game art portfolios

It used to be that all you needed to get into the game industry was a basic knowledge of a 3d app, and it’s true and unfortunate that many schools out there still teach this. When it comes to game art there are actually several specialty areas that studios actively recruit for. These areas are based on 2d as well as 3d skills and can be very narrowly focused.

Specialty areas can differ among studios but some of the most common are: Concept Artists, Texture/Material Artists, Shader Artists , FX Artists, User Interface Artists or UI Artists, Environment Artists, Level Builders or Level Designers, Character Designers/Modelers, Riggers or Technical Animators, Animators and even hybrid roles that bridge different specialties like a Character modeler/rigger. There are also roles of management within the art dept like: Sr. Artist, Lead or Art Director. Additionally, there are some roles that are specifically for support like the Technical Artist. This is just a sample of the most common roles. But how does all of this apply to my game art portfolio?

Studios are looking for talent to place within these groups and it’s important that your portfolio showcase a specialty so that a potential employer knows what it is that you want to do or what you’re good at. So, if you like modeling anything and everything you might structure your portfolio in such a way as to sell yourself as an Environment Artist. If you like modeling people or creatures you’ll want to pitch yourself as a Character Artist.

If your portfolio is all over the place and shows a little bit of everything, you run the risk of being hard to place. Also, it’s very difficult to be excellent at every art discipline, there are a few out there, but better to be a Master of One than a Jack of all Trades. Because, with the competition that’s out there; it’s likely that a candidate with a highly focused portfolio is going to snag that open seat.

If you love all aspects of game art and can’t decide what to do, review your work and look at what you do the best. That might be the area that gets you in the door at a studio. After that you can more easily explore different areas of interest.