Thanks for this! One question though, it seems like environmental artists can easily transition to Lighting artist since in a lot of smaller studios they do both (I think), so is animation/cinematic animation a way to transition to cinematic lighting artists?
For sure! Lighting Artists usually branch off like an RPG tree from a lot of roles, and yeah env art is a common one, but also see vfx/film/animation folks hopping over too. The biggest hurdle will be working to technical constraints, as lighting is one of the most expensive parts of a game, whereas in animation you're kinda free to hit render most the time.
Thanks for this! One question though, it seems like environmental artists can easily transition to Lighting artist since in a lot of smaller studios they do both (I think), so is animation/cinematic animation a way to transition to cinematic lighting artists?
For sure!
Lighting Artists usually branch off like an RPG tree from a lot of roles, and yeah env art is a common one, but also see vfx/film/animation folks hopping over too.
The biggest hurdle will be working to technical constraints, as lighting is one of the most expensive parts of a game, whereas in animation you're kinda free to hit render most the time.