The games industry is a very fast moving and evolving industry, especially in the graphical department. For people that want to get into this part of the industry, it means that they have to have a lot of knowledge of multiple programs and engines as minimum requirements, such as Photoshop, 3DS Max, CryEngine etc. Knowledge of extra programs is also a bonus, programs like Zbrush or Mudbox, maybe even some scripting knowledge. To top this off, these programs are often updating and changing, or new ones may come along, and its up to you to ensure you stay up to date with this moving technology, if you want to stay employable. Obviously fundamental art skills are also essential, and this is something you're only ever going to improve at with more and more time spent on it, so that's a skill that kind of works on it's own.
I've always had the mindset of figuring out what I love doing first, and then finding a way to make it pay the bills. One problem I find with starting an art based careers is that art isn't taken as seriously as it should be in the school curriculum. For pretty much my entire time at school we were told to look at an artist and research their life and why they painted what they did, which is fine for studying art, but were never taught the actual fundamentals of art, it was literally 'look at this artist, copy what he did'. Same for stuff like abstract and cubism, having an understanding of fundamental principles, such as perspective and basic composition skills is essential. Because of the lack of teaching in art at school and even A-Level to some degree, the whole first year of my uni course is basically trying to get all these students to a similar degree of understanding in the world of art, before applying it to our own work. This is a whole year of Uni that could have easily been applied by the school curriculum from Year 7 through to 11. Art encompasses everything in the world, everything you see is the result of some sort of combination of artistic elements, whether it be a work of nature or something man made, and yet it's treated as a trivial and unimportant aspect of life, deemed for people who aren't 'smart enough' to study a real career choice. Though my understanding of art and media is still limited because I'm only 20 years old, I still see things such as game or DVD covers, or alleyways or vistas in the real world that I can apply rules to in my head like 'this tree perfectly frames this lake, creating a natural harmony and framing' as a quick example.
As a student who wants to get into the games industry, or at least something that requires a visual design component of some sort now that I've got the BMW internship, I think my course does a good job of providing students with the course outline necessary for developing the basic skill set needed for Visual and 3D Design. Without the first year literally teaching me 90% of the things I now know about art, I would not be able to improve the work I can now, having significantly improved my understanding of things like anatomy and atmospheric perspective. The 3D and technical things we are taught are again the fundamentals; the things I learn to do in 3DS Max 2013 I can apply to 3DS Max 2014, or even Maya if I ever needed; I'm not learning how to use the program exactly, but more learning why what I'm doing is important, and why I shouldn't do it in another way etc. The same applies for Photoshop; It's basically just like painting but with more tools at my disposal.
I've always had the mindset of figuring out what I love doing first, and then finding a way to make it pay the bills. One problem I find with starting an art based careers is that art isn't taken as seriously as it should be in the school curriculum. For pretty much my entire time at school we were told to look at an artist and research their life and why they painted what they did, which is fine for studying art, but were never taught the actual fundamentals of art, it was literally 'look at this artist, copy what he did'. Same for stuff like abstract and cubism, having an understanding of fundamental principles, such as perspective and basic composition skills is essential. Because of the lack of teaching in art at school and even A-Level to some degree, the whole first year of my uni course is basically trying to get all these students to a similar degree of understanding in the world of art, before applying it to our own work. This is a whole year of Uni that could have easily been applied by the school curriculum from Year 7 through to 11. Art encompasses everything in the world, everything you see is the result of some sort of combination of artistic elements, whether it be a work of nature or something man made, and yet it's treated as a trivial and unimportant aspect of life, deemed for people who aren't 'smart enough' to study a real career choice. Though my understanding of art and media is still limited because I'm only 20 years old, I still see things such as game or DVD covers, or alleyways or vistas in the real world that I can apply rules to in my head like 'this tree perfectly frames this lake, creating a natural harmony and framing' as a quick example.
As a student who wants to get into the games industry, or at least something that requires a visual design component of some sort now that I've got the BMW internship, I think my course does a good job of providing students with the course outline necessary for developing the basic skill set needed for Visual and 3D Design. Without the first year literally teaching me 90% of the things I now know about art, I would not be able to improve the work I can now, having significantly improved my understanding of things like anatomy and atmospheric perspective. The 3D and technical things we are taught are again the fundamentals; the things I learn to do in 3DS Max 2013 I can apply to 3DS Max 2014, or even Maya if I ever needed; I'm not learning how to use the program exactly, but more learning why what I'm doing is important, and why I shouldn't do it in another way etc. The same applies for Photoshop; It's basically just like painting but with more tools at my disposal.
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