Hi [contact name]

My name is Shindy, I am currently a third year Game Art student at University of Worcester. I'm currently doing a professional practice module, part of this module is to contact industry professionals for feedback, inspiration and information to help my career goal. I have created a survey with 10 questions, this would be extremely helpful. I understand if you can't response as it can be busy during these periods!

Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScmBWXGGVGnmCwaEeiOCKA35fPKEOsk5fTeMWmXqgsHJRs_8Q/viewform

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions!

Sincerely,
Shindy

1. Do you have any advice for someone who is just starting their career in the industry?

2. How did you get into the industry?

3. What is the most common issue(s) when working in the industry?

4. If you have worked in a smaller and larger studio, what were the differences?

5. What kind of tasks would you have as an environment- or lighting artist?

6. Did you do a Game Art Tests, what did you and how long was the test?

7. What should a portfolio contain to get the job position?

1. Do you have any advice for someone who is just starting their career in the industry?

Work hard, practice and develop your skills and portfolio. Do work on ur free time while you are studying at University, it can be difficult after work hours. Don't complain, ask for feedback and be respectful. - Summarised everyone's responses

2. How did you get into the industry?

A lot of different responses here.

• On my own! Started off in small indie studios. - Otto Ostera, Senior Artist at Blizzard Entertainment

• Started at a mobile game company and got hired after 3 months of graduation. - Erica Cai, Environment Artist at Bethesda Games

• By working a lot, doing courses and getting a mentor. A mentor can help you to push you further. - Patrick Ziegler, Junior Environment Artist at Dambuster Studios

• I studied at University, worked a lot on my graduate portfolio and then got a job at Sumo Digital. This job was an opportunity presented to myself through the people that I had been speaking to whom currently worked there. - Mary-Sue Challinor, Environment Artist at Ubisoft Reflections

• I started out doing freelance jobs here and there and building up my portfolio. My first job was as a contract artist for Microsoft. After the contract ended, doors opened up for me. - Jeff Severson, Senior Artist at SAIC

• I had a strong portfolio that demonstrated good art fundamentals and a solid understanding of game art workflows. I developed this at University, though not through my modules, but in my own time. I ended University with 0 portfolio pieces from my art modules. Finally, I wasn't weird in interviews and got on well with people in the studios I interviewed at which made me a good candidate. - Jonjo Hemmens, Junior Environment Artist at Rocksteady Studios

3. What is the most common issue(s) when working in the industry?

• People get comfortable and stop pushing themselves. - Otto Ostera, Senior Artist at Blizzard Entertainment

• Artists taking criticism personally. You have to learn how to detach yourself from your work. If you already do that then that's great! Being open to criticism is an important skill. - Jeff Severson, Senior Artist at SAIC

• Time Management can be tricky and you have to get clear in what you want to do. Also, sometimes there are a lot of stressful tasks. They are challenging, but fun. - Patrick Ziegler, Junior Environment Artist at Dambuster Studios

• Generally knowing when to ask for help is a mistake a lot of juniors make. Don't be afraid to ask questions to really understand what you're doing. - Mary-Sue Challinor, Environment Artist at Ubisoft Reflections

4. If you have worked in a smaller and larger studio, what were the differences?

• Smaller Studios gives you more various tasks. Smaller companies can be restricted and be more involed with other disciplines. You feel more like a family as you know everyone in a small studio although changes can be made easily.

• Larger studios are more organised and have more managment, care, benefits, larger projects and systems in place to assist us to do out jobs. Also opportunities to travel and mixture of other cultures. Large companies will be more specialized in one area such as modelling kits or modelling organic assets or only create materials.

5. What kind of tasks would you have as an environment- or lighting artist?

• As an environment artist: - Patrick Ziegler, Junior Environment Artist at Dambuster Studios

- working out the blockouts and adjusting them to playable spaces

- Creating materials and applying them to the game world

- Set dressing to indulge the player in the space

- Highpoly/Lowpoly modeling

- Creating kits/trim sheets

- Occasional Lighting

• As a Junior environment artist you would start making props. Further into your career you would do more world development. For lighting artist I assume you would need to know about FX and lighting. - Jeff Severson, Senior Artist at SAIC

• Environment artists are usually responsible for everything environmental. Props, buildings, landscape, foliage, collision, you name it. If it's in an environment, it's probably been through the team. After the designers are happy with their blockout, we'll come in and make it look great. - Jonjo Hemmens, Junior Environment Artist at Rocksteady Studios

• As an environment artist though, someone whom works within the game world - you could be responsible for set dressing, creating buildings, painting terrain with textures and vegetation, creating blockouts and working in conjunction with all other disciplines to produce a scene. Environment Artist tends to be quite an umbrella term in larger companies, and we are given opportunities to branch into Level Artist, Prop Artist, Weapon Artist, Materials Artist and Technical Artist. - Mary-Sue Challinor, Environment Artist at Ubisoft Reflections

7. What should a portfolio contain to get the job position?

• Depends on the position. Environment art would be props and a handful of scenes from small to large. - Jeff Severson, Senior Artist at SAIC

• A strong portfolio should include either one very strong or a couple strong environment pieces. They should demonstrate good lighting, props, asset creation, and understanding of game art workflows (trimsheets, foliage creation, modularity, etc.). It's got to be well composed, and interesting to look at. - Jonjo Hemmens, Junior Environment Artist at Rocksteady Studios

• Get clear fast where you want to work. What style does the studio have? Are there any other studios with a similar style you would like to work for? Then go all out on that style (usually realistic vs stylized). One quality piece can get you hired. 5 mediocre ones won't get you hired (usually). If you are aiming for environment art position, your portfolio should contain environments in a game engine. And please, have your portfolio on Artstation. Do not make your own website. Good luck! - Patrick Ziegler, Junior Environment Artist at Dambuster Studios

• It's always quality not quantity. Usually one good piece of work is enough to get you the job. Tailor your style to the company you want to work for. If you are open to any company (as i was) you can have a range of things from hard surface to organic, full environment to small props. Material creation is always a plus. - Erica Cai, Environment Artist at Bethesda Games

• If you are applying for an Environment Artist/Level Artist position, this would be environmental pieces on your portfolio. This doesn't mean that you need to make every single prop, you can compose scenes using asset packs and Megascans, as long as you produce a great scene with a good composition and storytelling. If you're aiming for a more content creation driven Environment Artist position, then you would produce 1 very good material, 1 very good prop and also a very good environment scene. - Mary-Sue Challinor, Environment Artist at Ubisoft Reflections

• Consistency, a clear breakdown on each post showing me that not only what you created looks good, but that I can see step by step how you tackled problems and implemented techniques. Being brutally honest, your portfolio as soon as you leave university 9 times out of 10 isn't going to land you a job, especially given the current climate, so prepare to put extra work in afterwards. Ask someone to look at your portfolio and a junior's portfolio side by side and find out what about their portfolio got them the job or made them stand out, and how that compares to your own. Clear and eye catching thumbnails and with a solid scene to go with it is going to land you a job in most places. - Ryan Thomason-Jones, Environment Artist at Astrofish Games

• What is dynamic light and baked light? - Kieran Goodson

For me, outdoor scenes are always dynamic - never baked. For a static image, you may usually use only baked lighting with some dynamic lights if I need extra detail so I don’t have to rebake everything.

• With that in mind, what are three skills Lighting Artists MUST have and why are they essential to the job? - Kieran Goodson LINK

1. Color theory - “Complementary colors, analogous colors, how different colors can change moods and draw the player’s eye towards a specific area. For instance, if you have an overcast scene and you want to draw the player to a specific doorway, how can you use color to do this? An overcast scene would more than likely be on the cool side of the color wheel, so I would use a complementary, warm color in or by a doorway to do so. This in turn would catch the players eye and draw the player towards this area.”

2. Basic lighting - “Complementary colors, analogous colors, how different colors can change moods and draw the player’s eye towards a specific area. For instance, if you have an overcast scene and you want to draw the player to a specific doorway, how can you use color to do this? An overcast scene would more than likely be on the cool side of the color wheel, so I would use a complementary, warm color in or by a doorway to do so. This in turn would catch the players eye and draw the player towards this area.”

3. Good photographer - “Know how ISO, aperture, shutter speed and exposure works. As a Lighting Artist you might be called upon to tune Depth of Field or asked to change the exposure of your scene. These are basic functions that you should know.”

• When the lighting in the scene doesn’t ‘feel right’ or give off the desired atmosphere, what are some of the things you do to tackle the issue? - Kieran

"With this in mind if a scene doesn’t look how I want I will first of all disable all the post-processing and color grading except exposure, just to be sure that I am looking at my base lighting. Then I work on color, adding or deleting lights, creating highlights where it’s important and also my fog if I use it. After, I try to balance contrast to have good visibility in my black areas, avoiding pitch black even if I really like the strong contrast. I usually work without post-process or color grading until the very end of every project." - Kieran

Christian - Junior 3D Artist LINK

• Important to keep low poly count when creating assets for games

• Put in the hours, do all work and update portfolio. Work on skills, email people and companies (takes a lot of time).

• Enter competitions while in uni, regret not doing it

• Do some clean up in photoshop to make your work stand out

• Art test - Tends to give you poly count limit

• If you get rejected, use the feedback and improve work and keep going

• If you don't have the skills as example, tell them you know the basics to show them you have a positive mindset

• Five year plan - Fill in more environment, enjoy the job and projects

Joe - Junior Technical artist LINK

• Wanted to be environment, but working at tech. Does rigging etc. Even if it's not what you want, say yes.

• Intermidiate and juniors - Contact them. Better advice for entry and get back to you.

• Have as much on your portfolio as possible, relevant.

• Good communication and good rep with interviewers, not the best portfolio but good soft skills. His portfolio was a lot of environment and props.

• Dream job - Anywhere I can do VFX

All the responses have been very helpful for everything for this module. What I liked about it is the fact all artists had different paths to get into the industry. The responses were both from junior and senior artists, I got answers within a few hours or 2 days. Some of them did reach back letting me know they did the survey and others were too busy, although messaged me saying they would love to help me when they have time.

What I have gathered from the questionnaires is to practice and work hard on my portfolio. This can be done during my freetime, they recommend doing it while studying at University since it can be difficult after work hours. Always ask for feedback and be respectful. How the artists got into the industry is through indie studios, mentoring, networking, freelancing and worked on portfolio which demonstrated good art fundamentals and understanding. I wish I could have done more personal work on my freetime when I started University, I'm already in my 3rd year and regret not doing it earlier.

Paying attention to the most common issues in the industry is always good as I know what to expect in the industry. It's very often people get comfortable at the studio and end up feeling stuck without improving themselves. This is one of the reasons why I don't want to get too comfortable working at a studio, if I don't push myself, I won't be able to achieve my goal. Or another way to avoid this common issue is to ask questions and take critiscm without taking it personally. Being able to separate work and personal life is important.

I wouldn't mind working for a small or large studio. If I work at a small studio I will work on various tasks since larger studios are more specialized in one area. For me, it's more likely I might work for a smaller studio first and then move my way up to a larger studio. In a sort of way, this is expanding my experience. I also learnt that art tests aren't always necessary, if the recruiters see I have a strong portfolio I won't have to do an art test as I have got what they are looking for. To get the Environment Artist position, especially for the position I'm at right now. For now, having one prop, one environment scene and one material will be a good portfolio.

Overall, hearing their response isn't as worrying anymore, as a few of the artists have been in the position I'm in right now and I will eventually be in their shoes. I will keep working on my portfolio as I still need some pieces to add for my portfolio and improve it.