So, I've been doing a lot 3D stuff in the last few years.

I can draw realistically (I like doing life drawing a lot). This isn't that real, though...

And I can do silly things like this!

Which style should I work on? Which would you like to see more of? I'm really close to graduating, so it'd be cool to see what the masses like.
Posts
Yep. I originally thought I'd go into developing games, but I honestly don't have that much fun with 3D. So, I've decided I rather go into graphic design. Or I could even do concept for a game company.
I'm honestly keeping it really general right now, and just applying everywhere I can work. I'll focus on what I really want to do once I start getting experience.
EDIT: I just saw that you went to SCAD. I almost went to the Atlanta campus.
Thanks.
There are also more 3d jobs out there then there are concept artist jobs. It is pretty absurdly hard to work full time doing concept art. There are more brain surgeons in the US then there are full time concept artists.
This quote worried me though -
"I'm honestly keeping it really general right now, and just applying everywhere I can work. I'll focus on what I really want to do once I start getting experience."
Most jobs in any artistic field require a great deal of skill, and if you don't focus in on exactly what you want and work toward polishing your skills in that area, then you might not develop the level of skill needed to get a job.
Thanks a lot for the advice.
Don't worry about the "keeping it general" thing. I didn't mean in what type of art I'm focusing on. I just meant in the job market. Such as I'm about to graduate, so I'm just trying to get a job in anything I can do, because I'm aware that I can't just get whatever job I want straight out of school. I'll definitely still keep up my work with 3D and everything else I do.
Agreed completely.
You can't be an "artistic generalist" and expect to land jobs in graphic design, concept development, game development, etc. Just the things you listed are crazy different in terms of the skill sets required to do the job, and to do the job well. Not only in terms of artistic/creative skill, but in technical skill.
If graphic design is what you're interested in, have you done any graphic design? You need to. Maybe create some website templates, some logo designs, brochure designs, etc. for practice.
Either way, here's some more of my work.
3D
Life drawing
Digital
...but regardless, you should definitely post some graphic design work, like NibCrom suggested.
I guess what I meant be graphic design; I just mean 2D stuff. I don't know how I started calling that graphic design. Sorry for the horrible choice of words.
"2d stuff" is a ridiculously open-ended sort of job title
I'm not totally sure yet. Like I said, I'm just looking for any job right now that I'm applicable for. Once I start getting more experience, then I'll start looking specifically for what I want.
If I had to pick now, I'd actually love to be a texture artist for games. I've worked on big projects where my partner would model everything, and I'd texture everything. It was really fun.
You don't have to pigeon hole yourself to do this, but you do need to work towards actual jobs. Put some time into defining your art terms correctly, and figuring out what skills those real jobs actually require. Once you have two or three jobs begin exercising and improving those skills daily.
If you want to be a texture artist, apply as a texture artist
if you want to do graphic design and layout, apply as a graphic designer
If I was hiring for a graphic design position and got two applicants, one who billed himself as a texture artist or painter and one who said they were "real good at 2d stuff", guess which one I'd go for
You don't have to be an expert, but have some confidence in yourself and spend time learning your craft. Don't apologize or explain, be knowledgeable about the work you want and the field you're trying to enter. I know it is hard to be just starting out and not knowing where your interests lie or what you want to do as a career, but if you're trying to get experience, go into the place ready to sell yourself as the person ready to do the job they're hiring for.
If you want to be a texture artist, do a lot of texture painting. Learn how to unwrap and arrange UVs, get experience with normal, specular, diffuse and alpha mapping techniques, how to create trim and material sheets, how to create tiling textures and decals, glow maps, and learn the lexicon of the field.
If you want to be a graphics designer, get experience doing graphics design. Learn about typography, the history of the field, the different programs and applications. Learn motion graphics, logo design, print and web design. Practice. Be knowledgeable and confident in your skills. You don't have to be the best in the world, but you have to sell your potential employers in your ability to perform the tasks they're looking to hire you for, and once you haev the job you can learn more about the field as you go. There's not a working artist in the world that doesn't learn more about their craft every day on the job, but none of them got regular work by trying to just do, I dunno, some 2d stuff. They got it by demonstrating their skills to people that lacked those skills or the time to perform them but had the funds to hire someone who did.
Right now, my partner and I are working on our senior game project. I'm doing some modeling, but I'm mostly focusing on designing and texturing.
Here is the playable character, and the enemy that I've designed. I'll start modeling and texturing them next week.
I wanted to design something real quick and in one day, because most of the time needs to be spent on the 3D work I'll be doing. I especially needed to rush out a spider design for my partner to start modeling.
I mainly wanted to post these two anyways, because I'll definitely be posting the 3D models. for everyone to look at and compare.
If you're handing these off to someone else to model, then you really need to take the time to define the shapes and tie them down solidly, or else they're going to have to make assumptions about the form and function, which is precisely what concept art is there to prevent. Looking at your spider, i have absolutely no idea what 3d shape his head, thorax or abdomen are supposed to be
But I understand what you're saying. I would never hand these off to someone I'm working with for the first time. Like I said, they're just there to look at for ideas.
With the knight, it was more of a practice thing. I can see what I like and don't like (as far as the form goes). When I start modeling, I'll know what I want to do with it. Because normally, I'd have fixed the spine, but it wasn't necessary for me because I'll make sure not to make the problem when I do it in 3D.
I think I just need to start learning to explain things better when I post pictures and stuff...Because I totally understand what everyone's telling me, but I feel like (especially with the concept pieces) I need to explain the conditions that I'm working under.
If you're taking the time to do these, why not take the time to create clean, finalized pieces you could show to someone else? You're working on creating concept art for a game. That's awesome! It's an awesome industry to get into, and a shitload of fun. So why not create pieces you could put into a portfolio, show to an art director and say, "These are pieces I did for this game right here."
If you want to get into a profession, make everything you do as professional as possible. Don't think about, "Oh, well, I can always do better stuff later." Fuck later, dude. Later sucks. Do your best work always. Even if you don't do a piece you wouldn't end up putting in a portfolio, pushing yourself to produce work of higher quality then just quick sketches is a process where you learn a lot, no matter who you are, and your experience will show in your future work.
But to be honest, I actually thought those two pieces weren't so bad. x( I guess It's a good thing I'm posting my stuff on this forum, so I can get some critique and be pushed to make my stuff actually good.
If you want to work in the industry, learn to work in industry standard. Nobody wants to hire someone that says, "I can do better given more time, or if it was a serious project." They want to see that you're the best person for the job. Concept art is one of the hardest fucking things to do in the industry, and virtually impossible to get a job doing unless you're goddamn great at it. Don't compete with your friends to be the best, compete with current professionals. Push yourself, look up how folks do it on cghub, zbrushcentral, conceptart.org, all those places.
Life's too short to do less then your best, man. Every project you do is a chance to push yourself, to learn more and do your best in the time alotted.
i'm inspired