Having recently spent 5 months at home, my perspective on the future has rather radically changed. When Year 1 ended, I was riding the crest of University and consequently couldn't see the bigger picture. Looking back I'm not sure what I thought, however that's partially the problem. It took the down time for me to realise life goes on, no matter what you do. This much I already knew, but it sunk a little deeper over the summer. Next year marks the advent of my last summer - by which I mean that after Year 3 I should be working full time. It's not the biggest revelation reading it back but it was at the time.
I found myself asking ‘What does it mean to be an artist? It seems as if all my life I've had an unreachable goal. When I first fell in love with drawing I never thought I’d be an artist. When I got good at it I never thought I could be a game artist. Finally, when I wanted to be a concept artist, it seemed an even more unlikely possibility.
Who am I kidding? I will never be the artist I want to be. That's the first step. Why? It’s because the artist I aspire to be is based on the idealization of other concept artist’s work. Try as I might, my fine art background will not budge. This isn’t the worst thing that could happen, but seeing as I desire to be more conceptual it's not very helpful. I almost think I should stop looking at other people’s art because it's so different to mine. As proud as I am of the work I produce I can't help but be unhappy with it on some level.
So I probably won't be a concept artist. But I'll be an artist. My philosophy has always been to be the best artist you can be. That's pretty much all there is to it. There is a lot of talk about how to get into this industry and whilst it’s not unhelpful, all it boils down to is being a good artist. If you are an artist, you will see how an artist sees and learn and snowball as they do. To be immersed in colour, to recognise perspective, and to observe anatomy. To live and breathe art is to truly be an artist. I wonder how many people who call themselves artists actually are. I sometimes wonder if I can even consider myself an artist. Am I as passionate about art as I should be?
I would have loved to have lived when the masters did; I envy them, to be so close visually to this world. To get up every day at dawn and sit and draw the ever changing colour. Sod the money and the luxury, I'd give it all up to go live in the country and paint every day. As long as I've got enough food to live, I'd be happy.
That's the somewhat ridiculous dream. You never know, it might happen. But it most likely won’t.
The more achievable dream is to work for Naughty Dog or Santa Monica Studios. They are the makers of Uncharted 2 and God of war 3 respectively. Those teams are true artists. Seriously breathtaking work.
I've recently succumbed to 3D. Del made a good point when he wrote, “if you don't like 3D then that's probably because you are shit at it.” That hit home. I mean if I was proficient at it, I still doubt I would enjoy the outcome anywhere near as much as a 2D image but nonetheless I wouldn't dislike it as I do now. At the end of the day if I end up as a 3D artist that's not where I want to be. But to put it in perspective, would I rather be working at Tesco? Obviously the answer is no. So 3D wouldn't be the worst job. I've barely invested any time in it, though I'm competent enough. Therefore my goal for this year is to invest some serious time. Modelling is the same as it would be in real life just with that infernal program in the way. Just need to learn it inside out and let the artist within do the rest. Already this week the treasure chest model seemed to come out of nowhere and I haven't done any 3D since last year so I was surprised that I remembered everything.
In terms of concept art it’s pretty simple. Keep hammering away at the fundamentals and apply it all to this process -> http://www.adamnichols.net/tutorials/concept-art-process-101.php?id=8
One day.
