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I plan to leave tech to pursue art

liamhz.com

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Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#131

Post by jayd16 »

djha-skin wrote: post #16

> In the near future I want to become a concept artist in the games industry Worst industry ever by all the accounts I've heard. Part of the compensation package is that you are working in the gaming industry. Long hours, lousy pay, ill treatment. Go for the art mate but pursue a different industry.

Concept artists are usually contractors early in dev, not part of the death marches at the end.

But also in general it's not that hard to work in games and avoid crunch. Just respect yourself and don't let the trappings trap you. There's always other studios that will treat you better.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#132

Post by Fricken »

dumpsterdiver wrote: post #38
JKCalhoun wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not worried about competition from "AI art" — am I just stupid and ill-informed? Pursuing game concept-art though appears to me to be a drag simply because of the sameness of it. I know the author of the article thinks it's become a wide open field for creativity but my eye stills see the same fantasy-super-hero-manga genre that probably keeps computer games from being seen as deserving of being called "art" to s…

The thing I find frightening about AI image generation is the speed of iteration. Some of the images generated by Midjourney within seconds would take a human artist quite a long time to create. You can take a complete work from a paid human artist and run it through some prompts to get closer to the result you were looking for while retaining most of the original work. Even if AI don't completely displace concept ar…

As Artists gain the ability to do more with less standards and expectations will change. The arrival of the printing press, the photograph, and the rise of digital effects were all ineffectual at putting artists out of work.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#133

Post by ilyt »

badpun wrote: post #102
tjr225 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet if you don’t have an audience, what is the point? Even the most outsider artists managed to gather a following some way or the other. It isn’t just happenstance.

Don't caring about audience doesn't mean not having an audience. But, caring about an audience, by definition means creating derivative commercial works of low value. It works in business, but not in art (unless your goal is to just make money and/or be famous).

Uh, just no.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#134

Post by nigma1337 »

tjr225 wrote: post #93
badpun wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you describe is not art, it's derivative commercial products that use "art" skills. True artist almost by definition does not care about audience, or tries to predict what they will like.

And yet if you don’t have an audience, what is the point? Even the most outsider artists managed to gather a following some way or the other. It isn’t just happenstance.

If nobody watches me play video games, what is the point?

That i enjoy it.

Some people enjoy doing art.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#136

Post by aatd86 »

Before there was a market for Art, it used to be heavily subsidized by rich people. It was basically contract work. (Medicis etc).

As long as you find that there is a vibrant market, go for it. But otherwise I would keep it a hobby and try to get wealthy enough to retire and only then, do it full time.

The best would be to be able to associate your hobby and your jobs so that your jobs feels like a hobby but also pays the bills.

The obvious intersection between visual arts and programming is video game making for instance.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#137

Post by Aromasin »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #129
pacija wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, "following the dream" is a failed concept. It means I know what I want, which might look true but it isn't. Currently I try not to dream. I try to be awake, and open to whatever comes my way. Some things that come to me I never dreamed of, and they are much better than anything I could imagine.

An interesting philosophy I have seen in others but find myself unable to embrace. I have friends I admire that are more like a leaf on a stream. I suppose by the same analogy I feel more inclined to be the salmon lest the stream take me to some stagnant pool.

If we're going on analogies, I'd be a crayfish. Happy to go as the river takes me, but I'll migrate if pickings become scarce. Avionics took me far until COVID. When the weather got stormy I was quite happy to jump ship.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#138

Post by boppo1 »

willjp wrote: post #60
LiamHz wrote: post #29

Hi! I'm the author of this post -- it was an unlisted draft that I shared with a few friends, was planning to rewrite most of this before publishing. Please forgive the rough edges Main changes I'd make to this article - Agreed with others that I might be naive, but I'm 20 y/o and now's the right time to shoot for my dreams rather than settle - I'm applying to animation school soon (Sheridan). I started coding when I…

Enjoy your studies! Sheridan is a good place. As a third option, you'll find many opportunities in the industry as a hybrid artist/coder "TD" jobs if that area holds any appeal. Larger salaries are possible if you are dedicated and are willing/able to travel to where the high profile work is being done. My only advice would be to research the available jobs, and if you can, visit a studio or two so that you are going…

Can you expand on TD roles and where how to break in? I sort of fit the bill.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#139

Post by Deegy »

LiamHz wrote: post #29

Hi! I'm the author of this post -- it was an unlisted draft that I shared with a few friends, was planning to rewrite most of this before publishing. Please forgive the rough edges Main changes I'd make to this article - Agreed with others that I might be naive, but I'm 20 y/o and now's the right time to shoot for my dreams rather than settle - I'm applying to animation school soon (Sheridan). I started coding when I…

Have you heard of generative art? It's a very cool form of art that combines visual artistry and computer programming. With your skillset it could be an interesting avenue to pursue.

The scene is exploding on the blockchain right now. Lots of demand for this work.

Re: I plan to leave tech to pursue art

#140

Post by LegitShady »

Borrible wrote: post #111
aiappreciator wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think an 'art department' is still needed? The only reason why in-house art departments are needed, is because previously its hard to communicate 'exactly what you want' to an artist, hence in-housing to reduce communication friction. In the future, the marketing guy, can just create a draft/visual guide through AI, and send it to some outsourced artist to refine. The outsourced artist can be from any coun…

I heard a talk last week from a co-founder of a social first agency who no longer hires storyboarders because it's cheaper and faster for his agency to make them themselves with freely available generative AI. They also use AI tools for creative direction and text generation.

Before you declare this important find out if the product is any good. Any sweatshop can cut some jobs and replace them with a shit ai artist but how are the storyboards and how do they translate into the final product. There are many companies that do foolish things to replace a cheaply paid artist because they can't see past the savings and into how it affects the product.

If their storyboarder could be replaced completely by AI they needed a better one.

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