I currently study Art, photography and history at A-level, and hope to go to uni after completing an Art&design foundation course, to then do an Art degree. I enjoy being creative and drawing, and i want to put this too use in my future career in game development. However, i have a lot of questions about where i would actually fit in on a dev team with a skill in drawing. I understand that game development is a team effort, and we all must rely on each other, but i have so many ideas up in my head that i too would like to use in drawings and art for games. I don't like the sound of being told exactly what the developers want, then have to interpretate it into a drawing. If this is the case then i guess it wouldn't be too bad and i'd deal with it, i was just wondering if theres anyway an artist can get a place in designing settings too? Obviously your career path will take you in many directions but i'm wondering if there are any artists out there who design too?

Try taking a look here - IGDA Credited Roles - and read through the various positions listed under Art.

The amount of influence you have on the work you do as an artist depends on a variety of things:

1. The size of the team.
2. How high up the totem pole you are.
3. How open to individual contribution your leadership is (team culture).
4. How good your ideas are.

Every team is different. You'll tend to have the most creative influence in smaller, more experienced teams as an artist. Smaller because with less people, every person's contributions are a bigger piece of the pie, and more experienced because more experienced developers are going to have a better grasp on the benefits of strong collaboration within the team.

1. i was just wondering if theres anyway an artist can get a place in designing settings too?
2. i'm wondering if there are any artists out there who design too?

1. Are you saying you want to be an Environment Artist? If so, that's fine, go for that.
2. There are.

There's a big key on your keyboard labeled "Shift." Learn to use it.

...i was just wondering if theres anyway an artist can get a place in designing settings too? Obviously your career path will take you in many directions but i'm wondering if there are any artists out there who design too?

Yes, Concept Artists and Environment Artist are two roles that might suit. However you will need to work your way up to these jobs and that means starting out doing what others want you to do and interpreting the needs of the game design.