I am a Seneca college student who wants to work in the gaming industry as a concept artist and/or 3D modeler but, i don’t know exactly what program to go to. My friend recommended me to go to Humber to study 3D animation (a 3 year program) so, I can work on my drawing skills and develop a good demo reel.
Although the college is good, they don’t go into video game engines and game mods like some other game related colleges do (which are 2 years or less programs). So, are game engines important to learn before attempting to get into the industry or can they be learned through internships?
I wouldn’t think game engine/programming knowledge would be entirely relevant to becoming a concept artist.
Focus on a good illustration program for a few years than follow up with a intensive focus on software after the fact. Most of the concept arts I know use traditional art, their favorite 2D painting software and Zbrush generally. Seneca has a illustration program, you may want to check that out. I went to Sheridan illustration back in the day and thats another option.
That being said, concept artists don’t always execute the idea, they generate images and that gets handed off to a client and team to execute later.
I went to Sheridan for Traditional and Seneca for digital education, and many of the old school Sheridan instructors wound up at Seneca’s traditional Animation program, when I listed visited Seneca it seemed to have a good, diverse program with a bunch of folks doing digital and some doing stop motion.
I think Sheridan or Seneca can be a good fit from personal experience, I have no experience with Humber, it would depend on who is running the program there and who is teaching.
That being said the Humber program seems to be the cheapest, Humber is about 6500$ a year, Seneca at $7900 and Sheridan at $9300.
In the end, all that matters is your drive and your portfolio/reel, but I’d look at the teachers credentials, I’d swing by the department at Seneca and see what its like.
If you are Canadian, and wish to work abroad, than consider the diploma/degree you end up with, that matters for work visas.
In the end I’d focus on a good art school with a few 3D/modelling classes thrown in and less focus on the “game schools”.
I agree - don’t get too caught up on what software you learn. What you want to get out of your course is a good understanding of ‘art’, not which buttons you press.
Ok, Thank you guys. i decided to head towards humber. a friend of mine is about to graduate from the same program there and she recomended it to me since its a 3 year program focused on mostly 3d animation but, some 2d stuff as well.
