How do I get experience to figure out if an animation/game design or illustration oriented career is for me?
March 21, 2010 6:52 PM
I live in Toronto where I'm finishing up a graduate degree soon in a social science area. I also have some experience doing Web design.
Now that I have a lot of free time on the horizon, I want to seriously probe my career options.
The one thing I'm really good at is drawing, both creative and true to life. My background is in humanities/social science research and not fine or applied arts. I'm intrigued by animation and game design, so avenues that are creative in some way are very appealing to me. Although I'm not a developer, I'm not allergic to programming.
I want to explore my options by gaining experience in these areas but am clueless about how to be proactive in getting experience. I'm thinking that a next step would be to approach studios and businesses in the Toronto area and see what internship options there are. I'm not averse to going back to school one day (and I happily don't have any debt), but I don't want to commit to more school until I've made an informed decision and have work/volunteer experience under my belt.
My questions: how do I figure out if creative work of some kind is for me, find mentors, and potential sources for employment/internships? What has worked for you? Where should I be researching? Thank you :o)
The one thing I'm really good at is drawing, both creative and true to life. My background is in humanities/social science research and not fine or applied arts. I'm intrigued by animation and game design, so avenues that are creative in some way are very appealing to me. Although I'm not a developer, I'm not allergic to programming.
I want to explore my options by gaining experience in these areas but am clueless about how to be proactive in getting experience. I'm thinking that a next step would be to approach studios and businesses in the Toronto area and see what internship options there are. I'm not averse to going back to school one day (and I happily don't have any debt), but I don't want to commit to more school until I've made an informed decision and have work/volunteer experience under my belt.
My questions: how do I figure out if creative work of some kind is for me, find mentors, and potential sources for employment/internships? What has worked for you? Where should I be researching? Thank you :o)
You'd probably be interested in becoming a digital strategist or an information architect. Both would combine your social-science research skills with your visual aptitudes. Neither are really jobs that you can get into without some experience (for strategists) or more schooling (for architects.)
posted by Kololo at 9:44 PM on March 21, 2010
posted by Kololo at 9:44 PM on March 21, 2010
I'd look into blender, or obtaining a more professional program like 3DS Max and then seeking out a game modification community like the one on moddb.com
posted by TimeDoctor at 10:45 PM on March 21, 2010
posted by TimeDoctor at 10:45 PM on March 21, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hellojed at 7:08 PM on March 21, 2010