Spending time to develop artwork skills, is it too late?

My question is the title, I need to spend at least one year drawing, and then another year making 3D models. Will my time be justified? Will I have had developed the skills needed to make good looking game assets for my own projects?

Will the time passed learning this cause me to waste my time, as it will no longer be done this way? This fear and uncertainty has caused me to not develop my artwork for a peroid of more than 15 years. As a result I still need to learn to draw, and have never developed any of the games I dreamed of making. All because of the lack of artwork.

I am angry that I did not develop my artwork skills, believing that it would be too late.

Now that I know this and am aware of my problem. What do I do now, will it be too late if I practice drawing and then practice 3d models? (I could have been very successful if I had only practice artwork.)

 

Why would it be too late? Are you running out of time or something?

You should be fine. If you're any good you'll absolutely have workable assets.

 

What makes me run out of time, is the fact that games continue being innovated, and their technology and graphics continue to get better. So much better that it would be impossible for a one man team.

Yes i believe that it will continue to always need a graphics artist. Unless intel's AI chips become advanced enough that we no longer develop our own creativity.

 

I've learned something interesting in accounting. I'm not sure what the translated term is in english, but I'll explain the concept.

Say you spend 30k to buy a new van to raise the amount of potential deliveries of your business. Basically you could say you traded 30k for a new van. But in reality, what you traded is what you could of bought with 30k.

Let's say with the van, you're pulling off an additional 15k/year. Now, possibly, if you spent 30k on production equipment instead, you'd be pulling off an additional 25k/year. So clearly, if your objective is to be as lucrative as possible, you've made a mistake.

Translate that to game dev. For indies, sure money is a constraint, but time is also crucial. Figure out your objective.

Quality takes time. The artists in the top tier games that you see are not ******* around when they work. If your goal is to compete with artists that do this for a living, 40+ hours a week, you're not going to learn that in a year or 2.

If you want to see your projects come to completion within the next 2 years, while retaining a high level of quality, perhaps it is better that you do more of whatever it is that you do for a living and use the money to hire professional artists.

My opinion is that if you want to learn a new set of skills and see it profitable, you should think long term, 5+ years.

Note, this whole post is based on my assumption that your objective is to release games with high quality assets within the next few years.

 

Financially if you have some capital I think hiring an artist is the way to go. Being realistic, even if you spend the next few years training to draw/model great art do you think you'll be as good as a professional artist? When you look at the time investment(not to mention skill/aptitude) hiring someone is a much better deal. I hate to say it but art is cheap, relatively, which sucks for the artists but good for me. My time is worth way more.

The programming side seems easier to develop/learn as messy code still runs - messy/amateur art can tank your game before the player is 60 seconds in or in the game trailer.

 

Nobody knows. Your life, your choices to make. Do you want to do that? If yes, go ahead.

In just two years you could reach the level where you'll be able to make "okay" models/drawings, but most likely will not reach the level of people who dedicated a lot of time to it. Basically, you'll have significant improvement in both skills, but will not reach level of a pro/master. (Then again, while mastering a skill, there's a matter of diminishing returns...)

Both drawing and modeling are massive subjects.

You will not ever "catch up" with them, so stop worrying about it. Find a project you'd like to do, work on it, and ignore the "technolgoical advances" noise. There are too many things happening for you to be able to "catch up" or even utilize all of them. So, decide on a project, art style, and ignore distractions.

 

Never let the industry scare you off based on its "high tech" ways and people with decades of experience...

One day those devs are gonna retire, who will take the role they filled? It could be you!

Everybody as an individual started from knowing jack squat, and learned the absolute basics, then learned some slightly more advanced stuff... and they worked up to being able to use those industry leading tools and techniques, and you can do the exact same thing, and the learning curve is getting easier all the time as more and more tutorials and documentation and just plain better software come out...

Just think like "Nike" and "Just do it"

 

Also, you don't need to learn how to draw to move on to 3D modeling, if your end goal is to produce 3D artwork. Depending on the person, it does help, but it's definitely not a prerequisite.

 

Definitely a waste of time. Spend that time working to earn money to pay for the art/artists you need. Focus what you want to do.

 

If you really enjoyed art, you would have begun a long time ago. And if you don't enjoy it, spending a couple of years getting to a decent level is not going to be worth the hassle. Just do whatever it is you're compelled toward and hire out the work that you're not interested in.

 

A someone who have always been around artist up to a very recent time, 1 years is enough to get at top level, past that point you will evolve sideways (developing personality and flair, there is no formula for that) so there is no point comparing yourself to everyone else. You must understand that any advance technique and art technology are only update on a few fundamental.

Now you might come across a lot of short term tutorial (they are less efficient in that they focus on "feeling good loop" for motivation), if you want to be REALLY™ good, forget about them, to get to the top level you need to go through the harsh swamp, and it's not hard either, it's just tedious and a huge grind. Also forget about motivation, what you want is to develop habit, habit is stronger than motivation, once the routine kicks in, the grind become automatic, don't have any expectation just do it. In art, skills isn't about creativity, that's another field entirely, focus on execution first, creativity can wait because without skills you are stuck.

So learn the fundamental, even pro don't stop practicing them, things like drawing line, circle, shapes, volumes and composition, that's all. Learn about color theory and color space, gestalt, copy master, do observation study. Focus on replicating exactly thing until it's indistinguishable. I have seen people from all age become master in month, that's not impossible, the only skill you need is persistence.

Here is someone who did just that, he was a programmer:

 

More useful stuff:

Point 1 is very potent

I just don't agree with point 7 (come on if you can't draw guy how much of an artist you are?)

 

In English the concept is called opportunity cost. Basically the cost of every decision can be measured in terms of things you can no longer do because of the choice you have made. Its an important concept. Any many people often miss it in game development.

Sure, you can make all the art yourself. But every minute you spend on art is an minute you can't spend on code or sound or business or whatever.

Honestly? Sounds like you are likely to die of old age before you accomplish anything useful.

If you want to be an artist, go make art. If you want to be a game developer, go make games. If you want to be a coder, go make code. However most of these disciplines belong to people who are driven. I am a coder, I always end up making code. Even when I'm not coding I'm frequently making mathematical toys. My wife is an artist, she is always painting or coloring or making costumes. Its just part of who we are.

If you've done nothing for 15 years, its not likely you will do anything over the next 15. Or the 15 after that. And so on until it really is too late.

 

Wow..now I want to learn drawing, really great and honest motivational video.

 

I think your scope is too high for your skill set, I was also going towards learning 3D modelling and all that and took forever. I naturally had drawing skills but the scope of 3D modelling and everything that comes with it is beyond my limitations and time constraints. Switched to pixel art, got up and running doing decent work in a few weeks, next I was completing every aspect of my game for graphical asset wise. Can learn to 3D model, still doesn't solve the art needed for UI, and everything else.

 

Hey, I worked for years as a geologist. Later decided to be a writer for a game development company. Then after that company folded, we started our own company. I could write lore and I wasn't bad at design. While I have two coders so didn't need to learn programming, we had only 2d artists. So I taught myself how to make 3d models. At first, it was so hard, I just couldn't get it. I gave up several times, but then picked it up again. Blender was confusing so switched to Maya and lo and behold, I can now model. It took me 2 years to learn it all, with UVs and texturing being last on the list, but I feel completely comfortable with most projects. I have not done character models but I don't need them so I am concentrating on improving on what I can do.

The point is, we never stop learning and we can develop new skills all through our lives. I have grown children so I am no spring chicken. I don't feel my years wasted but I do envy those of you getting into the game development field as young people. I definitely do not plan to waste my time NOT learning new things and NOT making games. It is so much fun.

If you want to draw, just do it! Keep at it. A great site two of my daughters use (talented artists) is http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ They have videos on traditional, digital and 3d art from beginner to advanced.

 

As usual, you provide sound advice. This is true, clear and perfect advice.

Sadly, I think you're advice may be off-topic. . At no point does the OP express any want, desire or even mild interest in wanting to draw. Just a "need". Like a chore that must be accomplished, "passing time" as he said. Learning to draw is skill that requires virtually nothing other than desire to achieve. Effort is required to get good at it, but with no effort in 15 years, and no desire to actually do it, it is a completely pointless endeavor.

People dedicate their lives to it, some to a lesser degree, and just for fun. Even the most driven and passionate will fall short, those who are good at it usually still have the drive to improve. I remember consoling my niece when she was about 9 and in tears because she couldn't get hands to look the way she wanted. (She is phenomenal now).

My advice to the OP is just to forget about it. If after 15 years they can't find enough desire to even start, and post on an Internet forum asking if they should... welll. They don't have what is required to start, they don't have what is needed to finish. Spend that time doing what you want, and get good at that. Life is to short to waste time on stuff you can't or don't want to do.

 

This.

One of the best pieces of career advice I was given was to focus on getting good at the stuff I was good at and wanted to do, and to surround myself with people who did the other bits.

Collaboration is the key to getting any great work done.

 

I have no idea how old the OP is or whatever challenges he has in life. While I agree that coming to a forum to ask for help with something he has not been motivated to do for 15 years does not bode well for him, I am a mother. I have a young adult son right now who is on the verge of a great career after he finishes school...if he can stop his compulsion to play video games all the time and miss college assignments. An inability to motivate yourself to do something that could be good for you is very sad. In my head I want to tell him to quit school and go work at a menial job where he makes enough to pay rent and buy games. In my heart, I want him to finish and have that chance for something better.

So..while it might be a waste of time, I would rather give the OP something that may help, even if it doesn't. You never know when it might work and it certainly doesn't help to throw water on his idea. He did have the courage to speak up, now whether that was to find people to tell him to give up so he didn't have to do anything or if he was hoping for some magic words to inspire him...who knows.

 

In useful terms, learning to draw is pretty straight forward.

There is plenty of idle time in the day. Carry a pen and paper with you all the time. And draw things around you in your down time.

Half of learning to draw is learning to see. And there is no substitute for practice.

 

Well said. Though I would add that beating yourself up and incurring life frustration over something that you think you need but don't actually desire is a negative impact to life happiness.

It would be cool if I could sing, I don't really want to, or have interest in putting in the effort. Regretting not doing or letting it get me down doesn't add to my joy. Drawing gives me joy. It's ok that I don't sing (and better for others that I don't). That is my main point, if you don't want to do something, forcing yourself for perceived external reasons won't make you happy, and spending the effort will just increase the negativity in your life.

 

It's tempting to always encourage people to go ahead with whatever idea they have no matter what, but over time I've always found that I end up valuing and having the most respect for advice that was given on a rational basis, and that's irrelevant of whether I ended up going ahead with it, or succeeding at it or not. If you can't depend on someone's advice to be actually useful then is it really worth hearing it? How can you trust that person to help clarify an issue?

It's always important to be generally positive and constructive of course, and I usually try to give whatever useful technical information I might have on hand after I've given my opinion, but this question was not "how do I get better at art" but basically (the way I read it) "I have no interest in art, am I finished?" to which I would answer "no, you're not finished, just find somebody who can make some decent art and get on with your game".

Basically telling someone that they should spend 1-2 years of their life attempting something they don't seem to be particularly motivated in, without a clearer sense of the circumstances around why they haven't started it for 15 years, doesn't seem like good advice to me.

 

Very true. But the OP obviously want to draw. It seems to me that it is fear of failure that keeps him from trying. Little does he know that not trying means he failed before he started. Fear is what makes one miserable.

 

I did not see anyone telling him that. We were only giving him ideas on how to take that journey if he wishes to do so. You know, as a parent, if you don't tell your child that they can spend the next 12-15 years of their life, studying in school, learning new skills, encouraging their exploration of talents, then your child will fail. And trust me, many children hate many parts of their education. Letting them fail because they don't want to do it is simply not an option.

So I absolutely disagree with you. If one asks for advice, encouraging and giving them access to tools to help is not only a good thing to do, but it is the right thing to do, as is doing as Zombie Gorilla is doing and asking them if that is what they REALLY want to do.

The OP can take or ignore advice. But you never know..maybe someone reading this is a 15 year old who will decide not to wait but to actually make the effort to learn something new. Advice on a forum can be much more broad reaching than just one person.

 

Whatever you do keep your day job and DO NOT SPEND ALL YOUR SAVING into
game development, it is risky.

 

Well some people actually come here without a preconception against negative feedback and it's probably a good idea to keep them in mind as well.

The OP said that they've been putting it off for more than 15 years, which puts them probably at at least 20-30 years of age. Now is the time to start being practical.

Anyway, I of course don't disagree with posting information on how to get good at drawing, as @neoshaman was kind enough to do, but it doesn't explain why anyone would avoid doing something that supposedly would give them enjoyment, simply because they were (if I'm reading correctly) afraid that some other technique of making models would make their skills redundant. It's like saying that you put off talking to people for 15 years because you thought facebook might make talking redundant. If you really enjoy it even the slightest bit, that would be a non-obstacle.

PS if the problem was actually fear of not being good enough, I would probably advise to just get started, and see if you like it.

Anyway, if the OP would like to elaborate, I'm all ears, but for now it seems incredibly relevant to consider whether or not it might be a good idea to hire an artist and get on with the game.

 

I didn't read it that way at all. He said:

He said he his fear was that things would change in the way they are done. Drawing as a core skill has virtually never changed (with one notable exception) in its history. Sure tools change and evolve, but that is a constant, everyone always faces that. That is life. If being afraid that learning something new may not be relevant at some point, that is something that may need addressing with counseling. Games or any technology is completely out, let alone drawing. It is an unreasonable fear to have for something you have a real desire to do.

Look at how many blacksmiths, woodcarvers, people who paint on canvas, sew or the hundreds or thousands of things that people enjoy, are doing. Despite the fact that those are not the best way to achieve the end result. There is absolutely no practical reason for anyone to bend metal with a forge and hammer or blow glass. I don't know if I would be called a cynic or a romantic, but if you don't love what you are doing or at least have fun doing it, it is a waste of time.

15 years of being afraid that learning something because it may change just means you don't really want to learn in the first place. That fear isn't a problem, it is just your subconscious finding ways to keep you spending time doing something you don't want to do in the first place. If the act itself brings you joy, it is never wasted time. The journey, not the destination and all that.

Starting a new skill, at any stage any life or previous experience, is 100% doable. I am happy to encourage and guide, if I can, folks who want to do that. If they don't actually have the desire (and really just looking for a means to an end or short cut), I would encourage them to find their passion and go all in.

 

Okay, you win. The guy is a loser and come to a forum to tell us he doesn't want to draw. I am not willing to waste more time on this. Good luck!

 

Most recently I learned how to darn, in order to repair some of my armor that was starting to tear. I'm using a technique that's out or date, to repair armor that will protect against weapons that haven't been used in about 500 years. Not to mention the fact that war itself is virtually obsolete. If that's not the definition of a skill that's a waste of time, I don't know what is. I still enjoyed doing it.

You just have a kinder soul then the rest of us. Don't ever loose that.

 

I'm too lazy to type up walls of text so I'm simply going to refer you to an artist that started her art career late in life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Moses

Below are some examples of games that were well received and successful while having relatively simple artwork. There are others that I thought of but I can't remember their names for the life of me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_Fortress
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undertale

 

Please don't take it that way. I am in no way suggesting he is a loser. I agree with everything you have said. As I stated in my initial post, a good solution might be to focus on the parts that you enjoy, and employ the skills of others who do enjoy the parts you don't. That's all.

The ones "winning" here are those who get benefits yours and and others thoughtful advice.

 

It's pretty clear I'm not suggesting anyone is a loser - the question is whether or not to learn art now, in view of the OP post. Deciding not to learn something, particularly if you don't really like it, isn't being a loser - on the contrary it shows a level of self-respect.

I really enjoy seeing someone succeed at something difficult and realise their dreams, and if the OP really wants to learn how to make art, I would be the first to encourage them, but it's not at all clear that it means a lot to them, or that it's more than something that you 'have to do' to make games but isn't very pleasant, the way that a lot of people consider coding. And that's when I would recommend finding someone you can work with with who enjoys it.

If I read things incorrectly, I hope they'll take the opportunity to correct me.

 

It's never too late to pick up new skills And yes 1 year doing 3d modelling as example, is quite a long time, even if you only spend a hour a day on it. Sure it won't make you a super mega awesome skilled artist right away, but the moment you start, all those grievances about having not started earlier are nullified. You can't make up for the past, No one can, but we can define what we do NOW. And if you want to learn how to model NOW and to draw or simply learn how to make art for your games and games in general, then there is no better time than NOW to do it

I actually just had a realization recently, that I was always so afraid and anxious, of doing things, because on one side I was bashing myself with "not having done enough" in the past and on the other side I was bashing myself with "I will never be that good" and that usually circled back and forth between those 2.
Each could be used as a reason for the other one.
Or in other words.
I used them as an excuse on why I possibly can't move forward. (I don't really like to use that word excuse here, but that's sadly what it is, even if I had best intentions in my mind and wasn't conscious about it).
And part of the problem was being too focused on expectations.
These can be from what you imagine others expecting of you, what others are telling you that they are expecting from you and what you are expecting from yourself. This can be crippling. Very much so.
Imagining how great you could have been, if you would have just done it all those years? It's an illusion.
The expectations you have build up on yourself based on what you think you should have learned by now? Those are an illusion too.
No...I'm not saying you are making up those feelings you get from thinking about that, quite the contrary.
I'm telling you, that everyone who would have those thoughts would start to feel bad about it and feeling not able to do or just start anything.

What you need to do, very urgently, is lower your expectations, be kind to yourself, allow yourself to not be perfect, allow yourself to not have to adapt to newest technologies. You don't have to.
And also, it's not making your games great.
In general, things you think you are lacking or are missing from you right NOW that you think are important to be good at it, they will not make your games great.
YOU can make your games great. You, with your personality, your already existing experiences, with the you, you are right now, you have all the tools you need.

Go and learn how to fail, because that's the best way how to learn how to do and start

edit: wanted to add that I really urge you to start doing it, try it, because the longer you wait and are unsure about it, the bigger and greater your uncertainty will be and you might just collect more and more bad feelings about that imaginary picture you have about how you imagine it to be IF you would just do something.
I don't think it's healthy to keep that bottled up, especially when you went so far and posted here to ask about it.
The moment you try it, even if it's just for a few months or a year, it will clear up so much frustration and uncertainty and insecurity and it will for sure push that image you have on a more realistic scale, the way that you can actually start to understand. And knowledge is a very good tool against fear.

p.s.:this turned much more into motivational speech than I intended to XD

 

This, I was about to say that, so true! There is a culture of if you aren't good at something just don't do it, that's stupid to me. You can see this attitude toward some indie games where people criticized the dev for even trying (Hello Jim Sterling). That's terrible in so many way!

 

It's not uncommon to build up specific tasks in your mind and actively avoid them (even though that's a long time to ponder), it might actually be quite enjoyable in the end and nowhere near as difficult as you believe. Also when you're sat there struggling to create "perfect 3D modelling" you need to take a step back and look at real world examples.

We've all probably played a ton of games and even in the realms of all mighty AAA 3D (even the best sellng) there's basic meshes with UV mapping and technical issues, bad geometry, clipping animations, bad texturing etc. and you'll find they don't go to the lengths of actually sub-d'ing / sculpting and re-topologising every single one of their thousands of meshes when in pretty much every case (unless you're an artist / dev) nobody would ever care / notice.

Most of the amazing artwork you see is from portfolio's or showcase demo's, most of the time art doesn't need to be complicated, just coherent within it's context. You don't need to be anywhere near the best of the best. So drop the mental barriers and just do..

You don't even specifically need to be passionate about a specific part of games dev, or even really enjoy it that much as long as it get's you to your ultimate goal which you're passionate about. I know many say save up and outsource, but when I started doing artwork many years ago I didn't have two pennies to scratch my behind with. So I became proficient enough out of necessity, otherwise I wouldn't of been able to make games in the early years..

I will say games as a whole is a creative venture, whether working with code or meshes. If you can't get on board with that then you're stuck. Also patience, lots and lots of patience..

 

//opinion
Sometimes it is not matter of having a desire, or an interest.

I think it would be a good idea for the dude to start drawing. If he haven't forgotten about it in 15 years, then the idea will keep nagging him for the rest of his life, unless he actually starts learning it. It is not nice to have something like that on your mind for decades.

It might be worth keeping in mind that learning new things as an adult means overcoming a lot of psychological barriers. Trying to figure where the time is "justified" is one of the barriers.

So, whether it is justified or not, he should learn to draw.

Just:

 

Not upset with anyone just really really busy getting ready for an art show. I realized that I was not getting anything done and didn't need to spend more time on this. Thanks for the kind words.

 

It's never too late..

But as said here already, you do have to make a start even if its just very little time initially, I would not think of it like you are doing so, ie 1year drawing, and then another year to start 3d modelling.. that is just silly and off putting you from the start.

So just start today.. draw something, or skip right to 3d modelling something.. you have to do it to get better at it though. Time wise on what will get your skills upto scratch and where can you find trainers/books that will help you most efficiently do that, is probably the question you should ask as in life there is definitely easy and hard ways. And maybe you enjoy and keep doing more of it, maybe you don't enjoy it and find something else.

Besides with drawing you can't exactly blame the tools ie pencil & paper.. when it comes to 3d modelling you can definitely blame some of the tools that you have to battle with or find alternatives. Some are just fking horrible..like for me zbrush .I always get annoyed when they add some new high level feature to it, that looks neat and useful... while I still hate its very core design. Of course I can do some great modelling in maya and 3d coat.. with a kb/mouse.. so develop the skill to be competently good at what you want, is worth doing for yourself, if nothing else than to be able to realize your own projects better.

"Will the time passed learning this cause me to waste my time, as it will no longer be done this way?"

You mean like will technology have surpassed the need to use our hands with these inferior tools, when we can just hook our brains upto a supercomputer and have it download our character and environment design ideas and export out to fbx?

in 2years? no probably not

 

All I'm going to say is that I think there's many here who are far too eager to label any time spent in game development as by definition 'worth it' and somehow outside the scope of opportunity cost. The truth is that you don't get bonus years added to your life for the ones you spend in game dev. So try to be smart about it, develop your ability to work with others and delegate tasks (which unlike many other things in game dev is a transferable skill) and make a rational assessment of whether or not it's worth it.

You want to set aside 1-2 years for art? What about coding? Level design? Sound/music design? Animation? Do you really want to try to learn all of these at the level you want to take your 3D art, and spend probably a decade doing it?

If you want to dedicate your career to art creation, then by all means go right ahead, but if you want to make games, I would sit down and seriously consider whether or not I would better spend that time on my social skills and my ability to manage other people.

 

The truth is that no matter what choice you make, it'll be a wrong one, and you may regret being unable to pick the other option later. Also, contemplating "what is the best thing to do" is also subject to lost opportunity cost. The time spent thinking about what is the best thing to do is a time you will not go back.

Another thing about "opportunity cost" metric so that it is very similar to "apply now for a chance to win today". The opportunity of doing something more productive is not a warranty. So, you think that if instead of studying drawing if you could earn cash, study something else... but it doesn't mean that if you take the other option, the opportunity will play out the way you expect. Nothing is guaranteed.

 

Well I certainly don't recommend spending 1-2 years thinking about what to do. But it's usually a good idea to scope things out for a period of time before you start.

I think it's fairly common to start game development on a whim, which is what I did at least, and just start making whatever stuff...but if I knew back then what I did now I would definitely have started by making simple little games and tried to leverage the asset store and freelancers as much as possible. My dream game is still the same and just as glamorous, but to get there by spending years with no return on investment is something that's very difficult and probably silly to do.

To be perfectly honest, there's been a few times where I just decided to pack it in and do something else, and the only reason I didn't was because I'd already invested too much - which is the worst of all possible reasons to continue doing something.

I've done a little bit of freelancing, and while you get a lot of people wanting to just monetize some shovelware, there are some people who are out there with a serious vision of a game but without the angsty need to get everything done on their own, and when I work for these people I start to wonder why I didn't do the same.
And in fact, after this first game, which is for me pretty much a validation of all the skills I've learned so far, that's probably what I'm going to try to do, at least in part, and to see how it goes.

 

I wanted to say that I am motived to practice drawing and 3d modeling. I just finished making two commandline programs in linux that take tone drawings, and line drawings and turn them into 3d model. They have to be imported into blender to finish the work, where one will have to take the time doing re-topology, and also joining (welding).

I have ordered a Huion H610Pro and will use that to pratice drawing, and hopefully futher develop the two command line programs. After they have be given a GUI I plan on selling both of them for about $2.00 bundled into a single app. Available on Android, Mac, Linux, Windows (using unity3d to make the program). (I might end up having it for windows and linux only, and no unity3d).

Thank you for the words of encouragement, I will use it for the motivation to drive myself to develop my skill in not just artwork, but also game development.

 

Sounds very interesting!

 

I think it's a little unfair to say "angsty need". It's very expensive to contract decent freelancers or hire staff, you could easily run into ten's of thousands if not more on a project that could potentially fail out the gate. I'm not saying you shouldn't hire out if you can / if there's a need, there are great freelancer's out there that offer services at very reasonable rates.

But it could be worth reducing the scope of your project if it's more than one man can handle, especially when you're starting out. Also it's dependant on so many factors, there isn't a one size fit's all solution.. Some take to games development holistically with ease in a relatively small amount of time, it's dependant on your situation (you might have a lot of free time to spare), it's also dependant on the project and design choices you make.

Once you have general idea's down, I'd just deep dive in.. See where the asset store can take you, if you surmise that some things are taking up too much time / becoming problematic then see if you can find a reasonably priced / decent quality freelancer to help out.

 

Well maybe so, but I do think that many (myself included) fall into the trap of feeling like it devalues our creative vision to have other people working on it. The truth is that almost every creative endeavour, from music to movies, involves many people and it doesn't produce anything less special. It's more a question (I think) of avoiding our insecurities about being able to manage a team and provide a solid creative direction to everyone involved, as well as feeling like we're 'cheating'.

And that brings me to the next point, which is that I don't think it's as difficult as many people believe to bring together a bunch of people and manage a game project. All you need to do is provide money and forget about equity or royalties, since not only does this make people wonder if they're wasting their time, but also gives them the impression that they should be managing the project as well (which is fine if that's what you want, but not fine if you want to control it). It's actually very pleasant as a freelancer to work for someone who has a rational understanding of what they want, and the money to make it happen, it just happens to be very rare.

You just need to invest in making money to pay for it. Let's say it takes someone a year of working an average of 2 hours a day to get decent at making art. That's 730 hours, which even at minimum wage is something like $10,000. Even if you stacked shelves at woolworths for two hours a day, you could make enough money to easily create a bunch of smaller games and begin making an income that could last for a long time.

Now if you just want to go ahead and enjoy yourself in the learning process, all this is pretty much irrelevant, but if you're trying to get started in a self-employed career, I think it's very important to consider that just because game development is something you can do on your own, doesn't mean that it's really practical or desirable to do so. Besides artistic forms with extremely low production values such as painting and story-writing, there's really very little that is practical for anyone to do completely on their own, and realistically profit from.

Anyway, not to derail the thread, but I just wanted to give a little bit of background as to why I think it might be a better idea to avoid trying to learn everything yourself.

 

Do you know how many people ask me why I don't learn to code? Simple answer..if I learned to code I would have to do it myself. Instead, I have coders and artists and others who help me do things that I can't do...or more likely, things that I can do, but want to focus on things I do best.

Working with a team is difficult. Fortunately for me, four of my team members are in my family. The others are former co-workers from another game.

 

I sure hope it's not too late since I'm trying to do this myself!

One thing to keep in mind is that beautiful games can be made in very simple art styles, so it would be a bit of a shame for you to limit yourself by the hyper-realistic standards of AAA development.

Look to Firewatch and The Witness. LIMBO and Journey. All of these games define their own sense of beauty, and it works so well. If you're goal is to make good looking content, then there's definitely a path to success for those who are just getting into it

 

I wouldn't say it's necessarily difficult, but it's certainly a skill that needs to be trained, and takes a while to do so. It's certainly not enough to say that "it's not my personality" and expect that everyone will work around that. You really have to be your favourite high-school teacher.

PS I'm talking generally here btw, you sound like a very personable person yourself!

 

Well then here is the best advice you can get:

Like many creative skills, it takes constant practice. And in the end, any one piece is, in reality, the cumulative results of everything that came before. So there is no waste of time. If your first thousand drawings suck, but the 1001st is great, it is because of those previous 1000. The time spent is extremely valuable, even if the prior work doesn't have a direct use itself, it all is part of the process. Don't look at those steps as wasted time.

 

I also want to add, even if you spend some time on art and then figure out it's not for you, it's still not wasted time. For example, it will make it easier to communicate with artists if you find yourself in a team in the future.