Sunday 28 September 2014

Research on jobs in the Games Industry

Here I will post the directed study work which is to look at what game companies expect for people applying to their companies. As the dream one day is to work for a company like Blizzard I went to their careers site and had a look

  • ENVIROMENT ARTIST - As an environment artist on Blizzard’s next groundbreaking game, you’ll inject character into environments by creating art that brings them to life in a way that is both detail oriented and consistent with the handcrafted art styles that our games are known for.

  • Knowledge of Blizzard’s unique shape language and liberal use of color will allow you to work collaboratively with a team of highly skilled artists and designers to breathe life into the world.  Your broader experience with game development and building well designed levels will help you work collaboratively with level designers to ensure that you are always putting gameplay first when it comes to developing strong, fun areas to play in.

    In short, you’ll be part of a close-knit, collaborative community of artists, engineers, and designers whose sole goal is to make a truly immersive game experience.

    So, what will be your responsibilities in this role?
  • Using concept art inspiration to create game assets that make our environments come alive.
  • Using next-gen materials and pipelines to forge assets for use in the game engine.
  • Iterate on game assets with production artists via prototyping and group critiques.
Oh, you can do that in your sleep, you say?  What are the requirements, you ask?
  • A minimum of 1 years’ experience in game development as an artist specializing in hard surface, props, or organic modeling using Maya, Photoshop, or 3DS Max
  • Exceptional understanding of next generation asset creation pipelines and tools
  • An exceptional understanding of form, shape, structure, and silhouette in regard to modeling
  • Superior eye for light, shade, color, and detail in creating texture maps
  • Self-motivation, good communication skills, and a great team-player attitude
  • Able to work collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary art team to help bring environments to life within the vision of the game design
  • Proven problem-solving / prototyping ability
  • Able to effectively collaborate with game designers and programmers
  • Understanding of the visual style of Blizzard games and a passion to push it to the next level
  • Have shipped AAA PC or console titles as an environment artist
  • A passion for video games
What else could push you over the edge and make you the perfect candidate?
  • Experience in creating visual designs that support gameplay oriented goals
  • Skill in one or more related disciplines – illustration, animation, visual effects, or technical art
  • Experience in working with outsource art studios and other external vendors
  • Experience and a passion for stylized, handcrafted art style
  • Generalist environment art abilities – Eg: experience with lighting, organics, architecture, animation
  • Good technical chops and the ability to quickly master new pipelines and tools
Submission / Portfolio requirements
  • Cover Letter is required
  • Portfolio, and / or reel demonstrating relevant artistic skills required
  • Only online artwork submissions will be accepted (e.g. website, blog or online album)
  • Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

  • CHARACTER ARTIST  - Even the most iconic characters, weapons, and armor in the World of Warcraft (WoW) began life in a sketchbook. Concept artists are absolutely critical to the vision of a game and the creative process as whole here at Blizzard Entertainment. We are looking for a character concept artist to join the World of Warcraft team.  This is a hyper creative role for an artist with a playful imagination coupled with a high degree of artistic skill.  You will be expected to take a seed of an idea and flesh out all aspects of the design. These designs may include anything from weapons or armor sets to any number of creatures and bosses.  This role requires a strong sense of caricature, design, color theory, human and animal anatomy, weapons, armor and costume design, and the ability to both create in and push the WoW style.

    Responsibilities
  • Create weapon, armor, creature, and character concepts in the WoW style.
  • Work in conjunction with the 3d character artists to create a high quality asset from beginning to finish.
  • Work with the art director, character lead and character artists to expand the world of our game.
Requirements
  • Strong understanding of digital content creation tools such as Photoshop, Painter, etc.
  • Excellent illustration skills, deep understanding of composition, anatomy, color theory, values, form, shape language, and silhouette
  • An exceptional understanding of human and creature anatomy with a keen eye towards form, shape, structure, and silhouette in regards to illustration and design
  • Understanding of the distinctive WoW visual style and a passion to push it to the next level
  • A passion for video games
Pluses
  • Working knowledge 3D art techniques and software packages such as Maya, 3Ds Max, or Zbrush
  • Strong foundation in the traditional arts, including but not limited to figure drawing, landscape painting, and illustration
  • Have shipped AAA PC or console titles as a concept artist
Required Application Materials
  • Resume
  • Cover letter
  • Portfolio demonstrating relevant artistic skills
    • Only online artwork submissions will be accepted (e.g. website, blog or online album)
  • An art test may be required if the work presented doesn’t adequately demonstrate an ability to match the WoW art style

A week to uni.

A new year begins, my second year at NUA looms and I am a little aprehensive .... here comes the moment where I choose my possible future career and I still don't really know what I want to do ... stuck between Concept and Asset.

Anyway, here is the final result from my summer project for Freshers to see, I didn't really get enough time to explore what I wanted to do unfortunately the dark side of gaming dragged me into its clutch. I started to explore a little more into an old character that I want to look at more. A Biological lifeform on a Planet similar to Earth, an escaped slave for an alien race who now makes a living as a rent a kill assassin :D She makes me very happy!


I still have a long way to go with my understanding of photoshop and feel I still have weaknesses where landscapes and realistic humans are concerned, but this is probably the best piece I have done so far in my time at uni, I can see errors in this still, the armband doesn't really look like its on the arm (still struggle with stuff like that) the shading is a little off and the detail could be a little better! I do love the pose as it was kinda hard to get down right, the foot was tricky to work out in paticular!

Anyway just a little blog post updating the final result of my work.