Category: Professional practice

Assignment 1 – Reflective Research Blog

girvin-c1 on

Environment artist

The job I have chosen to research is an environment artist. An environment artist is responsible for backgrounds and environments, such as buildings, foliage, furniture and landscapes. They are typically responsible for creating and texturing assets, referencing from storyboards, creating ‘blockouts’ and researching for references. They also work in such software as maya, zbrush, unreal engine and unity.

While researching this job I was able to find a Graduate Environment Artist role at Ubisoft. This role advises having only 1 year of experience in an internship or placement year, Which I intend to do. This role is located at the Ubisoft studios in Newcastle upon Tyne. If I were to ever apply to this studio, it wouldn’t be much of a hassle to move as I lived there for a year while studying, so I already have experience there and know my way around the city.

Ubisoft is a French videogame development company founded in 1986. Its is currently the third most valuable independent development company and is built up of 26 studios divided across 18 countries. It is also the second largest developer to have a large amount of staff; 6900. Ubisoft have developed some of the most popular franchises in gaming, including; Far cry, assassins creed, Tom Clancy, Rayman, Watchdogs, The division and are currently working on an open world Star Wars game.

Some of the responsibilities within this role are:

  • With guidance, assist in planning out the space, with consideration of narrative and visual storytelling, while documenting intentions
  • Create functional assets, which can be shared across the project in respect of the technical and artistic constraints
  • Ensure the technical and artistic quality of the project by collaborating with Technical Artists and Senior Artists, and make changes when necessary
  • Implement and incorporate feedback from Art Director and project leads into work

Here are some of the required skills and knowledge:

  • Good interpersonal and communication skills;
  • Ability to create interesting, detailed and visually appealing environments;
  • Ability to adapt to new processes and pipelines;
  • Working knowledge of industry leading 3D modelling packages and techniques;
  • Understanding of composition visual story telling;
  • Knowledge of level editors;

Artist research:

The artist I have decided to research is Anthony Vaccaro, who is an environment artist that worked on some of my favourite games including, The last of us part 2, Uncharted 3/4/the lost legacy and Halo Reach. He started his career at Bungie working on Halo Reach after graduating and obtaining his bachelor degree in Video Game Art & Design. After leaving bungie he then joined Naughty dog and has been working there for the past 7 years.

Anthony Vaccaro’s portfolio:

https://www.artstation.com/autocon

When creating a portfolio for this role I came across a post by Jared Sobotta who is also an environmental artist at naughty dog studios. Within this post he described how to create an effective portfolio. Firstly its important to keep your portfolio solely focused on the role you actually want. As Environmental artist are responsible for things like modelling, texturing and lighting, it wouldn’t make sense to then include things like character design or animation. Its also important to keep a consistent quality throughout the portfolio. For example adding in work from the past when your skills weren’t as developed. This will not show your potential and hurt your chances of getting an interview. You also shouldn’t include any work in progress or unfinished work. Its also a good idea to tailor your portfolio to the style of games you like, to show the studio you have a similar art style to them. Other areas to consider in your portfolio are: originality, composition, lighting and workflow.

 

Research, design choices and development towards industry facing materials

 

CV:

I went with a more simple design for my CV as I didn’t want to make it extravagant or crowded as I thought this would be too distracting to anyone reading. I think this helps keep it more clear and concise. Firstly I took a look at a few examples of CV’s so I could start thinking of how I wanted to lay mine out. Once I knew I wanted to have a banner on the left side I tried to land a colour. First I chose green as i thought it felt more natural on the eye and also gives off a positive feel. I later decided to change it too purple. This was to help it stand out more as purple is a more vibrant colour creating a better contrast, plus purple is also my favourite colour. After this I started planning how I would lay out my information. On the banner I would include my name, role, contact details, skills and a link to my portfolio. On the main body of the CV I wanted to display a profile, my experience, education and software experience. For the software experience section I went for the logos of the software. I thought this would make the CV more visually appealing to the employer. I tired not too include too many as this would become distracting, overcrowd the CV and to maintain a more professional look.

Below is my first draft of my CV and beside it is the finished version.

                   

Cover email:

So for the cover email, again I based it upon the graduate position I found at Ubisoft, since its for the role I’m after. I wanted to keep this short and to the point, as its the first impression you make on an employer I didn’t want to bloat this out with unnecessary information. I split the letter into three sections as advised. The introduction, the main body and conclusion. I tried to keep my grammar and sentence structure very formal to convey a professional appearance. For the introduction I explained, why I was writing to them, How I found the role, and tried to incorporate some flattery by expressing that I have been a fan of Ubisoft for a long time and how I couldn’t miss this opportunity. Within the main body I wrote about my skills and how I had built upon them; relating them back to the job posting to target what they were looking for. I also stated what software I have experience in and that they would be interchangeable to their own in house software. For the conclusion I simply thank the employer for looking over my application and stated that I was hoping to hear their response.

Showreel:

For my showreel I am aiming it towards the role of an environment artist so thought I would follow the advice of Jared Sobotta for the portfolio as it still applies here. So first I gathered shots from different projects I’ve worked on, in both uni and personal work. I took some of my assets into blender and rendered some ‘cinematic’ shots in an attempt to show off the quality. I also done some turn arounds of my assets as well. I then found some music that I thought would fit with the reel. Next I edited the reel so that it would fit with the music and give a better flow, using cuts to fit the rhythm etc. I tried to cut most of the shots short to fit within the time limit and not let the reel feel too long; quickly display the asset, then move on. To finish off, I added title cards to the beginning and end using the tutorial below. The title cards allow you to see through the text to the reel. I feel this gives a nice look and feel right at the beginning without being over the top with any crazy transitions.

Below is a link to the final outcome:

Portfolio:

I decided to include a portfolio which I have created on art station. Following the advice of Jared Sobotta, this portfolio will only include relevant material to my chosen area. For example different assets I have created or environments. I only want to present my best work and at the moment I don’t have a lot to present but I will be working to build up this portfolio over time.

https://www.artstation.com/curtisgirvin7

 

References:

https://www.giantbomb.com/ubisoft-entertainment/3010-82/

https://www.cgspectrum.com/career-pathways/environment-artist

https://cgsociety.org/news/article/3027/how-to-create-a-stunning-portfolio-with-jared-sobotta