change of plans

Hey guys, so I went to Houston, checked out TimeGate's studio, everything went really well, nice studios, and they seemed to enjoy my stuff, but while I was there I received an e-mail with an even better opportunity from Ignition Entertainment in Florida. So they'll be flying me out to Florida sometime next week to show me around the studios, lunch, talk art and the new project, the whole deal. The art Director, J.P Targete (!!!!) called me up to my surprise, super nice guy and super talented. Also Steven Stahlberg is working there as well, really super talented guys, and artists i've looked up to since I started doing concept art. You guys should look them both up. So if everything goes well, i'll be going to Gainesville Florida, instead of Houston. Just some tips and advice i've learned so far from this whole experience, and talking to some of the artists. I know not all of you are looking to be concept artists, but just incase you want to pursue it someday, some may be really obvious: Diversity- I'm talkin characters, environments, vehicles, creatures, weapons, storyboards, even some 3d thrown in there. Do it all! Passion- A game studio would much rather have someone who wants to learn everyday, draw non-stop and is just passionate about what they do! I know i'd much rather work with someone not so good, but has equal passion for drawing, rather than a really good guy with little to no desire to get better. I garuntee you that the not so good guy will exceed the other guy in a year or so. I've seen many examples of this happen! "forever a student" is a great way to think. The proof is in the pudding, Doing is a lot more than saying you will do something. I've unfortunately seen many of that too.. Style- It's prefered you don't have one. Better yet, is the ability to have multiple styles, ranging from cartoony stylized to realistic and choose what's appropriate for the project. just another aspect of diversity. Lifestyle - This is actually super important and a lot of people don't realize it. Sleep enough, Workout, eat right. It helps you focus and stay alert. Humility - yeah you wouldn't beileve how many amateurs i've seen totally dismiss a professionals critique. I've seen it the other way around as well, a professional thinks he's perfect. "forever a student" Time Management- you wouldn't beileve how much you can actually get done if you stopped doing all the random unproductive crap... T.V., internet surfing, too much video games. one of my friends put it very well " Think of it like this, while your watching T.V. you are now watching someone elses creation, people who put their sweat and blood into it to get it put on television, you could be doing the same thing." soo yeah, those are just some of the things i've been talking about with those guys. I hope it helps, as a lot of it is pretty universal to any artist. I should have put blogging in the Time Managament.. haha back to work! -mitch