Ideal Job role

I've pretty much always wanted to make a career as a concept artist. As I said in my last post, I made it my goal when I was around 13 or so after being inspired by some awesome concept art for video games and I knew then what I wanted. Video games had always been inspiring me to draw anyway, but at that age it never really occurred to me that I could actually make a career out of art, back then, I didn't even realize that such a job existed in the games industry. To me, it seemed like the coolest thing at the time, the idea of being able to draw the things you love for a living while getting paid for it was really ideal, and to be honest, it still is now.

It's safe to say that 6 years on, I think I still want to be a concept artist. Well, not entirely. The idea that you get draw whatever you like or enjoy isn't entirely true. There's always going to be those specific jobs or projects that you don't enjoy doing, just like certain projects here at university, and the same can be said for most areas of work. But something that has occurred to me after years of drawing and moving towards my goals is that you could not survive in this industry if you treat it like some kind of ordinary day job. It has to be something you are genuinely passionate about if you hope to succeed and move forward.

Usually, I try not to think about money when assessing the direction I take my art. I don't want thoughts of money or financial stability dictating the direction that I take. Sometimes I feel as though I ought to be doing things differently, painting this way rather than that, just satisfy some kind of criteria that will perhaps improve my chances of me get me a job as a concept artist. For me, there is always an internal conflict between moving in a direction that will help me land a job, or moving towards my own personal goals. Honestly, I think money should be a bi-product of doing what you love, especially with art.

While studying at university I have come to the conclusion that having a job in the games industry is not the be all and end all. Since I started, I have less of an idea of what I'd like to be doing when I finish, as the idea of working as a concept artist is much less appealing to me than before I came to university. Personally I feel that even if I never land a job in the games industry, I'll always be satisfied so long as I'm in a position where I can create art and improve. Right now though, I just want to get better at painting. My current goal is aiming to improve the work I do from imagination by applying all the fundamentals I have been learning from producing studies. I think that with time, and as I become more confident in my abilities to create good art, I will have a better idea of what I would like to do post graduation.

To conclude, I think that rather than narrow down what I would like to do as a career, my experiences at university have instead forced me to question how I would really feel about working in the games industry as an artist. In some ways, it would be nice to have an income from creating art, however I have to remember that if I want to be successful as an artist then money cannot be the top priority. I feel that if I were to get a job in the games industry for the sake of having a job and income, that I would not necessarily be happy, and for this reason I think it would be best for me to have more time on improving my art and thinking about what I would like to do before I come to any conclusions on an ideal job role. At this present time, I am focusing on the fundamentals.