For this session we had an amazing talk on how to manage discussion in the company and how to respect our own artistic needs as well as the needs of the company.
Noemi is a concept and comic book artist working for Playtra, a small indie game studio. She has been in the art industry for 15 years now, and she has recently moved into the game industry.
What I learned
How to respect deadlines-
Internal deadlines are very important for delivering a game. By respecting them, we respect the rest of the team, so everyone can start on their tasks and move the game forward.
Know what to ask of yourself- know your limitations and what your level of skill is. Don’t promise high quantities of artworks or short periods of time if you know you would struggle.
When given a task, say upfront if it’s doable or not.
Give yourself some extra time to do a task (but not too much time)
Know when to stop iterating a character. Work smart, not hard. Even if the temptation is to iterate a theme to exhaustion, know that you don’t have the time for it. Sometimes you might not be content with the design, but the rest of the team might be. That’s enough.
Create open discussions in a healthy environment. Everyone should be able to express their opinion on something. As an artist, learn to take feedb
ack but at the same time, stick to your intuition and explain why you think something is not right. Don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself. Give solutions.
Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try new designs or softwares.
First comes the skill, and the software after. Don’t decline jobs just because you are scared of the software.
If you miss out on a deadline
Learn from it. Explain why you missed it if you had good reasons. Don’t beat around the bush. Try to stick to the schedule. Find creative solutions to speed up the work-Noemi gives the example of how she converted a comic to black&white after she realized it was taking too much time to color everything.
She also talks on the struggles of being an artist and the art block. She says this is something that you can’t avoid and should accept. Rest. Artists who work in AAA companies as well as small indie companies go through this. You will have to adapt on the way.
While you get more artistic freedom in a small studio, you may find yourself on your own and fully autonomous, as compared to an AAA game where you wll have strict guidelines and step by step assistance.
Just jump right in a task. The outcome will not be what you wished, but it’s part of the process. Don’t get discouraged and don’t discourage you previous efforts.
My takeaway
This talk was very helpful and reassuring for me as an inspiring game artist-Now I understand that all artists struggle and that's ok-we all have to overcome artblocks and expectations. In the future I must take the journey as it is-with good and bad, and a lot to learn along the way.
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