Hi,
I’ve got a pretty strong background in illustration, I’m not at the level of a comic book artist or a concept artist, but the skills I have are sufficient to do pretty much anything to reasonable standard in the art pipeline.
I also have a fair amount of experience in programming, such as Java and C++.
Because I have this dual skillset, I have found it difficult to nail what/where on the pipeline should aim, the “I’m a generalist” tactic hasn’t worked very well for me, and whilst having a conversation with someone else who was a competent artist and scripter he said that he just advertises himself as a 3D environment artist and then just mentions that he do other tasks and does them when they need to be done as he’s going.
I really enjoy using the Unreal Engine, I want to specialize in the part of the pipeline that uses the engine, mainly blueprints, materials, level design and I really want to be at the center of the project communicating with artists and programmers, making sure the pieces fit and picking up any slack from the center. So I think that I should re-work my portfolio and specifically target the position of technical artist and build my skills up around that, people get confused when I tell them that I can draw and program, like it’s not possible or something.
Personally I don’t enjoy the competitiveness of concept art, its a very narrow focus, with many people able to only do either characters or environments and have little time for technical skills outside of that, I enjoy drawing a few times a week but I find it not so pleasurable to be constantly trying to force oneself to overcome creative blocks.
I think technical artist is a good goal for me, please give me your comments and advice I could get to achieve this position.