Career paths

[marque_pierre]

Hi guys,

Most of the entry level jobs in art or design seems to be as environment modeller with texturing responsibilities.

So where do you go from there? I suppose once you have been building and dressing level geometry, the gap to laying them out game play wise is not too great, or perhaps specialize in modelling/texture work instead.

Pros have told me that the highest paid people on the art team will be animators and character artists. So there seems to be a distinction in status and experience between environment and character artists?!

So as we progress in our careers, I suppose we either move up (Lead Artist), sideways (switching to another field) or perhaps specialize deeply in the same field.

I know there are still many shops where everybody does everything depending on needs and all, that but I'd like for the pros on these shores to comment on the career paths in art(/design) as they see them.

For example, as a texture artist, is it possible to specialize in texturing ONLY? Like Lead Texture Artist or something else? Or is texture artist (to keep with that example) just a phase in the normal progression of an artists career trajectory?

[Schmung]

I imagine that (as you mentioned) it depends entirely on company, somewhere big might well have lead texture artists, but smaller teams will just ahve art directors and a bunch of people who do various things. Should be interesting to hear the reality of things though.