Digital Artist

A Day in the Life
A digital artist makes art for a digital environment, such as CD-ROMs, video games, web sites, or compact disks. Digital art can be created conventionally or on a computer, and is used on the Internet and in multimedia projects, as well as in broadcast mediums. Whether you’re an illustrator, graphic designer, animator, or game designer, the three core pieces of software to know are Photoshop, Illustrator , and Freehand. Animators also work in Flash and Gift Builder. If you lean towards graphic design, then QuarkXPress is your program. Art production people use Debablizer, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver. Sound designers use Sound Ed 16 or BIAS Peak; and 3D illustrators utilize software including 3D Studio, Maya, Lightwave, and Form Z. Depending on the company, digital artists can wear many different hats at once and contribute to five or six projects at one time. Most of their day is spent developing an interface for a project, drawing pictures, assembling the art, and making buttons for users to click on. “The work atmosphere is like a big clubhouse, and we can easily be there until midnight or 2 a.m., particularly when working on a deadline. We easily can put in 10 - 12 hour days because we’re in the hot seat and clients want things yesterday.” says one artist at a start-up company.

Paying Your Dues
“Many people in this industry have a conventional education in art and then gain experience in illustration or whatever specialty they fancy. I suggest getting print experience and then moving into multimedia and online work,” recommends one digital artist. Studying art is a good first step, especially for networking, as so much of this industry involves team work to complete even the simplest project. Starting with a print magazine is one way to break into commercial art, but the Internet allows young artists to luck into jobs such as junior/assistant designer, web designer, art director, illustrator, animator, or game designer. Today there aren’t any steadfast rules or traditional channels to paying your dues. You may be relegated to the toilet paper account as a junior art director at an ad agency, but if you’re stuck in the same role at an interactive agency, you can make the toilet paper talk, dance, and sing. Sure, you’re not going to be making complicated video games in the beginning. There is much to learn about how to manipulate the software; it takes time to be able to grasp the intricacies of its usability and understand a language that’s not totally developed. If you can say that you are not only an illustrator and graphic designer, but also know typography, understand color and page layout, and know how to optimize graphics for use on the web, you will be an extremely valuable commodity. Right now, the demand for creative talent is immense, largely because the Internet is comprised of a world of technicians and engineers, and the people who start companies and develop software generally don’t have an understanding of how to create art. Because every project involves teamwork, communication is as important as artistic skills. In Web companies where technology often breaks inexplicably (particularly around a deadline), being calm, practical, and logical is an asset. While creativity and imagination are the most important attributes, understanding what makes things work and an analytical ability to think like a programmer is often very helpful. In the internet arena, an artist’s unbridled creativity should be balanced with logic and analytical skills.

Associated Careers
A talented artist is infinitely marketable, a good one can work in any field. An illustrator might work on storyboards for movies or music videos, for example; an animator could move from the internet into film. While a graphic designer can’t jump to industrial design without further training, one could make the transition to packaging design. In school you generally choose a particular field of design, and unique training is provided for each field. In graphic design, which web design is based on, you could also make the leap to book design or advertising design.

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