The role of a game artist is to take the 2D or 3D assets and bring them to life by making them move. They are within the pipeline within the gaming production after the concept art and art design stage.
Many game artists will specialise in one or more of these areas as game development becomes increasingly sophisticated. The extent of the role also depends on the size of the studio and project.
During their career, you might take on different positions within an animation, modeling or assets team, leading to an ever-increasing deeper understanding of the process.
During my time in my Bachelor, I specialised in Game Arts on my animation course, as I didn’t feel confident in my skills as an animator and also always had an attraction to understand the gaming industry. Upon learning that within the gaming industry, there were a plethora of sub-roles that you could do I was in awe.
However during the games art pathway I found out that the roles that I was interested in (concept art and character design) were one of the most competitive roles in the industry, which caused me to struggle to land a job after I graduated.
Currently, in this time, the majority of game artists specialise in 3D animation/modelling as well as it is extremely competitive. Not only that but seeing the high news of layoffs in both the animation and gaming industry the search for an entry-level job has gotten even harder.
However, there are still pathways within the gaming industry even if you specialise in 2D animation or in a similar role such as an illustrator, texturing artist for 2D and 3D assets and a visual effects artist ( this can also then lead to not just the gaming industry but also the TV and film industry.