When I look around at a lot of games courses I tend to find that they're a bit detached from the art side of things. The other day I was browsing through a graduates online portfolio only to see a character that was badly drawn, poorly shaded and to be honest wasn't very original or exciting. In a paragraph explaining his he work he stated that his course didn't have much art-based work in it.
It concerned me because this guy probably wouldn't get a job with this portfolio. OK so maybe his 3D work was brilliant, but it's not like 2D and 3D work are completely detached.
Like Jolyon Webb said, it's easier to teach 3D programs than to teach how to draw. For this reason I think it's a good idea that for game art courses to be more 2D art based, and that's why I'm here.
I think it is essential that key skills in all areas are taught, but the point of an education is not just to qualify students for work, but to prepare them as well.
Another issue is one raised by David Braben at gamecity. He stated that most game courses are five years out of date and that they aren't teaching what they need at the moment.
"If a university can take over a year to introduce a new module to the degree, then how is it at all possible to keep up to date with an industry that has changed major technologies several times in the last 12 months and is only now just beginning to get to grips with the power of PS3 and X360?"
So how do you educate for an industry that is advancing so quickly? An Industry that has technology, which is constantly developing? Well unless we can download weekly updates from the companies directly into our brains, I'm clueless!
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