BIO:
Darren Geers, Kendall Alum who graduated in 2010 is a concept artist and has worked as a lead Concept Artist for Lorean Games and Elliptic Games. He is currently working Full Time as a Concept Artist for a AAA Game for Studiovania, Westalke Village, CA. He freelanced for several years before landing this full time Concept Art job, which he is able to do from Grand Rapids, MI via skyping and email communications.
Find Darren's art on his site: http://www.darrengeers.com/
Darren came to Susan Bonner's class, Imaging for Game, Animation and Film, as a visiting Artist in 2012 and is mentoring students in Concept and Production Design on an Epic Survival Interactive Story in 2013.
Darren says you will have to do a lot of freelance work before you are able to get into the industry. It is very competitive and social networking sites are important way to get known. You will need a dedicated focused website specifically for concept art. This is a hard road ahead, but if you are dedicated and your work is more excellent then what is professional and work late hours and all your family think you are a little crazy you may make it.
SKETCHES:
Darren's Sketches are what got his first AAA game. They are gestures in action poses. The characters had a lot of costume design, they were doing something instead of straight up studies. They move through the action that the character will perform in the game.
Studios like Valve look for that type of drawing
Deviant Art not progressing towards employment - there are a lot of hits but they are from your peers and not employment opportunities.
WORKING AS A FREELANCER:
WORKING INDIE VS WORKING AT A BIG STUDIO:
Studios have very different ways of working
Indie:
Pros: Intellectual property is yours - you have full creative control
Marketing through a publisher like Xbox live arcade, Steam Greenlight, mobile apps
You get decide when the game is finished
Stick to a schedule if you are releasing the game
Cons: No money in indie games, Very Competitive Market, Highly critical peers
Have to do a side job, High risk, long hours, Self Funded, Stressful working
Studio Examples:
Braid, Super Meatboy, Fez, Minecraft
Watch Indiegame the movie
Gaia online flash based game online
Notch was the lead programmer for Mine Craft
Look up the history of minecraft
What sells this game: Control that the player has is, You build a story line and give a sense of discovery
Building it for every age level made it more accessible
LARGER STUDIOS: Zynga, EA, Ubisoft, Valve, Blizzard, Behesda, etc
pros: - Money! Stability and security (most of the time) Notoriety, working with large creative teams with similar goals and interests, location and job perks (paintball, movies, food) AAA game titles (AAA = highest quality i.e. quality, broad market, high sales, tema, big budget, polished production quality, bug free, first place in marktets with great marketing and hype. ) Access to the latest and greatest.
cons - Corporate, You're a number in the larger scheme of things, very little creative control of the game itself. Long work hours, location (Coasts).
Valve Studio Tour:
Behesda Game Studios Tour:
EA Redwood Studio Tour:
Darren Geers did a demo in our Imaging for Game, Animation and Film Class on creating a Character sketch, here are his techniques:
Vimeo Interview: http://vimeo.com/57175235