Hi all,
This is a choice I should make by myself. However given I’m outside of school and don’t know anyone in the industry, some help in terms of being able to identify which course has more to offer in terms of future employability/accreditation would be much appreciated. I want to get into the 3D design side of game design. Depending on how things go I may consider switching to game design (I’m doing a foundation year initially then doing the 3 year course).
Teesside University is ranked #18 in the Animation Career Review list of top international animation schools.
relationships with businesses giving you the opportunity to apply for summer, year-long and graduate placements with key organisations such as: Microsoft, Rare, Team 17, ZeroLight, R8 Games, Hammerhead VR, Dojo Arcade, Schlumberger, Sumo Digital and Coastsink.
-The course is affiliated to a number of software companies, who advise us on course content. Staffordshire University is a TIGA member. This body represents the games industry.
Epic Games and Staffordshire University have entered a dynamic partnership to help bring game developers, the university and students closer together.
Four times a year, games companies come to the University for development days and training
(seems to have indsutry links. Including links with TIGA).
Students also benefit from industry standard equipment, including the RARE™ Motion Capture Studio.
Most likely not the answer you’re looking for but I would skip the degrees all together.
40% of all college students don’t finish their degree and of the 60% remaining only about half get a job relevant to the degree. That’s a BIG gamble considering how much college is going to cost and how much of your life it is going to take up.
Living in a college town (Fayetteville, Arkansas) I know way more people who regret going to college than people who went on to get a career in their field.
And of all my friends that I’ve know over the years that tried to go to school to become a commercial artist exactly 0 have made a career of it.
This is coupled with the fact that getting a job as an artist is downright cut-throat and that employers really, truly, do not care if an artist went to college at all. Like even a little bit. They just want to see that you’ve done some stuff before, that you can do what the job needs you to do, and that you can function in a group.
In other words, you need a portfolio and need to get some projects under your belt.
That’s ok i sort of saw this coming
I’m from the UK. At our universities the drop out rates are at around 8%. I haven’t had schooling lessons in graphics for quite a while… parents and the school convinced me to take subjects i didn’t enjoy. I’ve spent my youth designing things for fun at home through games… I recently learned 3DS MAX and really found it interesting. For me it will cost £38k. But student finance pays for it. We have to pay a small amount of our earnings when we start earning over like £22k. The cost of the degree doesn’t go up and if you haven’t paid it off after 30 years they remove the debt. Also I had a horrible time at school and now that I’m no longer socially inept i would love to be able to go to such a place and play sports… go to societies and makes friends.
I’m going to try and make it work. There are quite a lot of 3D design jobs in gaming companies from what i have heard… I don’t know but jobs are limited in all sectors. While doing the degree I will be making a portfolio and there are modules for designing stuff as a class.
I think it really depends what kind of learner you are. Not_Sure is right in saying that for artists, your level of qualification is irrelevant to an employer. However I would counter by saying that a college course (whether degree or shorter) can be useful because it let you work on various student projects and assets, which you can then use for your portfolio.
If you’re looking at those two universities specifically, I’d take a look at what their graduates’ portfolios look like, as well as what their careers look like post-graduation. A lot of universities will advertise in-course placements with big name companies, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re guaranteed to get industry experience.
At the end of the day, third level qualifications in nearly any field are much the same - you get out what you put in. If you want to become an artist, there’s nothing stopping you except yourself. But university does offer much more. Societies and activities are a big bonus, and if you can avoid burning any bridges while you’re there, you’ll make some great lifelong friends and industry contacts.
In summary: If you want to choose between these two, look at what their graduates are doing, not what the course is advertised as. If you can’t find info on any graduates, then it probably isn’t a good course. Most smaller universities want to celebrate their talented and successful alumni, and will go out of their way to showcase them.
Thanks a lot for the incite.
Looking at the staffordshire facebook site they have a lot of student work being shown off. Teesside also has the same thing. I’m glad you brought that up because staffordshire seems to have a lot more work being shown and of which looks higher quality (also more relevant to what i will be doing). Staffordshire also has a brand new work building specifically for the games courses with a motion capture studio. I’ve been linked the new computer specs of which look very impressive. I think that will be the course i will pick (providing i get in). https://www.facebook.com/pg/staffsgamesdesign/photos/?tab=album&album_id=640190582850128
^^ some of the images from staffordshire students.
Most of the rest of the developed world has a much less broken education system then the US. I’ve seldom met anyone here in Australia/NZ who regrets doing their degree, even if they don’t end up using it.
From what I gather the UK is much closer to our system then the US system. Student debt is a bit of an annoyance, but it’s hardly crippling.
To the OP: I would also consider investigating more traditional, non game, art programmes. The important things to pick up from your degree are the fundamentals. And traditional art degrees could be a stronger option.
All that said I’m not an artist at all, so don’t pay too much attention to anything I say.
I can 100% see the logic behind doing a more general degree to open up opportunities. For instance doing programming instead of games programming. But for me I really want a job in a games company. I have always enjoyed designing for games.A more general art degree would involve painting and many other artistic methods… I’m not the best with a pen in hand but with computer graphics… more so 3D I find it a lot more enjoyable and easy to use.
And yes the drop out rates here as i said are 5-10%… and we only pay back the loans gradually.
Maybe. They could also be a complete waste of time, focussed on “expressing and finding yourself as an artist” or whatever. It’s almost impossible to know from the outside, because even IF people from a university are good, you never know if they actually acquired their skills there. Where I studied it was roughly a 10 : 1 ratio of applicants to students they would take on each year. Most of those that got past that barrier to entry basically would have been able to graduate straigth away imho. One of the guys evaluating my work upon application said something along the lines “I hope you’ll be able to keep this level up with your work” and in hindsight that should have been a big red flag.
I’d estimate ~95% of my skills in painting or 3D modelling I’ve acquired outside of university through books, forums, videos, and meeting other artists.
The quality and motivation of other students is a hugely important factor! They can either pull you down or lift you up. So there still is some value in seeing students from one university making good things, regardless where they acquired their skills. You just need to know that if you want to become a commercial artist the responsibility is 100% on you. If you don’t start taking commercial jobs before you’re finished studying it will be very very hard try to get your first jobs.
You should learn that stuff regardless, whether you like it or not. Those are fundamentals. It’s fine if you want to do it all digital with a wacom tablet, but 3D modelling and texturing isn’t as isolated a skillset as you might think, imho.
Yeah. I’m not strongly advocating it. Just suggesting to have a look in.
Its virtually impossible to judge the value of a specific degree remotely. (Unless you are lucky enough to choose a profession with something like the Washington Accord. I don’t believe such a thing exists in art). Even from up close it can be hard.
Looking at portfolios of leaving students is a good idea. Make sure you get deep into it, not just the ones cherry picked by the University. The top students were likely impressive artists before they started the degree. Its the middle ground ones you are more interested in.
I would also start looking around at job advertisements for positions you are interested in. This will give you a good indication of what type of skills employers are looking for. Sure a lot can change between beginning a degree and ending one. But it will give you a ball park idea.
Thanks a lot guys! I have looked at some job openings and so far I’ve seen they want the applicant to have good knowledge of photoshop and 3DS Max/ Maya. I must do more research though. Staffordshire has brand new facilities for games design/art. they do around 6-7 game related courses. I don’t know how valuable having a motion capture studio is… i mean i can imagine it being something worth putting on your CV (probably depends on the game/company your applying to).
If you are going to specialize in animation, it might be interesting. If you don’t, then I don’t see what you’d need it for. Animation isn’t something you do “on the side for a bit”. It might be a good specialization because I get the impression there aren’t that many good animators around on the market, but it’s also pretty damn hard I’d imagine. I’d only put it on a CV if it’s relevant to the job you are applying to. Otherwise imho it looks a bit “desperate to impress”. If your portfolio is exceptionally good and you have proper social skills for the job interview, that’ll get you 90% of the way imho. The rest needed is probably mostly real work experience.
From watching lots of videos about what to expect in the Industry the biggest thing i see come up is funnily enough like you said ‘‘social skills/ability to communicate’’. I think a lot of gamers are very introverted and perhaps designer/artists in general.
I will need to be able to communicate with programmers and other levels of production. I will at some point learn the basics at least of coding to hopefully help with that. Luckily I’m fairly social and good at communicating already. One of the developers who was being interviewed said he would rather have a good 3D artist who is a good communicator than a very talented 3D artist who is socially inept. Of course I can’t bank on that and think I just need to be decent at design I will try and reach the highest level I can.
Make sure to learn Sketchbook or Krita while you’re at it.
Also, Lynda.com has some great crash courses for all sorts of stuff.
Their bait and switch tactics makes it really hard to want to sign up (it’s down right sleazy), but once you swallow that pill the content is actually really amazing!
If you mean “digital-painting instead of pencil-drawings”, then yes. If you mean “sketchbook pro” instead of “photoshop”, then I didn’t get the memo, and I don’t know many other artists using it either. Imho photoshop and painter still are the most used by far.
Thanks guys! I’ve ordered a drawing tablet off amazon. And yes I meant in terms of hand sketching not photoshop. A lot of job requirements list 3DS Max and photoshop. The only thing at university they may want people to sketch by hand… i will ask them.
Hi Pvprod. It’s great to hear you want to get in to game development. There’s always room for more talented artists.
I was a professor at the Guildhall@Smu for 9 years, developing artists (2d, 3d, animation, code, etc) and would certainly encourage you in that direction. They have over 650 alumni in 250 game studios. You’ll learn everything (art) you need to know in 2 years (and production, design, team development, etc). Smu is located in Texas, so that may not work in your plans, but thought you might want to know. Feel free to pm me if you have further questions on it.
