Making a living?

[EkbatDeSebat]

Hey guys!

I was just wondering how many of you can actually make a living doing pixel work for games (or if that's even possible at all).

I ask this because I've just started pixeling in my spare time (which, at the moment, I have more of than I'd like) and I quite like it. I never thought of this being a possible new source of income for me. Who knows, maybe one day...?

In the meantime, I'm interested to hear your side of the story!

[TomF]

Hello there,

I asked myself the same question a couple of years ago. Now I can safely say the answer is yes, but not without a little hard work and dedication. You don't need to be absolutely amazing at it, but I think to have a constant stream of income you need to have decent pixelling skills combined with competent art fundamentals (forms/lighting, anatomy, colour theory etc). Having a full website/resume would also help a lot (something I still need to work on).

But yeah as I said, you don't need to be uber good. I only know very basic art fundamentals but they are enough to allow me to create art work comfortably and at a good speed.

There's a great article by Adam Tierney on freelancing here: www.adamtierney.com/Freelancing.doc

And if you haven't seen it already there's another on here by Adam Saltsman (though this one really applies when you start getting paid work) http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AdamSaltsman/20090724/2571/Pixel_Art_Freelance_Best_Practices__Guidelines.php

So if you're wiling to put a serious amount of time and energy into it, and embark on a never ending learning process, I say go for it. 

[EkbatDeSebat]

hi TomF,

thanx for that worddoc! It's quite clarifying 
I think I'll just continue hanging round here, posting my stuff. And if after 2 more weeks, I still like pixeling, I can take it to the next step (I get bored with something new easily) 

[TomF]

Heh, not to sound discouraging, I took your "making a living" as making some money. So making a living out of it, I think that may depend entirely on your standard of living. 

[EkbatDeSebat]

Sorry, very late reply:

yeah, I meant making a living out of it actually But still, thanks for sharing your view on it.

(offtopic: nice work you have on your website btw, cute clear style!)

[Indigo]

many of us make a living on pixeling.  Look at companies such as gameloft, glu mobile, wayforard, etc - all these companies require pixel artist on a consistent basis.  I work full-time at glu and live quite comfortably in the bay area - which isn't exactly a cheap place to live, mind you.

[TomF]

Thanks! though I'm no where near the level of some on this site. I will get there eventually.

Indigo I presume he was talking purely about freelance work. I would love to have a full time pixel job but they seem to be somewhat rare.