What should I study to be a game artist?

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Hi there! Thanks for clicking in. :slight_smile:

Ultimately, I want to be an artist/ concept artist, making up storyboards and creating story ideas, perhaps not just video games, but a larger field that includes animation etc.

Should I be enrolling courses that involves interactive design and game development, or a more general field on illustration/art kind of modules? I would like to start with the game industry, since I think I will get a great exposure to every aspect of art and animation making. Any advise? Or it doesn’t matter which subject I choose?

On top of that, would graphic design be something I do not want to enroll for? Since in my opinion, graphic design is more on the advertising/branding side of industry. Any views?

Thanks. :slight_smile:

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Here is the five steps I would do if it was me…

  1. Learn to draw, take courses drawing naked people, Learn how to use a computer to draw, take some courses.
  2. Produce stuff. Express yourself through drawing painting and telling stories. The others opinions…
  3. Find a mentor ( start using LinkedIn, Reddit or similar, befriend people who is already there )
  4. Start reading books, experience life, get a unique personality, taste, charisma and a story to tell.
  5. Offer your services to people, work for free, work for money or just to get a foot in the door. It’s getting to know people that takes you further and develops you in the end.
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Graphic design, especially 2d graphic design, covers alot of stuff.
And is a big part of making games.
It even comes in handy:

For making concept art for your games.

For creating nice cover art for your game cases/discs, which is a form of advertising your game. :smile:

For making textures or surface skins for 3d objects.

Making cool wallpapers for your game (Another form of advertising your game.)
And many other cool stuff.

So enroll in a nice Graphic Design course, or learn from tuts, on the web/youtube.
Photoshop and GIMP, are some nice examples, of 2d software.
Enjoy!!:sunglasses:

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2D art skills are almost inescapably part of manufacturing 3D assets. It’s a very valuable skill to have, I say this as someone who doesn’t.

Study and apply applications used in the industry, as a hobby, and save everything you make into a backed up portfolio even from the very beginning. Go for the Autodesk applications, like Maya. Blender is funky and janky but is widely used, powerful, and an appreciated skill. For your 2D stuff go straight to Photoshop if you can at all. In Photoshop’s stead, GIMP 2 can fill in if you need a stop gap, but I think even small indies mostly use Photoshop and if you’re using GIMP or w/e you’ll probably just have some point where someone does 2D stuff with Photoshop for you as part of a teamworks.