Know your role
The reality is you may find yourself filling in a role on a team as a specialist. If you want to develop in other areas you’ll need to do it in your own time. In fact, all artists and art directors agree you need to be realistic about the industry. There are tough
Omar Aweidah, Cloud Imperium Games deadlines, long hours and daily challenges. “There is a lot of passion that goes into making art for a game, so the hours stack up quickly. It’s not uncommon for me to look out the window and discover it’s dark outside and the day is already over and I feel like I just got started,” reveals Forrest. “The deadlines approach rapidly and everything could be better so it’s important to clearly define the scope, then balance the time, quality and cost.” Cloud Imperium Games’ Omar Aweidah agrees deadlines and long hours can pile up, and the struggle is to not let it take over your life, and find ways to deal with the workload: “Generally people involved in art for entertainment first view art as a hobby, then it becomes a profession. Once it becomes a profession, staying motivated
Working in a studio you’re inspired by the
people around you, which pushes you to create great work, says
Omar Aweidah find something else you like to do and do that with some of your time off. Having a balanced lifestyle is extremely important,” he explains.
For Jacinda the real struggle isn’t the work but a realisation that the industry has become crowded and a harder place for new talent to shine.
“The job market is really competitive, since the closures of VFX houses and game studios in the last few years have released a lot of industry vets into the job pool,” she says. “I do feel like the industry is starting to recover a bit, especially with all of the excitement over VR recently. My guess is that more jobs will be opening up in 2016.” Discover more CG career advice at www.the rookies.com