Tuesday 1 April 2014

Career Roadmap

Even though I'm still not 100% on where I want to go in my career I understand that I need to be planning for the future now. There are many amazing fields to get involved in concept art, environment artist, 3D artist and Animators are roles that particularly interest me and are subjects that I want to get involved in. However, every time I research more about roles in the industry and further explore sites like Gamasutra I find that there are lots of different jobs that are less well known but still things I find interesting. Things like storyboard artists and pre visualization jobs get my mind flowing with ideas and make me question exactly where I want to go.

This doesn't mean that I shouldn't walk around unsure of what to do. The best course of action is to keep learning in my own time and concentrating on practising my skills. I will also make a roadmap towards a career I'm interested so I can work on what skills to improve upon and learn. I will do this by going on the companies websites and look at what the requirements for a job are.

JOB :

Environment Artist at Arkane Studios in Lyon, France.

Responsibilities:

The main responsibilities of the job will be to model and texture 3D assets using concept art and/or reference materials to assist me. Follow the Art Directors  standards so the games style is the same in the modelling, lighting and textures. I must also make sure the work is compliant with technical specifications and create feedback for the Lead Environment Artist, Art Director and Level Architect.

Requirements:

Advanced knowledge of  Maya(3D) and Photoshop skills are required as well as a strong passion for iconic culture (comics, movies, books and other games). I must also have a good knowledge of normal map creation software packages like Zbrush or xNormal. Experience with engines like Unreal, Cryengine and Unity is a plus. Good English communication skills (written and verbal) are also required.


My Response:
So there is lots to learn, the software packages like Maya, Zbrush and xNormal are something I must study further (as well as improving my photoshop skills too of course). It said engine experience is a plus so it will be fantastic to learn those to improve any chances. Looking at soft skills, good English communication is massively important especially when you have to go back and forth between the Art Director, Lead Artists and Level Architects. I have spotted something else that might be a plus. Even though English is required the studio itself is in France so being able to speak French is also a plus in case any employees are better at speaking in French and might find it hard to verbalise complex directions in English.


Plan of Action:
So I was already starting to learn Zbrush but over Easter get to grips with it some more and keep setting projects for every two or three weeks for the rest of the year. I will also take a look at Maya in the summer and see more about that and as I improve on my 3DSmax skills also see how to do the same things in Maya. Photoshop skills will constantly be improved in my 3D and 2D lessons so just keep doing work that is set as well as personal work and it should be fine. Learning French has already begun because I'm planning on visiting Canada but I must remember to really keep it up. My dad speaks French fluently because we used to live there and I must practice by having conversations with him in the language. My writing skills really need to improve as well as my grammar and spelling is quite atrocious (spelt that right first time).

References:

Job details and information
http://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/527


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