MB's Journey Into the Game World

Let's set the scene. I'm a young girl currently living in a super small town of MA. As far as locales, there is one gas station and that is it... Seriously. I've moved around all throughout childhood, even lived in Germany. The last 7 years though, was in the great New England.

My career choice: something in the arts. Not in such a vague way obviously. I started getting involved in the arts at eleven, I wasn't "talented" though. I had to teach myself and practice every second! Well, not every second. Lets just say I went through more than one sketchbook a month. YAY!

Now, my dream job is to be a concept artist. And yes, I know this is a very coveted job, hence 'dream job'.  :) 

Although, its wasn't always. At one point I was fresh out of high school I felt confused about how to make it in the art biz. Video games was the last thing on my mind as a career choice that would 'make it'. Instead I logically found a good college in the area, with a great graphic arts department. Ah yes, I believed I would become a Graphic Designer and make that 40K a year(average) so I could at least support myself. That was something artsy-fartsy, right? BUT! I loathed the idea of making CD covers, magazines and advertisements(etc.) for life. I could make the art, but I was bored out of my mind. It was like learning history(for me that is). I absolutely LOVE foreign history, especially eurasia but when it comes to american history, I could fall asleep in class easy. (OF COURSE, I never did :P)

I didn't want to be that person who hated their job. I wanted to stop dumping money into a degree I didn't want. So what did I do?

THIS!

My first thought was to find what I REALLY wanted to do with my life. 

Looking to my hobbies, favorites and general likes. Most importantly, what did I create most? I work in a variety of art forms but I started out just drawing. Going over my old sketchbooks, I found so much it was hard to decide. I would create characters, give them personalities, worlds, languages, so much. Other things were just random or inspirational. When I didn't know what to draw I would ask three different people suddenly what they were thinking, mix the ideas and create something from that. An exercise I assume that lead to my constant volunteer consigning for friends and clients.

Connecting the dots: concept + consigning = concept artist. Okay, thats a broad job. Now the intense part. Researching the various fields this job could be apart of AND that would still exist in twenty years. A very important factor in this growing and constantly changing world. In the end it was narrowed down between animation and video games. An easy choice because I am avid gamer. Wow, I still can't believe I'm doing this.

- MB (to be continued)