
Using technology in the outdoors CLOtC ConferenceNick Lapthorn
1) The document discusses using technology to enhance outdoor learning or learning on the curriculum (LOtC).
2) It provides examples of different types of technologies that can be used like smartphones, audio recordings, images, videos, and digital storytelling.
3) Attendees are encouraged to think of ways to use the technologies, like smartphones, provided to engage students on a topic of their choice and enhance their LOtC experience.
Technology Public Relations Consultant, Alan Weinkrantz, presents his views on how to approach the first steps in building your personal brand. For the purpose of this presentation, it's based on building your personal brand starting with being at Geekdom. For non-Geekdom members, the same principles apply.
This presentation discusses starting a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. It covers the steps of getting an idea, developing the idea with prototypes, leveraging friends and family for support, managing the soft launch period before the official campaign launch, and ongoing project management like responding to backers and providing weekly updates. The presentation warns that after Kickstarter fees, payment and delivery costs, the funds raised may not amount to as much as anticipated. It encourages learning from watching other successful campaigns to understand what works well.
What’s the secret to creating content that spreads like wildfire? There are no guarantees when it comes to going viral in social media, but there are certain types of content that do better than others. Adapted from previous presentations by Amy Vernon, this was the first in a three-part webinar series with Bill Belew and Phil Hollows.
This document describes a mobile storytelling platform called Best Scene in Town (BSiT) that allows users to easily create and share location-based interactive mobile experiences without programming. It provides an overview of the key features and capabilities of the platform, including visual editing tools, publishing and sharing scenes, playing scenes on mobile devices, and the company's roadmap. It also describes a design challenge called BSiT @ PICNIC that will have international student teams using the platform to create an experience for the PICNIC festival in Amsterdam.
This document provides guidance on pitching a startup project to investors in 4 minutes. It recommends including an attractive logo on the first slide, clearly stating the problem being solved, describing the solution and technical details through pictures and video, demonstrating the team's abilities, validating the market opportunity, and outlining the business model, competition, and future goals to leave a good impression. The document emphasizes practicing the pitch with feedback to fit within the 4 minute time limit and be memorable.
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This document provides guidance on pitching a startup project to investors in 4 minutes. It recommends including an attractive logo on the first slide, clearly stating the problem being solved, describing the solution and technical details through pictures and video, demonstrating the team's abilities, validating the market opportunity, outlining the business model and revenue streams, addressing competition, and finishing with future goals to leave a strong impression. The document emphasizes practicing multiple times, getting feedback, using the full 4 minutes, and preparing for technical issues to deliver an effective pitch within the allotted time.
IT Career Hacks Navigate the Tech Jungle with a RoadmapBase Camp
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2. What are we talking about?
• Videogame art
• Becoming a game artist
Hello
• Polycount
• A Common Trend
• Maintaining your passion & creativity
3. What is this presentation not about?
• Oddly enough… pushing polys.
• Current project at Ubisoft Toronto
Hello
Anything else?
• Talk is recorded, slides will be published
• These are the ideas of one person!
4. Who the hell is this guy?
• Adam Bromell (@adambromell)
• Professional since 2004
• id Tech, Unreal, Source,
Lithtech, Oblivion, others.
Hello
• Lead/Supervisor, env. Artist,
modeler, texturer, FX
• Principal Editor & Head Admin
for Polycount.com
6. The Videogame Artist
THE ROLE
• In a creative 3D and 2D medium
• “3D Videogame Artist” too vague
Hello
• Texture artist, modeler, level artist,
vehicle artist, weapon artist,
character artist…
• Creative within narrow or broad direction
7. The Videogame Artist
RANDOM TIDBITS
• I get PAID to do this?
• Just as technical as it is creative
Hello
• Nothing is definitive
• Everybody in videogames appreciates great visuals
• Artist for a day
8. Becoming a videogame artist
WHO CAN BE A VIDEOGAME
ARTIST?
Hello
• Anyone can learn Max, Maya, etc.
9. Becoming a videogame artist
WHO CAN BE A VIDEOGAME
ARTIST?
Hello
• Interest in the visual arts &
a knack for solving technical
issues
10. Becoming a videogame artist
School? Self Taught?
School
Hello
• College drop-out & completely self-taught
• More school graduates than self-taught
• All artists will have learned techniques or styles on their own to
varying degrees
11. Becoming a videogame artist
School? Self Taught?
Self-taught
Hello
• A necessity
• Huge learning curve
• Online Communities
12. Becoming a videogame artist
HOW I GOT MY FIRST JOB
• Map for friends, LAN parties
• Joined a mod
• Polycount
• Sheridan College Hello
• “Refocused”
• First paid job: Daniel Negreanu‟s
STACKED (2004)
• First studio job: Threewave (2005)
14. Polycount
WHAT IS POLYCOUNT?
• Online news & resource, huge emphasis on community
• Ran by pros
Hello
• Founded April 1st 1997, originally known as Q2PMP
• As the industry grew, so did Polycount
• 3.5-5mil views a month
• +33,000 registered students, hobbyists and pros
16. Polycount
WHY POLYCOUNT?
• Main focus is our community and their involvement
• Notoriously known for giving honest critiques
Hello
• Networking
• Exposure
• Constantly try new & fun things for community participation
17. Polycount
THE TF2 „POLYCOUNT PACK‟
• Create item set, winning sets are available in TF2
• „Mann-conomy Update‟
• Winners averaged $45,000 payout in first 2 weeks
Hello
22. Maintaining your Passion & Creativity
HOW WILL OTHERS LEARN FROM
YOU?
• Tor Frick, „Snefer‟ on Polycount Hello
• Constantly challenging himself
• The results are techniques everyone can learn from
28. Maintaining your Passion & Creativity
HOW WILL OTHERS LEARN FROM
YOU?
Hello
• The entire scene built with a single 256x512 texture
29. Maintaining your Passion & Creativity
GET UNCOMFORTABLE
• Think outside the box, always
• Explore other areas of art Hello
• Create back stories and use those for your artwork
Pleasure to be hereThanks for comingTodays talk is called More ThanPushing Polys
[Click]Videogame art[Click]Getting the job[Click]Polycount & the benefits of online communities[Click]Common Trends[Click]Maintaining your passion & creativity
[Click]Techniques and how-to’s for modeling[Click]Ubisoft projects[Click] Other things to know before we begin…[Click]Talk is recorded, published decks, my twitter will be up soon[Click] this talk is my own opinion. [Click] Virtually nothing in videogames has a definitive method behind it. Bad, good, and great ways.
[Click]Adam, level artist @ ubi TO[Click] interested since 1998, pro since 2004[Click]Idtech, unreal source, oblivion, others[Click] Lead, supervisor, enivronment artist, modeler, lighting texturing, FX[Click] Principal editor & head admin @ polycount, whats that mean
[Click] There’s lots of areas to cover in a short amount of time, but before I get in I should mention…No indie experience since mod teams back in the early 2000’s, more ‘AAA’ experience and what I mean by thatAlso want to stress that while I love all types of game art, my focus professionally is in environment art and my samples within this thread are environment art
[Click]create 2D or 3D content to be used as visuals for a videogame. [Click] ‘videogame artist too vage’ The role varies, too vague of a description [Click]Texture artist, modeler, level artist, character artist, weapon artist, vehicle artist…fold artists[Click]Expected to contribute to designs while working within the direction given to youLevel artists have freedom to create within their given level designs, character artists have the freedom extrapolate ideas based on directions given to them
Haven’t worked with many people where this is ‘just a job’. Everyone loves what they do , its amazing to be in that atmosphere.Just as technical as it is creative, why?Reiterate that there’s no definitive method or process behind making game art or being a game artist. Every role at every company is differentFun game most important, gamers and peers always impressed by great visuals.The great feeling of making ‘art’ for a day. Or days. (OrkRoks, Space Marine)
[Click]Max, Maya, are just tools. Far more complex than an allen key for ikea furniture, but its still a tool that can be taught.My mom could learn.Not everyone can be a game artist.
If you can believe it, an outside interest in the visual arts.Photography, painting, drawing, even dancing.. Hell, scrap booking.Virtually all artists I’ve worked with have an interest and admiration for visual arts.In addition, a knack for solving technical skills. An enjoyment for it. Videogame art has a huge learning curve, its almost a necessity.Good friend PaulPepera, artist @ 343 Industries on new Halo. Amazing highpoly artist. Huge interest in photography, especially older cameras. That’s him using a
Now that we know who, how about the how? How does one become a professional game artist.[Click] I really believe it comes down to 3 ways. Schooling, self-taught, and a mix of both.Unfortunately cannot talk much about the school route.[Click] I dropped out of college. Why (illustration/animation, hated the industry, etc). Knew then my focus would be games[Click] Dropped out and taught myself because back then game courses were few & far between. Tech wasn’t as involved & technical..[Click] More artists on my team now are game school grad’s than they were 7 years ago.[Click]I will say this.. I think the school route ultimately includes students teaching themselves. The learning curve, even that which is taught in school, is too steep.Techniques and styles are always being developed. Myself included.
Lots of students in the audience[Click] After leaving Sheridan, I knew I would need to be in game art. Self taught.. A necessity?[Click] Huge learning curve. In fact I feel like I am still in that curve, constantly learning. [Click] Talk about the time it took me to make the art work seen on the side. That mailbox was my firt time with the basics:Creating geoUnwrappingTexturing UV’s and wrapping my head around that. Hell, even how to collect references. Useable references.[Click] Largest resource to you as someone learning on their own… online communities. A place on the net where people are either doing what you want to do, or are along for the ride on the curve with you.I’ll get in to more specific benefits of communities later.
People ask how, thought it’d be fun to cover that now[Click]Making maps for friends, CS(beta!) used @ LANs[Click] CS IRC channel, help wanted, joined a MOD.[Click] Recommended PolycountReally just browsed, learned about it[Click] Attended Sheridan College[Click] Dropped out, knew then I would have to teach myself[Click] Eventually landed my first paid job. Contract on STACKED[Click] First studio job @ Threewave (talk about texture shot in addition to pallet jack, mailbox)[Click] Story: applied to relic, relic declined. Contract job with Liquid Development and the game was Relic’s the outfit.Relic HR person eventually went to Threewave, was able to tell her that story face to face.Left Threewave to work for Relic in my easiest interview to date.Recap how this was possible: Learning on my own and with the Polycount community.
[Click] Mentioned polycount a number of times. Here’s a bit about Polycount..
[Click] Polycount is a website for News & Resources for videogame artists. Resources = community, forum[Click] Ran by professionals[Click] Originally Q2PMP, founded April 1. Was Quake 2 ‘PPM’ showcase and review site, with a forum[Click] No longer skin/texture reviews, but entire focus is on game art as a whole.[Click] Around 3.5-5mil views a month, challenges, news posts, etc.[Click] 33k+ registered
[Click] A lot of pros, many studios. Here’s just a few.Pro’s don’t rep their studios unless its art dumps from specific projects.
[Click] Teams focus is on the community/forum and how people get involved[Click] Notoriously known for honest critique. (Why?)[Click] Constantly try new & fun things. (Why?) An example being…
[Click] A contest with Valve for making items for TF2. What was the contest?[Click] Items were packaged and released in TF2’s ‘Mann-conomy Update’[Click] $45,000 average payout
[Click] This is a big one. -Maintaining the passion and creativity you once had-when you finally land that job, easy to get burned out-Very easy for the job we love to do to become ‘just a job’.-I’m a huge believer in constantly keeping up with creativity in videogame art, and maintainingg the passion I have for the job.-Far too often have I seen people get stagnant, and ultimately be behind the ‘curve’ so to speak. This industry constantly evolves, and I’m afraid of being left behind.
[Click] You’re in! All that work has paid off, so why bother trying to maintain the passion or creativity?[Click] As mentioned, the industry constantly evolves. New techniques, new engines, new rendering capabilities. Keep talking…[Click] In ‘AAA’ development, there’s a huge incentive to you as an artist to stay ahead of the curve.Might be on a project for a few years…[Click] This one is a bit more selfish, but… exposure. Jobs can change on a whim, things can happen where you’re needing a new job or position. Staying somewhat relevant will help you with this.
[Click] This is something I only learned recently, in the last couple of years. -came from an interview I had at Valve -it’s the #1 question to ask yourself in order to push yourself to keep being creative outside of the job.-’How will others learn from you?’-Talk a bit about the Valve interview (brief)
[Click] Someone pushing himself, while others learn from him is Tor Frick, Snefer from Polycount. An artist previously of People Can Fly, just recently started new gig[Click] That’s his avatar for those of you from Polycount[Click] -I don’t think he’s specifically asked himself how others will learn from him, but the fact that he is challenging himself in unique ways while posting about it, others are learning from him and his passion & creativity is constantly on the front burner for him.[Click] The results are techniques eveyrone can learn from, and inspiration that is infectiousWe’re going to have a look at 3 of his recent projects to see how others are learning from him, and how its keeping his own creativity active
[Clicking] All projects are in UDK. Tor’s main focus has been how to squeeze the most amount of art out of the least amount of resources. -this one is a sci-fi slum, alley way-you can see how he’s reusing tons of geometry while doing simple material swaps. Somewhat standard in videogames, but lots of visuals are shown here from very few object types
[Click] Thescifi slum was a good start to this run of exercises but still fairly common in videogames. He wanted to take it further.[Click] Began work on this ‘Datacore’ environment, still within UDK
[Click] 90% of that environment stemmed from a single 1024x512 texture. You can tell that Tor is learning, but he wasn’t finished…
[Clicking] Started on this lab, still trying to squeeze out as much as he can from minimal resources.
[Click] He’s pushed himself from something considered ‘standard’ in games, to something very efficient. The entire scene is being built by a single 256x512 texture. Keep in mind this is a ‘next-gen’ environment.
[Click] mentioned this early, very important point-Artists are creative people who enjoy technical challenges, if they weren’t they’d hate this job and never pursue it.[Click] What does it mean to be uncomfortable?[Click] Constantly try and think outside the box with what it is you’re doing. Don’t approach your projects on a linear path.[Click] Explore other areas of visual arts. E.g. Photography is a great hobby for artists, the focus on composition and story telling in a single frame is easily transitioned back to the job of a game artist.[Click] A more specific example is something I often try and apply to my own person work is back stories. Add backstories to everything you do and let that be the creative drive for your project.
[Click] Wanted to challenge myself in hp modeling, work wasn’t doing that. Izmojuki…[Click] Finished the model, wasn’t satisfied with it enough to call it done. Came up with this back story… which was?[Click] Built a small environment to support the idea. Talk about its personality.
[Click] If I haven’t made it apparent by now, I’ll say it there – the role of the videogame artist, like virtually all positions in game developer, is an ever evolving one. -For some people the passion transitions to the job and never makes it way back to the personal. This is fine, but not ideal.-For others, it’s a part of their life. -Many pro’s are like me and still push polys in their own time. Either to release some built up creativity not being released as their job, or to try out new techniques and remain relevant.-The way I personally keep game art as much a hobby of mine as it is my job is to never be satisfied, and to challenge everything.-Turn things I’m not doing at work in to art I want to try at home (cite the bomb I had at the beginning)
[Click] Ultimately what I am trying to say, is something I think all game artists apply to themselves at some point or another, is to challenge yourself with your personal art work, and apply it to your professional artwork. Other’s around you are able to learn off of you. Your professional work is better for it and ultimately the product or service is better off from it.And you become a better artist for it.Thank you