Fork in the road - visual effects or comics?

[Loki]

Okay, long story short... I'm 19 years old and I've been looking to get into the visual effects industry for about a year now. However, I've been drawing a LOT lately and it feels like I'm starting to gravitate toward comics and illustrations. Problem is, I'm supposed to go to a Vancouver VFX school in the fall. I need to make up my mind fast.

Can anyone help shed some light on what the illustration/comic industry is like (starting pay, hours, working environment, personal anecdotes)? I love comics and drawing them, and that's more what my drawing style is like, but...

 

[Collectorcol]

Sorry haven't got a clue but would be cool to see an example of your work?

 

[darthviper107]

Honestly, neither is really a great place for success at the moment. Since both of those jobs mean a lot and require a lot you should really look into what they involve before going to school for it. Vancouver Film School does have an excellent program for CG though. The main thing is finding out what you specifically want to do and becoming good at it. It's not an easy market, but people who work hard can do just fine. Also consider the possibility of going into Video Games and that's also a similar situation though I think it's easier to get into video games than VFX.

I'm sure other people know about the comic industry problems

 

[wavestuff]

my suggestion is to look into animation. the animation world falls somewhere in between the two things you're talking about.

within animation you have storyboard artists who do boards in a comic type of way, you also have visual development artists who come up with designs or characters props etc and you also have your character animators, fx animators, matte painters, texture artists, lighting artists. although this is true for a lot of live action movies such as transformers, tron etc animation allows you to create the entire world from scratch. many artists pick a field they like and stick to that but a good bunch of them have jumped from one role to another just because naturally they felt that's what worked for them. you will see someone like an animator becoming a storyboard artist, or a modeler becoming an fx artist.

payment wise it all really depends on the company that takes you in and on your experience. my suggestion ultimately is just to make a list of the benefits that come off of the two fields you're looking into and pick the one that feels more rewarding for you in an artistic form, because a lot of artist end up being in a field that's not where their heart is and end up turning bitter about it.

good luck.

btw there are a lot of cool canucks in the animation field

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

There's no money in comics....trust me

 

[darthviper107]

Animation isn't at all different from VFX, same exact stuff just a different style.

 

[wavestuff]

you're right there's vfx in animation and there is vfx in live action they are both the same in that respect, but what im getting at is the overall process of animation as a suggestion of the many departments that exist within the animation pipeline considering the predicament in which loki is currently in.

animation ecompases,

previs / layout
visual dev
lighting
vfx
animation
texturing
modeling

etc

 

[intothevoid]

my suggestion is to look into animation. the animation world falls somewhere in between the two things you're talking about.

within animation you have storyboard artists who do boards in a comic type of way, you also have visual development artists who come up with designs or characters props etc and you also have your character animators, fx animators, matte painters, texture artists, lighting artists. although this is true for a lot of live action movies such as transformers, tron etc animation allows you to create the entire world from scratch. many artists pick a field they like and stick to that but a good bunch of them have jumped from one role to another just because naturally they felt that's what worked for them. you will see someone like an animator becoming a storyboard artist, or a modeler becoming an fx artist.

payment wise it all really depends on the company that takes you in and on your experience. my suggestion ultimately is just to make a list of the benefits that come off of the two fields you're looking into and pick the one that feels more rewarding for you in an artistic form, because a lot of artist end up being in a field that's not where their heart is and end up turning bitter about it.

good luck.

btw there are a lot of cool canucks in the animation field

Great advice

 

[The Ween]

I have a nephew who studied in Seattle. Got offered a job at Disney. He turned it down to become a tattoo artist.

I guess you just have to do what you really want to do. Of course he's poor as hell.

 

[Lejuan]

You're only 19 years old. Why not do both? Personally I'd want to have a pretty solid alternative lined up before I knocked back a place at VFS.

 

[darthviper107]

you're right there's vfx in animation and there is vfx in live action they are both the same in that respect, but what im getting at is the overall process of animation as a suggestion of the many departments that exist within the animation pipeline considering the predicament in which loki is currently in.

animation ecompases,

previs / layout
visual dev
lighting
vfx
animation
texturing
modeling

etc

Visual Effects is a term that includes all of that. Animation refers to either a style of movie (Pixar movies) or the job of making the 3D models move. You can specialize in doing animated movies, but you do everything the same as someone who's doing photorealistic stuff for movies.

 

[Loki]

Thanks for all the responses.

When I'm think 'VFX', I'm thinking in terms of either modeling, lighting or rotoscoping (yeah, I'm crazy for rotoscoping ). My focus was going to be modeling and creature design, because that's what I love to do in my spare time. Storyboarding does sound interesting, and from what I've heard, it's done in both the VFX and animation fields because they're quite similar... Albeit I haven't seen enough of it to make a judgement yet.

As for video games, well... Movies are more interesting to me than games. I've spoken to quite a few people in the VFX industry and they're saying that games are catching up to movies in terms of job placement and overall numbers.

I have a nephew who studied in Seattle. Got offered a job at Disney. He turned it down to become a tattoo artist.

I guess you just have to do what you really want to do. Of course he's poor as hell.

Wow, lucky guy. I would've killed to be in his position. Well, he's doing what he wants, so there's that!

There's no money in comics....trust me

Based on what, if I might ask? Pay, number of jobs versus number of artists...?

You're only 19 years old. Why not do both? Personally I'd want to have a pretty solid alternative lined up before I knocked back a place at VFS.

I could (and would) do that. But financially, it won't be possible. The VFX school I'll be attending costs 30 grand for one year, not including housing or other living expenses (I don't live where it's located, so I have to rent out a place for at least a year). It's going to be crazy. Adding more schooling on top of that will cause problems.

 

[wavestuff]

Visual Effects is a term that includes all of that. Animation refers to either a style of movie (Pixar movies) or the job of making the 3D models move. You can specialize in doing animated movies, but you do everything the same as someone who's doing photorealistic stuff for movies.

cool lets agree to disagree

 

[Lejuan]

I could (and would) do that. But financially, it won't be possible. The VFX school I'll be attending costs 30 grand for one year, not including housing or other living expenses (I don't live where it's located, so I have to rent out a place for at least a year). It's going to be crazy. Adding more schooling on top of that will cause problems.

I don't mean straight away, what I meant was that you have time to pursue both at some stage There's a lot to be said for a formal education in CG, especially at a place like VFS - but have you considered online training? It takes discipline, but there is some good content out there and you can learn the skills you choose to.

 

[Loki]

I don't mean straight away, what I meant was that you have time to pursue both at some stage There's a lot to be said for a formal education in CG, especially at a place like VFS - but have you considered online training? It takes discipline, but there is some good content out there and you can learn the skills you choose to.

Ah, I see.
I'm actually taking an online course in anatomy right now (from Gnomon School of VFX in LA). It's something I've needed to take for a long time, but there were never any classes in my city. As for other courses, I've considered looking into courses for animation or Maya/Zbrush and such, but I'm hesitant. It's hard to know what to look for, and what I need.

 

[wavestuff]

Thanks for all the responses.

When I'm think 'VFX', I'm thinking in terms of either modeling, lighting or rotoscoping (yeah, I'm crazy for rotoscoping ). My focus was going to be modeling and creature design, because that's what I love to do in my spare time. Storyboarding does sound interesting, and from what I've heard, it's done in both the VFX and animation fields because they're quite similar... Albeit I haven't seen enough of it to make a judgement yet.

You should look into playing with mudbox, i think its a great program to learn if you're into creature design.

i hope you end up making a decision you're happy with. i think if you build a strong traditional drawing discipline from the beginning you could pave your way into many different fields in the art world.

 

[Loki]

You should look into playing with mudbox, i think its a great program to learn if you're into creature design.

i hope you end up making a decision you're happy with. i think if you build a strong traditional drawing discipline from the beginning you could pave your way into many different fields in the art world.

Downloading a trial right now. Thanks for the rec.
I've gotta upload some of my traditional work someday and ask around for critique... I have a fairly solid foundation in traditional media (pencil, pen and ink), but I could always use some pointers.

 

[Lejuan]

Ah, I see.
I'm actually taking an online course in anatomy right now (from Gnomon School of VFX in LA). It's something I've needed to take for a long time, but there were never any classes in my city. As for other courses, I've considered looking into courses for animation or Maya/Zbrush and such, but I'm hesitant. It's hard to know what to look for, and what I need.

Gnomon's Alex Alvarez is a king of creature design and makes great training material. Digital Tutors has a mass of content relating to just about every CG discipline and a subscription is relatively cheap. Personally I'd identify a passion for focus, ie creature design & modeling, and one or two other bread-and-butter skills that separate you from the mass of other modelers out there and get you onto the ground floor of a production. You mentioned roto, which is a good one. If you develop a folio with some solid maya/zbrush/mudbox models, and get your head around some Nuke basics you should be pretty marketable.

 

[darthviper107]

cool lets agree to disagree

It's not agree or disagree, that's what it is

 

[wavestuff]

ok sure you win