FAQ

Ok, since I get so many emails asking me the same questions over and over again I decided to write a faq section and I will be updating it ever so often.

1. Q: How do you draw, can you teach me?

A: No, but I can show you my technique.

2. Q: I want to do what you do and be a character artist for video games, how do I do that?

A: If you want to do what I do you HAVE to have talent, you HAVE to know how to draw in 2d, and know If you want to see what a portfolio of a character artists looks like visit my friends links:

Character Artist:

http://www.jenny3d.com/
http://picapixcel.boo.jp/

Animators:

http://www.sethswanson.com/
http://www.mechanicaldemon.com/

Another site that may be able to answer your questions:

http://www.dperry.com/

1. Q: How did you get into the industry?:

A: I've been in the video game industry for 12 going on 13 years, when I started 3D was just submerging. I

myself had only my 2D portfolio (2D drawings)
and Interplay Prod. was very impressed with what they saw unfortunetly they were having a hiring freeze and

couldn't hire me at that time, they said to check back in a couple of months. I just knew a simple 2D program

called DPaint using 16 colors!

After a couple of weeks I was running out of money so I got desperate and called them up and asked if there

were any other jobs there I could do, I even offered to answer phones or clean toilets! the art director

laughed and said to come in and see him. He put me on the computer to cut out digitizied space ships for Star

Trek for the PC. I have been in the industry since.

Things have changed in the industry now but if you show promise, dedication and passion it will take you a

long way. While at Midway I was Lead Character artist and we were looking for an animator, there was this one

guy who worked at a bank and was fresh out of school, he was soo determined (and he showed promise) that he

kept calling and re-submitting new animations constantly, he was very driven, well we decided to hire him and

under the right guidance he became an awesome animator! after Midway closed he went on to Lucas Arts.

There have been other cases of people that have worked there way up from test, just let your supervisor know

that someday you want to be such a and such and work towards that goal, you can befriend an artist or

animator or whomever and learn all you can.

I also highly recommend learning 3D, I know people who are scary talented at 2D and cannot get a position

because lack of 3D skills. I believe 2D skills are more important because you can learn 3D much easier than

2D. My recommended package would be Maya. I learned in 3DMax 2.5, then the company switched over to Maya and

it was a breeze! after Midway closed I got a job at Stormfront Studios (LOTR for PS2), after I accepted the

job I found out that the core people that worked on LOTR all went to EA (Electronic Arts). I was bummed but

thankfully I knew a couple of people there who submitted my CD to the right people and I was called in for an

interview and then was offered a job to work on "Return of the King" (LOTR) for PS2!

I know this is a lot of info about myself but hopefully this will help someone somewhere cos I gotta tell ya,

it's all worth it, the work is the best and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. If you want to go to

school I also recommend that although I'm not sure which one, it all depends on what you want to do.

Here is a questionairre that I did for an aspiring student:

1. How old were you when you started to design and what skills did you know (like html and stuff)?

What do you mean by design? my own characters? I can't remember, it was when I was a little girl. My first job in the industry was at Interplay and I had only 2d experience, that was all.

2. If someone doesn't know alot about computer programs or programming, what job wouldn't you reccomend in the gaming industry?

None, there would be none, unless you are a kick ass 2d artist you might be able to get in a company as a concept artist if you know someone, but the chances of that are very slim, my Brother is a kick ass 2d artist and he's been un-emplyed for 2 years, it all depends on who you know and if you happen to be at the right place at the right time.

3. What one would you reccomend?

Which what would I reccomend? I'm guessing programming or design, it depends on what your skill set is. Also Design and what I do are two completely different jobs, I do art designers design the game, two totally different jobs.

4. Whats your job pay?

Quite a bit but I worked hard to get here and it really depends on you and what company you work for.

5. How often do you get to design a game? (Like, do you basically have jobs lined up, one after the other, or do you like, wait about a week or two before a new work?)

As I said before, I'm not a game designer, I'm a character artist, but at EA if you are a good designer you just go onto the next project.

6. Is this work hard?

The work can be hard if you don't know what you are doing but I have been doing it for awhile and I'm confident in my skills, however the crunch time can be a bit stressful but I'd rather be doing that than working at a job I hate.

7. If something where, if you screw up, the whole team screws up?

It depends on what you do and which part of the team your work affects.

8. Or is this something that you can kinda, lay back on and take your time?

Not if you want your game to ship. The atmosphere is very laid back but we work hard to get the game out in time.

9. Do you basically have one series of games to develop? Cause I noticed that you have said you only worked on LOTR games and Gladiator, I think...

I have worked on at least 30 games, the most was at Interplay. Being at Midway/Atari was tough, I worked on a lot of games but they all got canned, not a very stable company, the time is takes to make a video game is anywhere from 1-4 years, so while at EA the one and a half year I'vebeen there I have worked on 2 games, ROTK and Third Age.

10. Start at a small company, like, one of the not-so well known design companies, or, shoot high, like Lucasarts or EA?

Well, you have to have experience to get into EA unless you join the internship but then you have to be fresh out of school, a smaller company amy be easier to get into but generally smaller companies aren't as secure, it really depends on the company.

11. What video game college would you reccomend right now?
I didn't know that they had any video game colleges so I really can't say.

12. I know that you design characters (lead designer, right?) but how do you cope with others of the team, like, maybe a lower-'ranked' designer or someone doing programming?

I am not a lead, I used to be at Midway but I don't want to be at EA because you do more of putting out fires than you do art and I want to do art. It's all about teamwork, I do my job and I do it best I know how and try to work with others because it's a really small world and someday you may run into that someone again down the road, it's always good to be professional. I mostly work with just the character artist but I do like to go and chat with the designers a lot and see what's up, it's differnt everywhere you go, at a smaller company I had to work directly with programmers and designers but not at EA, sometimes I have to workl with the riggers ( guys who bind the skeleton to the 3d mesh).

13. About how much do you do in a game? Like, do you design all the characters, or most of the ones you will fight // talk to?

It depends on the game, at Midway I was lead character artist so I concepted built textured and even made my own skeletons and bound them myself, at EA it's different, I just model and texture characters and sometimes a little concepting, I also help out otheres since I am a senior artist with tasks if they are not able to get to them.

Whew, I hope that answers a lot of questions that I get asked over and over again.