Summary:
*Hear how he got his foot in the door working for Creative Assembly.
*What is was like working on Red Dead Redemption 2 for Rockstar’s Leeds office.
*How he reached out to the Madison, WI office for PUBG and got his role working on the game remotely.
*Hear how he’s worked on 22 games since just 2015.
*How he started with computer science before pivoting to art.
*Hear his risky decision to quit his job at a call center to pursue his goal of being in the industry.
*How he took art tests and couldn’t get accepted as an artist then pivoted into QA.
*Hear how he had to leave Creative Assembly so he could become a junior artist at Rockstar.
*Learn about a weekend project doing fan art for Silent Hill that took off virally.
*How he turned down big studio job offers to continue working as a freelancer.
*Hear about being part of PUBG and experiencing the meteoric rise of its popularity.
*Learn the most important thing you have to decide if you want to work in the game industry.
*Hear the importance of joining websites, forums, and connecting with others.
*Learn what to have in your portfolio and how to tailor for studios.
*Hear the advantage of having your own website instead of using ArtStation.
*Learn about what’s important to do for improving as an artist.
*Hear how using UV Layout saves him tons of time, and using ZBrush.
*Listen to what his favorite game to work on.
*Learn about the development pace difference between European and U.S. studios.
*Learn opinions on the current state of the industry.
*Learn the current trends around game art and outsourcing.
*Hear why being a freelancer can be safer than working for a studio, plus let you earn more.
*Learn about developing on VR and the importance of optimizing.
*Hear about the importance of sound design to a game’s experience.
*Learn about Lindsay Lohan’s GTA 5 lawsuit with Rockstar.
*Hear where you can find him online for reaching out.
Quotes:
*“I always found it interesting the early Grand Theft Autos were developed in Scotland but had such an American flair.”
*”The visual fidelity of Tekken blew my mind and kick started my interest making games.”
*”I had no intentions on being an artist in the game industry.”
*”It’s a pet rock, it’s a fade.”
*”You can see how the sausage is made.”
*”If you’re in the bubble too long it becomes toxic very quickly.”
*”Without being sleazy or being a pest get out there and let people know about you.”
*”I consider myself to be very lucky working on huge projects while living in a little town in the countryside.”
*”You’ve lost your mind to leave Rockstar and work on some little project called PUBG!”
*”If this fails I remember thinking to myself I’ll become the watercooler talk at Rockstar.”
*”It has those adrenaline moments of having to kill everyone.”
*”It was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments.”
*”It’s not a punch-in-punch-out career path, you always have to be striving and learning.”
*”How we got to experience its explosion in real-time is something that’ll probably stay with me for the rest of my life.”
*”It’s pub time, what are you asking from me, you crazy American?”
*”When working as a freelancer you’re like a hydra-head, if an opportunity goes you’ll be fine.”
*”For some reason Lindsay Lohan thought it was her and Rockstar was making money off her, which was just absolutely B.S.”
About My Guest:
Today’s guest is James Brady, a talented freelance artist. He’s worked at places like Rockstar, remotely as a freelancer, and been in the industry for 4 years now.
He’s created art on games like PUBG, Hitman 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Insurgency Sandstorm,
Firewall Zero Hour, Halo, Last Year: The Nightmare, The Forest, and many others.
He’s based out of Ireland, and is currently working remotely for a studio here in the U.S.
Resources:
*James Brady website
*Total War: WARHAMMER
*PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
*Marathon by Bungie
*Halo by Bungie
*3ds Max
*James Brady’s Silent Hill fan art environment on 80 Level
*Game Dev Unchained 163 with John Podlasek
*ArtStation jobs*Headus UVLayout tool
*Zoop by Hookstone Productions
*Sea of Thieves
*Incubation: Time is Running Out
*Activision Blizzard layoffs
*Insurgency: Sandstorm
*Cardio Ex soundtrack on Spotify
*Lindsay Lohan’s lawsuit
*Level Ex website
*Game Dev Advice Twitter
*Game Dev Advice email
*Game Dev Advice website
*Game Dev Advice Hotline (224) 484-7733
*Don't forget to subscribe and go to www.gamedevadvice.com for full show notes with links!
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