I want to get in to game art, make characters and the enviroment, stuff like that. But I'm not sure what kind of school to go to or what classes to take. Is game art the same as game design or does it branch off? Is it visual arts or the same as game animation?

Quote: I want to get in to game art, make characters and the enviroment, stuff like that.

Sounds great. An artist doesn't usually do both, however. Most will wind up specializing.

Quote: But I'm not sure what kind of school to go to or what classes to take.

This depends on what you want to do? Do you want to work towards becoming a conceptual artist? Do you want to build environments? Do you want to model characters? Do you want to be an animator?

Quote: Is game art the same as game design or does it branch off?

Game art and game design are completely different things. Game art consists of the conceptual and utilized art assets of a game. Game design consists of game play, mechanics, and balance. (Over simplification of both)

Different schools will call things drastically different from each other.

Take any drawing and anatomy classes you can find. Painting too, I'd recommend, though it can get a bit messy. Take 3d modeling classes. Take 3d animation as well as 2d animation, if you can. Learn some scripting, HTML at least, some Flash, and maybe there's something more applicable for 3d applications.

The art school I went to had a Character Design subsection of the Design major, so such a program is a possibility. They seemed to do more 2d character design sort of things, though I'm pretty sure they did 3d as well. Other schools might have programs more suited for your particular interests.


I'm assuming you're in high school and looking for a college/university: Look up the art and design programs at schools and read about them, it should all be available on the schools website. Look up the class listings and see what classes are offered and what classes are required for various art/design majors, they should give you a pretty good idea about what you're going to be doing and what you'll get out of the program.

From there you can visit or contact the school to get more information and advice. I imagine most schools would probably set you up with a visit to an academic adviser or something so you can talk about what you want to do and if they have a program that suits your needs.

Quote: But I'm not sure what kind of school to go to or what classes to take.

This depends on what you want to do? Do you want to work towards becoming a conceptual artist? Do you want to build environments? Do you want to model characters? Do you want to be an animator?


I think I have a vague idea of what each of those are , but could you explain them a little better?
I think i might want to get into animation and modeling characters.

Dude, wtf. You just replied to your own topic as if you were somebody else...

Quote: Original post by RyanG
Dude, wtf. You just replied to your own topic as if you were somebody else...

ROTFL!

Actually, he messed up when quoting zer0wolf.


@kiba_89: have you done something with art before? Drawing or painting, or some other creative activity? Ever looked into modifying existing games?

Quote: Original post by kiba_89

Quote: But I'm not sure what kind of school to go to or what classes to take.

This depends on what you want to do? Do you want to work towards becoming a conceptual artist? Do you want to build environments? Do you want to model characters? Do you want to be an animator?


I think I have a vague idea of what each of those are , but could you explain them a little better?
I think i might want to get into animation and modeling characters.

Conceptual artist is an artist who "creates" the idea for a character, a vehicle, a level and draws a sketch.

Modelling characters involves building a 3d character which will be implemented into a game.

Building environments involve building the actual 3d level for the game.

Animation involves riggind a 3d character and animating him. Hope this helps.

Jeez, what are you guys, 10? The OP just accidentally messed up his quote tags.

Quote: I think I have a vague idea of what each of those are , but could you explain them a little better?
I think i might want to get into animation and modeling characters.

A concept artist is generally someone who is really good (and usually fast) at digital painting. Concept artist will figure out what characters will look like, what various props will look like, and what the world as a whole will look like.

A texture artist is someone who has a deep understanding of color and what things look like. A texture artist will create textures and map them to character or props to give them color and depth.

A character modeler is someone who actually builds the characters. They usually have a strong understand of human anatomy.

A character rigger is someone creates a skeleton and connects the character model to it. They will add the various controls and restraints, getting a character ready for animating.

A character animator will take the rigged character and well, animate it.

A prop, or environmental modeler, is the person who models the various things around the character. Whether it be be the sword or gun a character is modeling, or it be the vase sitting on a shelf the character walks by, it was built by a prop or environment artist. This is one of the less glamorous 3d artist jobs, but it allows you to really hone your chops and well, you are creating the world.

There are also level designers, which are a mix between artist and designer usually. In some companies an artist takes on this role, in others designers do. Basically a level designer takes every modeled by everyone else and brings it all together as an actual level to play in. Level designers will often times do a bit of modeling themselves, particularly structural modeling for buildings.

That was a pretty brief synopsis of a myriad of the jobs that game artists do. Depending on the size of a company, you may perform a single one of these roles over an entire (or multiple) games, or you'll fulfill multiple roles in a single project. Generally, the smaller the company, the more hats you wear, and the bigger the company, the less hats you wear.

LOL could not avoid to think in rol games classes/skills/etc... when reading your descriptions zer0wolf.

well i m sort of a traditional/digital artist? , but wath you first want to do is get a good understanding of human antomy and colors, those 2 will set a good base for most things later.