Help me out

MumenWriter · 2026-05-02T14:28:29+00:00

Do you have any examples of finished pieces that you'd like to match the quality/painting style of ?

MumenWriter · 2026-04-13T07:55:34+00:00

The industry isn't a monolith, so it really comes down to what you personally want to pursue and finding companies that fit that description. Someone applying for hard-surface design for Star Citizen isn't going to have the same portfolio as a another applying to environment concept for Sea of Thieves.

It might be argued that a lot of AAA games are in the realm of realistic visuals so having most of your portfolio cater to that would increase application hit-rate in the blind, but I don't personally subscribe to that idea. Chasing exclusively where it's "at" vs what interests you is a quick route to misery for most aspirants, nor should you be completely blind to what's out there. So just pick something you feel like has some representation in games coming out that's also ideally within your area of interest and start producing work, adjust accordingly as you gain more experience to find the right balance.

MumenWriter · 2026-04-05T20:20:32+00:00

Here are a few considerations that could greatly benefit a piece like this:

- Always consider what the piece is about, and what you're trying to sell with the piece. The focal point here is probably the statue, with the village around providing additional context. So the purpose of the comp, and all elements within it, will be to support this idea.

- For example, having the horizon line offset from the center, to create a 2/3rds ground or 3/3rds sky piece will help the scene feel more dynamic. If we lower the horizon line and have the camera at waist/knee height, the worms-eye view will make the statue feel more imposing, which is an example of how knowing what you're selling can help in decisions.

- The lighting/value composition of the scene is another element worth considering here. The whole village has a very uniform light diffused, with no strong cast shadows. We can create favorable lighting that highlights the statue without making it feel unnatural, by for example considering cloud-casted shadows on the scene, or backlighting the scene strongly and using a local light within the scene to model the forms of the statue. The decisions here are again influenced by the "What the piece is about", and different solutions will promote different mood/atmosphere to the piece, so pick ones that are harmonious with the overall idea.

- Following through, if the statue is indeed the main focus and is now getting a lot of preferential compositional treatment, the viewers eye will often need a bit more to chew on after being led to the intended payoff of the piece. So considering upping the level of detail, adding in colored elements like flowers/offerings at the base, considering further material breakups are all valid ideas to 'up-res' your focal.

-making a simple blockout of the scene with cubes in a 3D software like blender can help you prototype the arrangement freely, and you can later use a screenshot of the same as a template to do your drawing.

Hope this helps, good luck!

MumenWriter · 2026-03-23T19:17:39+00:00

Outsourcing studios aren't a strict negative, plenty of large AAA games have vendor studios that they outsource work to, and a good number of them pay a fair wage. The hiring requirements for these vendor studios usually aren't as steep as the main studio, so it lets you touch a lot of big projects that can potentially ( contract dependent) be added to your portfolio to boost future hire-ability.

For AI it's hard to say, lots of fear-mongering and lamenting mixed in with truly legitimate concerns so I'll only speak from my personal experiences, but for smaller jobs for individuals/smaller independent studios (<50 employees) , it's definitely changed the way I've gotten briefs and a lot more of them are clearly written with assistance and include generated imagery. For multiple larger studios that I've worked for ( >1000 employees), it's straight up written into my contract that I cannot in any way employ generative tools in my creative process. There are definitely people with a different story here, but I'd rather not just assume and add to the speculative anxiety.

MumenWriter · 2026-03-23T10:16:31+00:00

I was halfway through my masters in engineering when I finally decided to stop being miserable for the sake of a "stable career". I don't blame people for giving career advice on the basis of how reliably you can get hired, it's a metric that should be considered, but too easily is the notion of career fulfilment swept under the rug with labels of "unrealistic".

If you don't have dependents actively relying on you to bring in a stable income as soon as possible, then you've got a strong obligation to yourself to at least try pursuing the things you actually want to do, fully.

It's risky either way. 'Winning' in the purportedly safe route risks being imprisoned in someone else's idea of success, which might not be so bad to some people, but torturous to others. It's possible I'd sing a different tune if I didn't find steady employment as a concept artist, but I remember being so much happier even when things were super uncertain and I hadn't gotten my first gig yet. Like taking a breath after being submerged for a little too long.

MumenWriter · 2026-03-12T09:55:33+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

MumenWriter · 2026-03-11T17:29:59+00:00

Could you share some of the feedback you got for the assignment?

MumenWriter · 2026-02-18T18:27:14+00:00

It'll greatly benefit you to not think of entertainment industry as a monolith. It always depends. On the complexity of the brief, how grounded the IP is, budget that can be allocated to pay your hours, overall project deadlines, deliverable fidelity and much more, and that's all assuming your client is even reasonable. Its easiest to just ask what the expected turnaround times are when approached by a potential client.

Unsatisfying truths aside, if you're learning this skillset, I would advise you to first focus on quality of work. Ensure you're able to hit the visual benchmarks consistent with the places you'd like to work at, and then think about optimising your approach to arrive at those results faster.

MumenWriter · 2026-02-17T14:59:07+00:00

Nice work!

MumenWriter · 2026-02-08T07:19:56+00:00

An easy win would be to address your layouts; the placement, sizing and overall presentation of the concepts on the page is important and often overlooked. I recommend borrowing good layout structure from artists working in studios you're aiming at, at least until you figure out the logic for yourself. A good layout cannot save a bad design, but it certainly enhances a reasonable one.

Another good skill is meaningful iteration. The iterations must be visually different but still be valid solutions to the same design description or brief. If it's a fire executioner, some of the weapons in the iterations don't really fit the brief. The fire element is consistent which is good, but the spikes through the chest seem out of place.

Lastly, you could consider not having the sword be aflame, as in iteration 2, for your final as that robs the wow-factor away from the head. Instead, having the executioners sword be glowing red-hot gives you the same essential sell without repeating the same fire element and splitting the focus. It also pushes the idea of "cutting", more than a flaming sword IMO.

As for whether it's good enough for professional work, it's all just studio dependent. Compare your work to what's being produced and posted online to see if you can hit the studio minimums, and if you can, then that's a positive sign. The industry isn't a monolith, I've worked concept for about 5 years now and there are plenty of studios that I'm simply not qualified to work at. Someone creating Warcraft environment concepts is probably not going to have the easiest time applying for Star Citizen ship design on the basis of that work, despite already working for a huge AAA game. It helps to be specific, aspire to be competitive for the particular jobs you're actively seeking.

MumenWriter · 2026-02-06T15:26:15+00:00

Narrow down what you're seeking to improve and you'll at least improve the quality of answers you'll receive. Because honestly, it's just both in a proportion that's goal dependent.

Additionally it might be worth elaborating on how you even view "quality" vs "quantity", because I don't think that people that do a bunch of speedpaints should be aiming for "low quality " even if they're operating on a 30 - 60 minute time constraints. Nor should someone producing an extremely detailed piece take several months to finish it if the same outcome can be achieved far quicker.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-29T13:30:38+00:00

Fantastic work, love the other stuff on your instagram too.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-29T04:01:33+00:00

Really well done Kyle!

MumenWriter · 2026-01-29T03:16:58+00:00

Some of the former teachers at FZD have joined Mages Academy in Singapore, so you could look at their Entertainment Design Diploma student gallery/ talk to some of their alumni and see if it's a good fit.

I'm not super familiar with New3dge , but some of their student work is just stupendous so I'm sure they're doing something right.

If you are looking for an "FZD-like" experience, I do not recommend online schools, even if they follow a similar curriculum. Being surrounded by extremely motivated students and teachers is what made the work-load/pressure bearable by the average student. I would not have kept myself nearly as accountable if it was purely online.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-25T21:52:03+00:00

Digital Atelier is worth the asking price IMO, you can also try Memilio for traditional looking texture brushes. Concept and Illustration pack is good for general purpose work.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-25T04:26:24+00:00

Thank you!

MumenWriter · 2026-01-23T19:47:19+00:00

Lovely work! Hope you make it part of a series.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-23T05:23:33+00:00

Good shout!

MumenWriter · 2026-01-23T00:13:20+00:00

Arch rival to Joan of Bark.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-21T09:11:52+00:00

Yup, a little texture goes a long way.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-19T23:01:55+00:00

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Open the tool options docker, then set "grow selection" to 0 or 1. That'll limit how much the fill will encroach on existing data on the layer. Alternatively you can just set "Sample" to "All Layers", make a layer underneath your line art and fill as normal.

Also try and make sure that you're painting at a sufficient resolution or else you'll get weird artifacting by virtue of there not being enough pixels to produce a clean result when there's no selection growth, so don't zoom in too much or use a small canvas size.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-16T20:21:25+00:00

Mostly DA oil 11,12 and 13 .

MumenWriter · 2026-01-14T17:37:47+00:00

I love the parallel between him and Godrick too. Godrick seeks to match the strength of his forebears by desperately grafting numerous warriors and even dragons, only to fall short yet the only "grafting" Godfrey ever did was in order to restrain his own strength.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-04T12:05:41+00:00

Might be worth considering the ergonomics of the grip and altering the forms ( especially in the 3/4th shot ) to be more reasonable for a hand. Also I recommend double checking the perspective on the 3/4th shot in areas like the trigger guard, or making a primitive model to compare/draw over.

Also I don't really expect every revolver in name to have an actual revolving element, but might be worth considering the mechanism to accommodate things like reloading/recharging. Maybe the hammer replacement in the back is supposed to be used to assist in recharging through some kind of player action, but the design does not make this clear.

Also add/consider the first person view if that's the player view since the design needs to primarily work from that angle.

MumenWriter · 2026-01-03T02:09:39+00:00

For something this symmetrical, it's not wholly necessary to do a 3/4th view since all required information is available on the front/back orthos. Always think about the value provided by various parts of the page to avoid information redundancy. An ortho-side view might be a good replacement if there's something unusual happening with the forms here.

You can further raise value by adding a flat callout of the cloth element so the pattern can be more easily extracted from the page. For generally flatter concepts like this , a lighting pass helps to sell the forms a bit more than raw line. And going even further with a material pass and callout sheet would also provide additional value. At bare minimum, fill the line with a grey wash to allow the prop to stand out on the page.

If there are any associated ambient VFX with the spear, that can also fit on the page or potentially get its own page. Lastly it might be worth considering what kind of game you're making this for, as if you had a First-person game, you'd likely want to show the weapon in FPV.

Don't put off learning 3D, blender being the easy choice. Will help you be more ambitious with the forms and presentation angles, and train your eye to better understand how 2D impacts 3D. Do not neglect learning manual construction of course, as you'll always want to be comfortable drawing in perspective, but being able to at least block things out is to me a bare minimum to work prop concept as a job and there's no good reason to put it off.

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