Specialist or Generalist: The Artist's Dilemma

Should I learn everything? and be a generalist? or should I get really really good at one thing? those questions are all valid ones and every artist in their journey has to answer them at one point in their life.

This article breaks through some of the myths and truths that surround those questions and covers what you could do if you were in that situation.

Check out this article to learn more about Passive income for Artists

What is a Specialist?

In the art industry a specialist is someone who is very good at one niche of the bigger 4 categories in the industry. First, let's define the big categories:

• Modeling
• Texturing
• Animation
• VFX

Those are the big categories in the animation and games industry. Now, to be a specialist does not mean just picking one of those, that was way way in the past but nowadays a specialist is picking a niche within one of those main categories.

For example, a 3D modeler is considered a generalist nowadays, and a 3D character modeler on the hand is a specialist, they both work in one of the bigger categories but one chose to only concentrate all their efforts on learning 3D character modeling.

More examples of specialists below:

• Character Artist
• Environment Artist
• Vegetation Artist
• Prop Modeler

Another example is texturing, if you are a 3D texturing artist then that's considered a generalist approach, but if you are an Environment texturing artist then that is what is called a specialist.

What is a Generalist?

Now that it is clear what a specialist is, let's define what a generalist is: a generalist is someone who can do one of those main categories named before, they are not super talented in all of its aspects but they have decent work across all of its sub-categories.

For example, a 3D modeler is considered a generalist, they should be able to model building, characters, props, vegetation...etc, and give you a decent result across all of those.

More examples of generalists are below:

• 3D modeler
• 3D animator
• VFX artist

Specialist Roles Pros and Cons

It's a trend these days to specialize and it seems like an easier route to take, but let's put all the trends behind us and give a list of pros and cons of being a specialist.

Generalist Roles Pros and Cons

Industry Trends

Nowadays specialists are in high demand, the simple reason is the quality bar is constantly rising with new technologies emerging, 10 years back phones and consoles couldn't withstand what they can now and it's constantly evolving this is why the need for cutting edge art is on the rise.

It's really getting out of hand, with full-time positions such as Senior Facial Modeler, or Senior Vegetation Modeler, it's going very very niche and it is hard to say when it will stop.

The Journey: From Generalist to Specialist

Many artists started as generalists. Back then there was only 3D, so you needed to do everything in all of the categories... and that's exactly what they did: learned modeling, animation, and texturing, and some even made a full short 3D animated clip on their own.

After experiencing all these categories and learning about each one of them, artists pivot naturally towards the one they enjoy the most. When positions like 3D modeler started to appear, many concentrated all their efforts moving forward on modeling.

From modeling characters to environments to props to landscapes the mandate was to do it all and it was part of the job description as well, in addition, animation and texturing knowledge helped a lot when starting out.

Studios are often amazed when an artist can lend a hand in rigging and animation, which makes that artist more valuable to the company and helps eliminate job security fears.

A generalist can apply for 3D artist positions, 3D modeler positions, 3D texturing positions, anything that is open, because they know how to do it all and have a portfolio to prove it.

Later on, a generalist can start to specialize in modeling, become a senior and then specialize in characters. But there are situations on projects where all the characters are done, and at that point a lack of environment modeling skills would be a huge problem.

Career Path Considerations

So how do you choose? The answer is simple: you don't!

Specialist or generalist is a journey where an artist goes through each of them. Starting out with one sub-category and not knowing anything else is a bad idea!

for starters you need to taste and try other categories to know which one you enjoy the most, it is very hard to pick one just because it sounds good or it's in demand. Try it and see if it fits you and you have passion for it, because it's going to be long hours and long years, so you better enjoy it, otherwise it will be a very rough road ahead.

Start as a generalist, try modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, and VFX try them all, learn about them all, and practice them all for a decent amount of time enough that you have a portfolio piece in each one or all of them in one (like a small animation clip).

After that, you can decide for yourself which way you want to go and in which category you want to shine the most.

Conclusion

It's great to concentrate all your efforts on one thing and be the best at it, but in order to be an expert in your field you need to expand your knowledge and have an understanding of how all elements work together.

The trend is going for specialists these days but trends come and go and you can't base your life career on certain trends, learn the basics very well be a generalist at the beginning of your career and then concentrate on one thing you enjoy the most and be a super talented specialist.

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