My boss is hosting a conference night at Gazelli Arthouse, which is the gallery where she’s currently resident. They were originally only going to exhibit her work for a month, but due to its popularity they have decided to exhibit more of her installation works and extend the exhibition period.
The night is completely free, and it aligns with my boss’s value that all art should be non-profit and accessible, where the gallery also supported and helped organise it.
I attended the night as an artist assistant and also as a participant in the game. My boss mentioned our communication and roughly explained our workflow, she also showed our internal PDF that displays and plans our process. It was also my first time meeting the other participants who worked on the game together offline since we were all contacted by my boss individually while communicating about the project. This way of working for the assigned job is how one should be expecting for a game project, which I felt was very easy to adjust and adapt to as I do many freelance work already. However, it is still very engaging to properly talk to other team members and learn more about their portion of the work. I also met one of the indie game designers that I have been following.
It is a relatively lighthearted event for me as a contributor and member of the team to attend, where I don’t have to make an effort to small talk or network. I also felt proud when my boss introduced me as the illustrator to other people, it was great to hear about positive feedback on my art.
The feedback I got from crew members and even my friend had me reflect on my chosen form of work. As I have been experimenting and exploring 3D works, I haven’t been doing much 2D illustration. I found that although I have many positive feedback about my previous 3D works, people find my illustrations and drawings more moving and more ‘human lack’, which is lacking somehow in such a technology, CGI-driven industry. In this case, I’m also not professional enough in my 3D skills to make industry-level work, which made to reconsider my choice of media in my personal practices. Even when the brand wants to buy my designs, they are more leaning towards my 2D stuff instead of my 3D works. However, I do think it’s reasonable for me to explore different methods of art during my first and second year, or even all of my years during university as I might not get enough opportunities outside of my student years.
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