Game Art Design?

<p>I have heard that getting a career in the game and art industry is extremely hard and competitive.
I love games very much, and have even learned many things on my own. People usually say I have a natural talent/gift for it, but if I can't find a career with it, should I just start learning something else? Is it worth majoring in Game Art Design? I don't want to have to gamble for a job...</p>

<p>I like science, and have started thinking of signing up for Biology/Genetics courses, but I still find game art design to be more fun...(another issue being that my parents are basically forcing me to go to a community college, none of which have 3D or Game Design classes.)</p>

<p>Am I better off to just stay with the e-books and e-tutorials for learning game-art design as a side-job, while I study another major?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Pikangle, all of life is a gamble. You really can’t get away from it. Even if you pick some of the more “in demand” jobs, you will be gambling that you will be working for the right firm and get a boss that you get along with. This is particularly true with most artistic fields,which are always harder to get jobs in than certain other fields. My advice is to pick what you like and are good at!</p>

<p>With that said, you can major in game design as part of a computer science program and increase your employability. RIT has a strong game design curriculum. If you want 3D animation for games and want to focus more on the artistic side, Ringling, Pratt, and SVA and CalArts have strong animation programs.</p>

<p>One very good approach is to major in computer science as an undergrad with some 3d work as well at schools such as RIT or Rensselear and then go to Carnegie Melon Graduate program in Entertainment Design. As you can see there are many options.</p>

<p>While “all life is a gamble” is indeed true, it is also true that the art and design industry (very much in video games) is one of the most cut-throat. There’s a reason they have that awful (and many times overgeneralizing + irritating) “starving artist” stereotype…</p>

<p>It’s largely on how the industry works- you don’t really get any kind of constant employment. You’ll get private commission to produce one aspect of a project, or be temporarily hired as part of the team until the project’s done. You’ll always be sniffing out your next job, your next client, etc. And when it’s hard to snag even one, this can be dangerous. It’s all about your skill level- no one cares about where you went to college or got a degree, or even that you did; they want to see a portfolio. If they like your portfolio, you may get hired. You don’t actually even have to go to art college for this- art college is about getting connections and networking and growing from professional critique and guidance, but it’s up to you to eventually produce professional-quality work.
This has equal implication that you could go get an academic degree while self-teaching art. (Heck, I’ve never taken art classes, and I do professional illustration work… It’s all about building skills through years of practice and study, nothin’ more.)</p>

<p>If you’re into Game Art specifically, like concept art, try heading over to the resources on the conceptart.org forum. That place is a goldmine… and the art sections of the forum will show you your competition.
If you mean Game Design as in the concepts for actual gameplay and levels and mechanics, I don’t know. I’m just an illustrator, haha. (Academic career-bent, though. Professor by day, illustrator by night! Ho ho!)</p>

<p>But anyway, I would definitely say Ringling has the best program for Game Art/Design if you do wish to go into it. They’re generally regarded as the best for Computer Animation, and they’ve recently created a Game Art/Design major as well, that I hear is absolutely stunning. A friend of mine goes to Ringling for CA and tells me the GA major is new, but just as strong. I visited, and the work did look solid.</p>

<p>SCAD is excellent. Take a look at their program.
[Savannah</a> College of Art and Design Interactive Design and Game Development Program](<a href=“http://scad.edu/interactive-design-and-game-development]Savannah”>http://scad.edu/interactive-design-and-game-development)</p>

<p>In a 2008 survey conducted by the Los Angeles Times of game industry recruiters, SCAD was ranked in the Top Ten of over 300 programs.</p>

<p>Thanks alot everyone. I think I’ll probably stick to Game art and design now.</p>

<p>I do think college is sort of a nuisance for me, because well… I honestly think I don’t need all of the classes that are required for degrees(though I still need to learn about using 3D programs), so it kind of feels like I’d just be paying for a degree itself…</p>

<p>I may just go for a certificate, or start a portfolio already.</p>

<p>Thanks alot for your encouragement!</p>

<p>I forgot to mention Digipen in Redmonds Washington. They specialize in game design.</p>