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View Full Version : Considering a Career in Art, but confused? Look here...


Spirit
May 3rd, 2009, 07:12 PM
Well, I don't think there is a thread like this, and if there already is I am really sorry, please don't kill me! Also sorry if I posted this in the wrong section, I wasn't quire sure where to post it.

There has been some really good advice, things to consider and ask yourself when you're thinking about choosing art as a future career, but they were dotted all over the forums.
My personal experience; last week I had many sleepless nights, as I had been thinking about where I actually wanted to go with my life in the future. I knew I wanted a career in art, but then what? Did I want to be an Illustrator? A concept artist? There were so many different jobs, I just became overwhelmed with it all and paniced, as I hadn't thought it out enough. I logged onto the forums here, and decided I would read through all the advice I had seen previously, and then really sit down and think about everything, and ask myself specific questions. However, I was unsure what questions to ask myself, so I came on here to look for some. After hours of going through threads which had come up in my search, I managed to gather enough information to make my own questions, and some very good questions which had already been suggested. I then spent hours brainstorming, writing down all of my thoughts and answering these questions in detail, and writing it all down really helped me to see what I was actually thinking, and what it was I wanted. (Me being me, afterwards I doodled all over it)

The reason I made this thread is to save anyone else the time of making a search, and spending hours sifting through posts and threads like I did, and have these questions all in one place (as there wasn't a thread like this when I used the search engine myself). If anyone has anything else to add, please feel free to leave suggested questions or things you think people should think about if they are considering a career in art! As of course, I am not in the art industry yet, and I am still at school, so I don't have much knowledge in this area. So here they are...

Questions you should consider asking yourself:
- What drives you to create art?
- Is art a hobby to you, or is it something more than that? (if it is just a hobby for you, then you have no need to continue!)
- What are your artistic intentions?
- What aspects of your art do you most enjoy?
- What part of the artwork or what kind of artwork do you most enjoy doing? (This isn't limited to just visual, it can also include technqiues, media etc.)
- What do you want to do in the future? (think detailed here, and be specific and develop your answer)
- Why do you love to create?
- What originally got you into art?
- What exactly do you want from your art?
- What are your specific goals and aims in art? (long term goals, and small "baby" goals)
- What does art mean to YOU?
- Think about if you are willing to put in the time, effort and commitment to become an artist in the industry.


I seriously recommend writing down, or typing up all of your answers and thoughts while doing this, so you can refer to them later, and actually remember what you have been thinking about! If anyone is struggling with how to answer any of these questions, feel free to PM me, and I can show you how I answered the questions myself, or just offer as much help as I can.

Good luck! :lifedrawing:

Jie Kageshinzo
May 3rd, 2009, 11:06 PM
Might as well ask this here rather than create a new thread. I've always wondered, what's the different between an illustrator and a concept artist?

rossipoo
May 3rd, 2009, 11:15 PM
Might as well ask this here rather than create a new thread. I've always wondered, what's the different between an illustrator and a concept artist?

I think a concept artist's job is to think of the concept for the game. Thumbnail sketches .. characters, environments, vehicles, props, etc. Ideas.. the Concept.


Slight example. Grabbed this off google images and da.
http://th08.deviantart.com/fs27/300W/f/2008/125/4/5/Small_Warship_Thumbnails_by_Malaveldt.jpg
http://www.freakygaming.com/gallery/concept_art/lineage_2/zaken_concept.jpg

And an illustrator makes a picture and tells a story. An illustrator's client could be.. I want garfield punching pikachu in the face. So obviously the client likes your style, so you illustrate that using your style. Its important for an illustrator to know how to render, color, anatomy, yeah yeah..


And uh this is some illustrations done by sandara and noah-kh deviantart.
http://th05.deviantart.com/fs43/300W/f/2009/103/d/b/princess_and_fish_by_sandara.jpg
http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs25/f/2008/170/d/e/the_colossus_by_noah_kh.jpg

Hope i helped.

Jie Kageshinzo
May 3rd, 2009, 11:23 PM
Well, my end goal is to be one of those artists who draw for comic book covers, trading cards, etc. whether via commission or fullt-ime basis. So what I want to be is an illustrator, then?

rossipoo
May 3rd, 2009, 11:34 PM
Well, my end goal is to be one of those artists who draw for comic book covers, trading cards, etc. whether via commission or fullt-ime basis. So what I want to be is an illustrator, then?


Yeah, but sometimes you like to illustrate your own characters that you've made or just sketches, and a job offer comes to you as a concept artist, so basically i like to say that , every artist.. or most, is an illustrator AND a concept artist.

For example this guy

http://bluefley.deviantart.com/

Gosh i love his stuff!!! anyways, he works for blizzard now. This is an example of an Illustrator and concept artist. Those are mostly his characters, but that "CC" picture of his, he's drawing the concept of his character.