Ethics and Expectations from a game artist

1. Game Artist: Ethics and Expectations
An artist starts his career from one company or the other. As he grows in his
career path, he coordinates and interacts with lot many people and other artists.
During this stint of growing professionally everyone makes mistakes sometime.
There are few set of common mistakes that everybody do that are known as
professional snag. There are few best practices that need to be remembered. This
article covers few of them.
Professional Foundation
Many artists get their first jobs before they have truly mastered the important
foundations they need to know as professional artists.
From that first job on, they just tread in the same spot and virtually stop growing
and learning as artists aside from what they do at work. Don't be one of them.
Keep on learning and strengthen your weaknesses, learn new tools, and try new
methods.
Interpersonal Communication
Professionally, communication will be both with co-workers and the lead.
With Co-workers
Communicating with peers is one of the main sources of inspiration and
learning. Mostly, it seizes to happen on regular basis due to work pressure and
deadlines. Everyone has his own way of performing task and using techniques.
Sharing such tips and tricks is really important among co-workers. Strong art
cultures are built around this level of engagement. Managers or leads cannot
create this environment if the artists themselves are not committed to it as
well.
During profession, there is limited time for learning and sharing from
someone and this is really important for professional growth. This can only
happen with constructive feedback and interpersonal communication, reviews,
and suggestions.
With Managers and Leads
Every organization has its own set of hierarchy and attached role and
responsibility. Interaction between lead and artist is a must for timely delivery
with utmost quality. Main issue comes when people assume that the leads
/managers are perfect and right all the time. Blindly following the lead decision
will not lead to any creative output if the artist has even a slight thought of doing
the task differently.

2. An artist cannot agree with all the decision a lead makes and that is perfectly
okay. Problem comes when people think that they cannot speak when they see a
mistake that might be due to reason like fear of dismiss or revenge.
In both the cases, outcome will be same. Not speaking out at the moment might
generate the wrong output delivered and it adversely affects the artist’s
performance. It also fractures lead-subordinate relationship.
Leads cannot always be perfect in their decision and at times they rely on the
artist for supporting their decision. It is a mutual consent on the final decision.
Just remember: Preventing a problem is always better for both lead and artist
than reacting to the problem later on.
However, in the absence of more effective options, that problem may have to
stand in the interest of meeting the goals of the project. Therefore, if you're going
to actively bring a problem to the attention of others, then you should also be
ready with options to discuss. How do you intend to avoid the problem? What
are the benefits/risks of your alternative? Is it a reasonable plan?
PS: Problems and mistakes are not the same as failures. Mistakes are made in
many aspects of game development; it is expected and understood as the
normal practice of learning and experimentation.
However mistakes are always needs to be avoided since it carries the burden of
untimely delivery and/or poor quality.
Technology Awareness
A professional in a gaming industry need to be half technical and half artist.
Even though one might be too good in one form of art or perfectionist in a
particular software, he need to constantly improvise on his skill set and
upcoming technology. Artists who hold too tightly onto out-dated ways of
working will quickly lose influence if they can't communicate on the same level
as the rest of the company.
Broaden your Horizon
A company will always like to have such artists who are willing to go beyond
their specialized skills and help the company during crunch (or else) to take up
varied task. An artist's approach to task diversity affects both their career growth
and their artistic development.

3. A common mistake mostly with junior artist is that they tend to avoid such task
or perform the task half-heatedly. From an artist’s perspective it is
understandable that they deliver low-quality work on less-desirable task.
Keeping apart personal preferences, an artist must execute the provided task
with utmost quality and commitment.
Artists who are capable of tackling a wider variety of issues are understandably
more valuable to their team as those individuals can have greater impact.
Projects are always hungry for people who can problem-solve in a variety of
areas.
Ego Management
There is very thin line of difference between having professional ego and
personal pride. Professional ego means having sense of fulfillment of his/her
work which motives a person to grow his skills and improve upon time. If
uncontrolled, this can lead to personal pride where the artist portrays himself
above from his peers/colleagues and view others as less valuable or talented.
This hampers the working relationship between the artists and they stop
considering constructive feedback (of other artist).
In this situation, such artist rarely achieves higher creative potential and since
their attitude restricts them to get creative input, this limits his potential career
growth.
Avoid Bragging
Realize that although you have your own artistic style and personal taste, as a
production member, you have to work well with others and be able to follow
orders.
If you disagree with every art direction, refuse to make changes, and march to
your own beat regardless of what's asked of you, then don't be surprised if
you're the next person to be let go when it's time for a layoff.
Do not be a Production Factory
As a creative talent, an artist is hired for his creativity, not just for his software
skills. Don't just do what you're told and nothing more -- be creative, come up
with ideas, and suggest alternative approaches. Artists who just go through the
motion with no sense of artistic pride or sense of ownership are typically called
hacks.

4. Apart from these issues there are few recommendations for every artist to grow
within the company. These are, by far, not really necessary for survival but for
growth, both personally and professionally:
Beyond Expectation
Perform your job better than your boss expects and makes sure your boss knows
about it. Focus on producing results that will make both you and your lead look
good, and develop a reputation for being a problem solver. The qualities
companies take into account when considering employees for promotions
include consistent demonstration of effort, good interpersonal skills, leadership
ability, and a self-starting attitude.
Personal PR
Public relations or "PR" is not just for big companies, and it's not just about press
releases and exclusive screenshots, rather, PR can be applied on an individual
level. Sell yourself in a positive way and think of creative ways to get your-self
noticed.
Articles/Newsletters
Writing articles or newsletters for gaming magazines or online websites is a good
way of getting noticed not only inside the company but outside too.
Stay Tuned
Game companies value employees who stay current on development and trends
in the industry. Ways to keep yourself fresh and on top of industry
developments include attending conferences, seminars, or workshops such as the
Game Developers Conference, E3, and D.I.C.E. Naturally, you should also
regularly read publications such as Game Developer Magazine, GameDaily,
Gamasutra, Develop Magazine, etc.
Interpersonal Skills
If you're weak in interpersonal skills such as communication or management
ability, then train yourself by participating in relevant networking groups and
seminars, even develop a language speaking ability - any specialized knowledge
you develop will only serve to increase your value.
Leadership
People who demonstrate leadership skills advance in their career, so practice
developing these skills. Volunteer to lead a project. Be the first person to learn a
new technology and then teach it to your team members. It is expected that a
leader makes decisions and solves problems, so learn how to problem solve. In

5. demonstrating your leadership skills, be sure to treat other coworkers with
respect and don't come off as swagger.
Office Politics
It's simply unavoidable, office politics exist in every company. You can get office
politics working for you by participating in company events and building
relationships with people in and outside of your department. Definitely doesn’t
be a snob. Exhibiting obvious arrogance because you believe your position or
skills superior to another is no way to win friends and influence people. And
keep in mind that you are not playing office politics for any other reason than
advancing your career. Never share information you're told in confidence and
don't criticize or gossip about others. In short, when playing office politics listen,
don't contribute.
SHARAD MITRA
Technical Art Director
Exigent Game Art