There is this exciting and growing field called Game Art and Design, which is great for those who have a great passion for video games.

This passion could work out to an advantage in this fun and exciting industry.

An industry where only highly qualified graduates of game art and design will be able to get jobs  focused on video game interactive software that run from game design, to the military, health care, television, and even education.

YOU CAN EARN A DEGREE STUDYING GAME ART AND DESIGN

If one decides to have a career in the industry of game art and design, you must possess creative and artistic skills, and must also be proficient in design, computer, and problem solving skills.

To attain these skills, and acquire real-world applied knowledge, you must earn a Bachelor Degree Game Art and Design.

A number of Colleges offer this interesting course, where you will acquire real world applied knowledge through a 'hands on' teaching approach.

As mentioned earlier, if you are into video games and love spending your spare time (even your work time), playing games,  then lets just say you have already passed the qualifying stages to becoming a  game art designer. A small first step you may think, but you have an edge over a green horn video game player.

Qualifying as a game art designer opens you up to a great number of diverse job opportunities, giving rise to specific job categories which has developed over time. The choices are now almost endless.

Now there are many categories associated with different styles, techniques and areas within the game development process.

As a main guide, these categories are:

• Concept Artists
• 2D and 3D Animation
• 2D Texture Art

A CONCEPT ARTIST

In game art and design, a concept artist is involved in the creations and designs of the characters we are all familiar with in games.  These must fit within the theme and the general feel of the games.

His creations start with pencil sketches on paper, then scanning the sketches onto a computer. Software such as Photoshop are used to perfect fine line works, add details, add colour, textures, etc,  and once the concept and the artwork has been completed, it is passed on to the 3D Model Builder, or Animator.

2D AND 3D ANIMATION

2D and 3D Animator's job is the provision of character contents and game levels. It is mainly a job of a 3D artist  and involves the animation of the characters and the scenery creation in a game.

When you study game and art design, you may find out that you may wish to specialise in this interesting category of the industry.

2D TEXTURE ARTIST

Providing all the elements of texture within a game is the job of a 2D texture artist. Again, the use of Photoshop, Painter, Deep Paint and Vector Based applications, like  Illustrator, are required for 2D texturing properties.

Other features of high importance required within a game, that a texture artist has to provide is for lighting effects and special effects.

To successfully study game art and design, there are a number of skills you will need that will be quite useful. One of a few of these will suffice.

• Architectural skills, because you will be designing a load of buildings, cities, and even worlds. So understanding the relationship between spaces and people will give you an edge.
• Animation skills, using special applications such as Photoshop, Painter or Illustrator.
• Anthropology
• Creative writing
• Engineering
• Visual Arts
• Music and Sound Design

You definitely can't master all of these. So any of the above skills that you may have will help in a long way preparing you for the study of game art and design.

However, the best approach is to try to find a good art course at a respectable art college and then see where it takes you. You may discover other skills in the game industry that you never thought you had.

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