When you're first starting out and it's "please an art job, any art job" how do you decide what to focus on? Character design/figure studies/environments/illustration/concept/etc sure you could work on all of them, be a generalist, or you could narrow your focus but also your job prospects? I've got analysis paralysis because I like doing everything but "no one hires generalists" is what I've been told/experienced.
This is a question that I see a LOT of confusion out in the art world, so let’s break it down:
There are 2 kinds of artists: Specialists & Generalists. Specialists have 2 types: Style vs. Expertise.
Style Specialists have a really unique style, and they are hired to apply that style over and over again to many different types of work. These folks tend to be freelancers, because they work for very different clients project to project. A really example of this is Victo Ngai. She does books, she does ads, she does editorial, she does packaging…she can do anything. Clients are hiring her to apply her style to their project.
Expertise Specialists often do have a style, but they are hired more for their expertise in a field. This is where you find a lot of your concept artists. You’d hire Karla Ortiz for her ability to design characters, Thom Tenery for his environments, Brynn Metheny for her creatures. You wouldn’t ask Thom to design a creature or Brynn to paint an environment. These kinds of artists are hired for their thinking process more than for their style. You come to them with problems to solve visually.
Generalists are hired for flexibility and technical skills. They are hired for their work volume and speed. These are the artists that tend to work in-house or are brought in as temps, or if they work from home, just for a few steady clients. Most designers fall into this category. Illustrators can too, but they tend to work on many different projects in different styles. A lot of work in advertising falls into this category, as well as film. Storyboard artists and pre-vis (pre-visualization) artists usually fall into this category. A lot of animation artists fall into this category. People that work in-house for video games often do as well. Your style has to match the style needed for the project, and you’re more the hired hands to get the work done.
So yes, there are jobs for both kinds of artists, but think very hard about the kind of career you want. Generalists have a very hard time being noticed and remembered because their work doesn’t look like it’s coming from the same person, so they have a very hard time freelancing — they rely on in-house work and/or agencies who hire them out to companies as needed. Style Specialists have a very hard time finding in-house work because their style is often great for one project, but not adaptable to many different projects. Expertise Generalists kind of split the difference, but they work in one field and one field only.
How you decide is thinking about these things:—Do I want to work in-house or freelance?
—Do I like working in the same style all the time and keep honing it and honing it until it’s uniquely mine?
—Do I have a love or expertise I want to nerd out on for the rest of my life and be known as the expert on that?
—Do I like the spotlight and want fame, or hate the idea of worrying about fans and promoting myself on social media?
—Do you love practicing and honing your skills and your speeds more than you care about whatever in particular you are drawing/painting?
Those kinds of questions will steer you toward the kind of artist you want to be. But I will also remind you that you have to do what you genuinely love doing or you will hate your career and end of giving up and/or course correcting a few years in anyway. Don’t just think about what you think is easier to find a job in, because doing the work just to get the job is always visible. You also have to enjoy what you are doing.
