Artist in the Streets, Freak in the Sheets

April 15, 2025

1 min read

So there have been a couple of layoffs this year in the game and VFX industries. Pair that news with realizing your favorite LinkedIn influencer using AI to write about how AI is going to AI everything and the future of the creative landscape starts to look grim.

As a purveyor of education, this certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by us here at CG Spectrum. Many of our prospective students have the same question: will there be anything there when I graduate? My answer is yes, but it may look slightly different than it did a few years ago.

New Landscape

For a confluence of factors that have been discussed in depth within other articles, both the games and visual effects industries are experiencing a downturn. It's not the first time this has happened, and it won't last forever. But waxing poetic about the cyclical nature of these markets isn't helpful for a student looking ahead in the next one to two years. What might help is knowing that the people in these industries are some of the most resilient I've had the pleasure of associating with, and as the landscape changes, so too will those that serve it.

Gamers are still going to game, audiences will still want films, TV, and streaming, and none of that happens without the creatives behind it. We saw Technicolor Group spawning ARC Creative after shutting down and myriad indie game studios being launched. Smaller more distributed teams are beginning to create work to fill the void left by larger corporate players. So what does this mean for someone new and looking to enter the field?

Yep, spreadsheets.

Commercial - Art

I started my career in 2005 with a background largely unworthy of the spotlight. I performed well in school, but I did identify strongly with a trait many creatives have, a general disinterest in financials.

I began my 3d journey after getting hooked on watching the Warcraft III cinematics, and simply wanted to make cool stuff. I wanted to model the coolest characters and to be left alone to focus on that. That was all well and good, but as I progressed further in my career into lead and supervisor positions, it became clearer that we weren't only being paid for art, we were solving problems.

You start by solving small and more technical problems, and then move up to solving creative problems. The next level usually splits between really difficult technical problems, large creative and vision problems, or managerial problems. Then you graduate into production and money problems. The more adept you can become at any of those, typically the greater your ability to advance and the more longevity you have at any particular company. So how does this relate to what's happening currently?

Students newly entering the field no longer have the luxury of learning those lessons slowly throughout a career. As the landscape shifts and smaller studios pop up, you'll be required to know them now.

They're all Business Problems

Working with smaller studios will require different skillsets to be successful. There will always be a need for core creative skills, software competency, and at least some ability to utilize AI tools. But these will now be accompanied by other skills needed to stand out initially and succeed long term.

Market yourself - smaller shops generally don't have large HR departments to sort through applications. Most of us still browse art sites though, so learn to develop those skills to present well alongside networking
Show process - With AI shenanigans abounding, learn to show the process in your work to prove what you know and that you got it there, not the prompt.
Learn the pipeline - know how you fit into the larger workflow and how to interact with those on either side.
Solve problems - Working at a film or game studio is not fine art. Learn to think about timing, process efficiency, and how to separate yourself. We aren't creating our portfolio, we're solving a client problem, regardless of whether that client is external, or is the person sitting next to you.

Start Sooner

So where can you pick this knowledge up? In the current climate, there isn't the luxury of waiting to develop these skills organically over many years. Luckily, there are also more resources than before.

For those interested in exploring longer-form education, we are integrating these skill sets into our programs at CG Spectrum. To avoid a completely self-serving post, however, there are also great creators out there. Dan Mall and Chris Do are coming from a design background, but both have great content on how to think about business problems and the financial side of things within the creative industry. Please add others in the comments with a gaming or VFX background so we can all take a look, and so I can hire them.

Don't be Afraid

Lastly, don't be afraid to dabble a bit with a sheet here and there; they aren't the dark side, and you won't become an accountant suddenly. Becoming a more capable and well-rounded creative will only enhance your attractiveness as a candidate and will undoubtedly serve you well over the long term.