1. Hello Can you please tell me a little bit about yourself and what sort of art-related job(s) you currently do?
Hi there! I’m Mune, former CV of the Game Development category and 3-Dimensional category here on Deviant Art. I am also a professional 3D artist and instructor, been working in the industry since 2010. I like long walks in fantasy/sci fi land, cats and squids!

2. Have you had other art related jobs? If so, what were they?

I’m what my father likes to say, a Jill of All Trades actually! I have worked in the film industry as an editor/vfx artist and 2d/3d converter artist on several indie shows and one big budget movie (Harry Potter 7 pt 1). I have worked for newspaper companies doing 2d flash games/promotional stuff, I have worked for charities creating websites/posters and informative videos, I have been a 3d animation instructor for a college program, I have even worked for table top rpg game developers creating mini figurines of their characters. Currently though I’m a 3D character artist working for a game development company on a multiplayer fighting game.

3.What are the challenges of doing art as a career?

I find that artists face a lot more challenges than other careers and need a stronger support system either in yourself or friends/family than most do. What I mean by that is: artists not only tend to have to go to school for some formal training (bachelor of fine arts, or specific art programs) as many studios look for it now and overseas require it for visa purposes , but they have to practice a lot in order to increase their skill level a lot. I’m talking day in and day out without anyone motivating you but you to create art. This is the reality of a professional artist and many of those hours go unpaid (unlike training in other jobs).

Many people look at an artists tools or tutorials and figure by using those same programs and learning from those
tutorials, that they will be able to achieve what that artist has. No word of a lie it’s the most common question asked of an artist, especially a 3D artist; “what software do you use?” or “can you make tutorials of your process?” I guarantee you that using the software may give you an edge when asking that artist a question for help, and seeing their tutorials may give you a pointer or two but you won’t achieve what that artist does just by having those two things. You need dedication in yourself, and motivation to continue practicing. 3D art is even harder because not only should you have a strong grasp at 2d basics like perspective and anatomy, you need to strengthen that eye by practicing to switch it from 2d to 3d.

Motivation, practice and support seem to be the hurdles artists face. The motivation to get up and practice every day, and the support from either yourself or those around you that you should progress in doing what makes you happy.

Mature Content

4. How do you go about finding work?

When I first started out I applied for any art job in the 3d industry or film industry that I could do because I wasn’t sure which industry I wanted to be in. I would go to job boards, or company websites and apply directly for jobs such as rotoscoping, compositing, vfx, 3d prop modeling, etc. For this industry 9/10 times you’ll need to be checking the company website and applying to them directly. Very few industry companies will post jobs to websites like Job Bank or Monster which means you have to research and know the companies around you or the ones you’re looking to move too. Know what they create, and configure yourself to be appealing to them.

That said, now that my art is increasing in skill level every day, I get noticed more and more. Artists should have some place to post their work and I find the more the better. I am on DeviantArt, Facebook, Tumblr and Artstation. I post to all of them regularly or when I can (around professional work the last two years have been hectic for me). I have a professional resume on linkedin and every place I listed that I’m on? I’ve had job offers from. People see my work or see my skill sets and figure I’d be a good suit. Some haven’t worked out (to low of money, no money at all or too large of a request over too long of a time) but some have like my current job, or my teaching job (which I was contacted on via linkedin for teaching and facebook for my current one).

5. How did you know that you wanted to be a professional artist?

I’ve been asked this question before and some people get really confused by my answer so I’ll try to explain it thoroughly Sorry if it’s confusing!

When I was little, 2 or so I had progressed into drawing. I would draw all the time and eventually as I grew up it became a stress relief for me. If I was being bullied, I’d come home and just draw my favourite characters from a show or doodle complete nonsense and I would feel better. I realized by half way through high school, art was something that not only completely relaxed me but I never needed a push to do; I would just do it. Get me to do the dishes though and you would have to scream at me but get me to do art, you never had to ask.

I almost went into an IT college career with my friend because she didn’t want to go to the college alone. It was almost the worst decision of my life because to this day I cannot stand working in IT (all of you who do, you are blessed souls with a lot more patience not to strangle people then I!). So I took an art program instead, game development for 3 years. A program designed to give you all the basics of the tools from former (and some currently still) industry pros 2d art 3d art, programming, level design, etc.

It actually wasn’t until a couple years after my program that I even realized I wanted to be a professional at this. And when I word it like that, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to work in the industry while I was in school or even when I got my first job in 2010, no. I knew I wanted to be in the industry but I wasn’t sure how. I tried different avenues, different jobs, in studio work to remote/from home work. I found that up until recently I excelled in many things but never consistently in one. This is a problem for the 3D industry unless they are looking for a generalist. When I was offered the teaching job, and the ministry approved my skills and technique for 3 years, that is when I knew character artist would be it. I taught my students, which reinforced my knowledge in all the subjects of modeling, rigging, animating, storyboarding, etc. I took an advanced character creation course at the same time and partook in my first 3d character art contest. I realized this is what I wanted to do and found a job doing that extremely quickly. It was only until I tried a bit of everything and progressed as an artist, I truly wanted to make art my professional career and full-time job. This is why people get confused by my answer because of the specifics of it. Yes I knew I wanted to be in the industry while I was in college, but it wasn’t until I was out and experienced the industries a bit for a few years, that I realized I wanted to be a professional in it. (IE: the career I won’t change again)

6. Do you have formal art education? If so, can you tell us a bit about the experience? Would you recommend it to others?

I briefly said this above but yes I have art training. You will hear professional artists go back and forth on this subject. Should I go to art school or not? So in order to answer that for yourself let me give you a series of questions first and depending on how you answer, will be the answer for you!

a. Can you motivate yourself to do art on a very consistent basis? Setting goals for you and hitting them? (ie: self-motivated…and I’m not talking once or twice, I mean all the time 24/7)
b. Can you work/collab with friends or others on art projects with ease taking direction but also giving direction when necessary? (if you answer yes, better have some group projects or collabs you’ve done to back this one up!)
c. Do you want to work overseas or outside of your country?
d. Do you want to work in studio?
e. Can you handle a critique and learn from it?
f. Do you get offended by critiques that are all negative and not positive?
g. Do you have skills/training in all the software you are looking to use or at least know the basics of them ?

By asking yourself these questions and answering them, it will give you the knowledge of yourself if school is right for you. There are always exceptions to the rules though! If you are self-motivated, you can collab well, handle critiques in all forms and learn from them and you’re not too worried about getting a job in studio right away, I would say you’re in a good strong emotional spot to handle training to be an artist yourself. Picking up training videos on gnomon or cg workshops and practicing a lot, picking up tutorials and applying them and studying from the better artists may be all that you need. Especially if you’re not worried about working overseas or in other countries right away (because quickest way to get visa’s for countries to work is having education/formal education in the area you are applying for. But it tends to be 4 year bachelor degrees or more! Especially for U.S., Japan, Canada and England. ) Some people get over with their skills and some work experience alone but it’s easier for companies if you have art training and cheaper for them too generally.

I look at art schools as not giving you 100% the skill level you need to get a job. If you look at it that way you won’t be instantly disappointed. School should be about learning the basics of the software and technical side of art, strengthening your ability to set and hit deadlines, time management training, group or working with others training, how to apply PROPERLY for art jobs and the big one, helping you handle critiques and learn how to learn from them. I went through 3 years of schooling and acquired most of this when I had none at all. I was from a rural area so internet sucked and when I went to school the tutorials out there were minimal if at all on most of the programs/subject matters. Not only that but majority were very technical and thrived on you already knowing how the program worked. (2007 yo!).

Now more and more artists have the ability to be “self-taught” and that doesn’t mean just you, but actually self-taught I find means you either went to school for it or didn’t. The good artists will have always whether they went to school or not learned from better artists, studied from better ones, etc. Self-taught doesn’t mean 100% on your own, and if you go that way, I find that's when artists run into major roadblocks in their career. Where they can’t handle critiques, or they can’t improve themselves/match a specific style/technique. Also I find they struggle to play nice with others.

Again exception to every rule. Art school is what I needed, and then motivation in art communities after is all I still need.



7. What do you enjoy most about your work?

Well the nice thing about settling in as a 3D Character artist is the ability to still do a couple forms of art and they all are relevant to my progression! I’ve always gotten bored easy and art has been that one thing to keep my mind relaxed and focused. That said, I love how as a 3d Character artist you can do digital painting studies, anatomy drawing studies, life drawing and fashion design and it will all help when creating 3D characters. That when I do those forms I never feel like I’m swaying too far and being stretched too thin, but rather they help reinforce and fine tune my own 3D work.

8. What advice would you give to those that hope to be an art professional one day?

Most of the advice is above but get a thick skin. Do it. Be able to handle your art work being ripped apart and having the strength and motivation to get back up and fix it after it has been (don’t just “call it done” all the time, go back and learn from your mistakes and try creating it again). I find many artists looking to come into this career cannot handle critiques, fighting with you when you critique them or giving the classic “it’s my style” segment. I encourage every artist out there to yes, create what makes you happy…but if you’re looking to go pro, learn to accept that what you create technically may not be perfect and other people - even non artists - may be able to see that and give you feedback on how to fix it (even in a negative way). Trust me, your seniors/leads/bosses will appreciate it and your own mentality will too, when they end up ripping you a new one will be tougher/less stressful. A good reminder for handling feedback is always remember that individual has taken personal time out of their day to comment on your piece. If you always regard that as positive (as we have a short life to live and them giving you even a minute of their time can be precious) you will have a much better foundation to handle it and reply to it without getting too emotional.

Don’t compare yourself to other artists. This is a huge de-motivator and I find can turn the best of a friend, into a jealous, ankle biting individual. What artists tend to do is compare their work at face value with someone else’s and thinks “why am I not this good yet? Why can’t I do that like she/he can? Why are they succeeding, I’m so much better” and these thoughts can be toxic and damaging overall to you and your skill. Trust me, the artist you are comparing too has probably practiced longer and more efficiently then you have regardless of where you think your skill set lies. The worst comes from artist friends at times. I find they can switch into comparing themselves to you quickly and you end up in an awkward scenario of “they just don’t see the actual time you’ve spent over them” and this tends to lead to jealousy. Not always, but it has happened even to myself a few times. When I was in college I did a lot of comparing, since being out? I do none. (Not comparing to friends who are artists, or ever thinking down about my level in comparison). I learn, not compare and I’ll explain the difference below.

It’s good to look at other artists you admire for learning purposes, but never for comparing purposes. The ONLY time I ever compare myself is if I’m requested to HIT a certain technique/style/level as another artist and need to constantly compare if I’m acquiring that. But that is very rare and typically when I’m in a junior senior situation at a studio. (For example at IMAX I had to compare my work to the seniors/leads to make sure my shots matched theirs.) What’s the difference between learning and comparing you might ask? Well, if you’re comparing for the sake of learning it means you’re studying the work and analyzing it with regards to how you can improve or how they’ve done something. Comparing yourself to another piece you’ll be looking at yours and theirs and doing so only at face value, not considering the techniques they used or the time they invested in getting that far. Comparisons typically are piece by piece based, whereas learning you’re comparing your current level to all of their work in general. Comparison also tends to have emotion tied in it, when learning tends to be more objective. For example, when you compare your brain instantly thinks one of two things either “I’m so much better then this” or “why am I not as good as this?” which is emotional thinking, which leads to negativity. When you’re learning you are studying the work and your brain shifts over to the logical side of “how does this work? How did they draw this? How can I apply this to my own work” and so on.

And it’s really just the mental side too. Are you happy or angry when you’re comparing? That could also be the line between learning so you’re in a motivated logical state to improve yourself, or comparing where you are in a negative emotional jealous not-understanding-why state.

9. What are your goals as an artist?
Practice, all the practice. My goals tend to shift depending on my professional status. Currently my goals are to practice digital painting studies/anatomy more, learning more about fashion and improving overall my 3D character modeling/sculpting.

10. Can you share a few pieces with us that you have created for clients/work?

One thing I find with artists, don’t judge them based on what they can show Some artists are under NDA…like I was for the bigger studios I worked for or even some small indie studios. Some stuff I can never post or put into my reel/portfolio and it’s definitely frustrating. I decided to pick two things from my gallery as showing you examples of my work.

These were weapons I had to not only design 2d but create 3D and be able to use the same model but make it look different across the board.


This was an example of practicing portraits but as a commission for someone.

11. If you have any thing else to add, please do so here

I hope I didn’t scare you off! Talking about the reality of scenarios tends to be the teacher in me talking Having art as a career I feel very fortunate. That I wake up every day in the morning and have art to do for the rest of the day. That is all I need to do. That even if I get a bit scattered in my art, I can lead it back to my professional work. That my boss encourages me practicing during my breaks and off hours and learning new techniques. That I’m encouraged to do more art! That what I’m creating now will be placed in a video game as what others use. That I’m part of a team who’s dedicated and that I have made so many new artist friends since being on this path (or friends in general). I have become more outspoken, less afraid to say what I really feel and express myself more through art. Despite the hurdles, the ups and downs and my experiences, I am happy where I came out and excited to see in just a year or two how far I’ll go.

I was able to be successful as a teacher, give them the knowledge they were required to gain and then some. That I even got a student an internship at a large studio in Ottawa.

All of these goals, milestones and positive experiences couldn’t have been achieved if I went through with IT and not Art. Not saying I wouldn’t be happy in IT, but I can’t imagine being as happy in IT as I am right now in Art. All I see is endless progression, and improvement ahead. How I’ll meet more interesting people along the way and how I know we will all be progressing together regardless of being different skill sets or styles.

That artists can be an awesome network and family, and I wouldn’t change the hard times before at all. Art is amazing and beautiful. It can take your breath away from a single picture, and inspire you at the same time. It’s every changing and evolving, what was art and inspiring yesterday is not what is today.

I invite you all to come on this journey, it’s an amazing one You will get bumped and scraped and the ego bruised…lose friends along the way, but in the end, if it’s what makes you happy and feel like you have purpose in this world, it’s what ultimately you need to do, for you! Whatever makes you happy, do it. I guarantee the more you progress in art, the more people will notice you and the support system you can build. That you all become “existing” more or less and have a common understanding of the dedication you need, but also the support you may also need. (which may not come from words, a lot of artists can speak to each other without words through their work or their support of that work).

We only have one life to live, why spend it doing something you hate?

If art makes you happy, then do art. Best advice I can give! And hey I’m not even near the skill level, years of experience or technique as some but remember that one little piece of advice alongside being happy and you’ll be fine…don’t compare, learn! I don’t compare myself to them, I learn from them! Don’t compare me to them or yourself to me, learn from them, learn from me

Michy (Mune).

Thank you so much for your time!  It's been interesting to read such an informative and personal account