Question: what should game art course curriculum focus on - artistic or technical skills?
Answer is seemingly obvious. Most software related knowledge tends to become obsolete within years of appearance. I remember my father telling me how back in high school they were taught some derivative of Fortran programming language in their computer science classes. I'm sure they weren't called "comp sci" back in 70-80's, but oh well. The point is that by the time he graduated, machines they used to code for were completely obsolete. Fast forward another ten or so years, to the 90's, and behold the beginning of the era of personal computers. Is Fortran useful now to anyone who used to learn it thirty years ago? Probably not very much, since even some major programming principles have changed, not even speaking about invention of object-oriented environments.
So, knowledge of specific software becomes garbage quite fast. However, in learning it students acquire awareness of some basic principles. Underneath all programming languages lie basic mathematical logic that George Boole has established more than a century ago. Boolean logic is applied anywhere from said Fortran to C++, so it doesn't really matter what language to start with, since it is easy to learn a new syntax and apply similar a coding approach.
This goes for art as well. Same rules of composition, colour compatibility, lighting, perspective apply to fine art, industrial design, graphic design, and game art. There are nuances, but basis is the same. And apparently, a lot of artists who worked on well known games were working in different art-related fields before. Vikor Antonov, who worked on Half-Life 2 and Dishonored, used to study transport design. Gilles Beloeil, who is a lead concept artist at Ubisoft, worked mostly in film and TV industry before his current job.
So, does it mean that anyone from art background can go on and become a game artist? Well, it might be true for a concept artist position, but unfortunately, without proper knowledge of real-time 3d visualization, it is not realistic. If I learned anything from the group project, it is that people need to understand why they are required to do some apparently useless actions like staying within budget, making collisions and creating proper geometry, etc.
And unfortunately, to understand these concepts of efficient modelling, artists are required to learn the skills that become obsolete fast, like how to use 3d creation programs. I doubt that great masters of the past like Leonardo da Vinci could create amazing game assets without learning how to use a computer and 3d software first. But who knows, he was a genius after all. Seriously, though - no.
Returning to the question posed in the beginning - what should game art course focus on in it's curriculum? I guess on creating a balance between teaching artistic skills and technical skills. Without proper creativity, even the most technically efficient artists assets will look bland, and vice versa - amazing artist will not be able to create engine-ready objects without understanding of efficient work flow.
In regards to our course, I feel that Game Production needs to give more in-depth information about technology behind what we do - explaining how collisions are being calculated, how normal maps work, ways to make efficient use of hardware, etc. I wold add some basic programming as well. Coding our own shaders and using Max Script can be quite useful.
Visual Design, on the other hand, needs more direction in regards to how to draw. I feel that a lot of students mainly learn drawing techniques from each other, and not from the material provided on blackboard\from the lecturer. We all can look at objects and draw until our hands fall off, but some people, including myself, would benefit from more guidance.
Answer is seemingly obvious. Most software related knowledge tends to become obsolete within years of appearance. I remember my father telling me how back in high school they were taught some derivative of Fortran programming language in their computer science classes. I'm sure they weren't called "comp sci" back in 70-80's, but oh well. The point is that by the time he graduated, machines they used to code for were completely obsolete. Fast forward another ten or so years, to the 90's, and behold the beginning of the era of personal computers. Is Fortran useful now to anyone who used to learn it thirty years ago? Probably not very much, since even some major programming principles have changed, not even speaking about invention of object-oriented environments.
So, knowledge of specific software becomes garbage quite fast. However, in learning it students acquire awareness of some basic principles. Underneath all programming languages lie basic mathematical logic that George Boole has established more than a century ago. Boolean logic is applied anywhere from said Fortran to C++, so it doesn't really matter what language to start with, since it is easy to learn a new syntax and apply similar a coding approach.
This goes for art as well. Same rules of composition, colour compatibility, lighting, perspective apply to fine art, industrial design, graphic design, and game art. There are nuances, but basis is the same. And apparently, a lot of artists who worked on well known games were working in different art-related fields before. Vikor Antonov, who worked on Half-Life 2 and Dishonored, used to study transport design. Gilles Beloeil, who is a lead concept artist at Ubisoft, worked mostly in film and TV industry before his current job.
So, does it mean that anyone from art background can go on and become a game artist? Well, it might be true for a concept artist position, but unfortunately, without proper knowledge of real-time 3d visualization, it is not realistic. If I learned anything from the group project, it is that people need to understand why they are required to do some apparently useless actions like staying within budget, making collisions and creating proper geometry, etc.
And unfortunately, to understand these concepts of efficient modelling, artists are required to learn the skills that become obsolete fast, like how to use 3d creation programs. I doubt that great masters of the past like Leonardo da Vinci could create amazing game assets without learning how to use a computer and 3d software first. But who knows, he was a genius after all. Seriously, though - no.
Returning to the question posed in the beginning - what should game art course focus on in it's curriculum? I guess on creating a balance between teaching artistic skills and technical skills. Without proper creativity, even the most technically efficient artists assets will look bland, and vice versa - amazing artist will not be able to create engine-ready objects without understanding of efficient work flow.
In regards to our course, I feel that Game Production needs to give more in-depth information about technology behind what we do - explaining how collisions are being calculated, how normal maps work, ways to make efficient use of hardware, etc. I wold add some basic programming as well. Coding our own shaders and using Max Script can be quite useful.
Visual Design, on the other hand, needs more direction in regards to how to draw. I feel that a lot of students mainly learn drawing techniques from each other, and not from the material provided on blackboard\from the lecturer. We all can look at objects and draw until our hands fall off, but some people, including myself, would benefit from more guidance.
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