I want to become a CG Artist: what should I do?
Jean-Eric Hénault on CG Channel gives some brief but useful hint to one of the most asked question in the Digital Arts field.
I want to become a CG Artist: what do I need to know?
This is my dream!! my life, i like the design, the graphic, the animations, all about CG, but i have a big problem…. my english is not very good, and i don´t have Visa or passport, because in my country isn´t easy obtain it.
Being such a vast field, the most wise answer would be a set of questions helping in narrowing the broad focus:
Why do you like Computer Graphics so much? What kind of skills would you like to develop? Modeling, painting, animation or Design?
A useful breakdown of some disciplines involved in CG follows from Hènault:
[...]the concept design [...] is a form of creative process where you apply technical knowledge to design something.
Painting in comparison has a very different goal. Many paintings strive for realism. But others, more abstract, are only design to please the senses and emotions.
In film, broadcast and game development, design can be applied in many ways. It can be to design the latest space-ship in Star Wars, designing a signature logo for a popular TV show or it could also be to design an environment, a character or a prop on a game level for example. [...]
In game and film design, painting is used in many ways. For example, a painter could play the role of a designer, and paint a scene based on the director’s input. Establish a setting, a mood, an atmosphere into a shot.
An other form of painting is refered to as “Matte Painting”, the whole concept is to create a painting that will be used as a backdrop or as a set extension to fool the eye into believing the painting is real and blends it with the rest of the scene.
Read the full discussion thread at: CG Channel Forum
