The majority of messages I receive from fellow artists are seeking similar types of information about how to get into the VFX industry, specifically as a texture painter, but also just in the general sense, so I figured it’d be worthwhile to compile and maintain a FAQ of the most common questions I get asked via email as well as on the CGTalk forums.

Is a degree necessary to get a texture painting job?

Broadly speaking, no. It’s not necessary in that you’re not likely to encounter a studio who considers it a specific, non-negotiable requirement for a job – the first and most important thing that a studio is interested in is your showreel. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a degree is a waste of time.

While I have no degrees myself and have never found it an issue, even when living and working abroad, it’s nevertheless a fact that degrees can make it simpler and easier to qualify for visas (work permits) for many countries, especially the United States* (see note below for a detailed explanation) and the United Kingdom, who in recent years has adopted a points-based immigration system. I mention these two countries specifically because of their large VFX industries which attract artists from around the world. There are, of course, other countries around the globe who have thriving VFX scenes too – if you have a wish to work in one of them, be sure to investigate their immigration requirements thoroughly to ensure you understand the requirements.

Furthermore, a degree is a great opportunity to learn in a dedicated learning environment, along with your peers. Personally, my advice would be that if you can afford it, you should definitely consider it.

* A degree is absolutely necessary in order to obtain a H1B visa, the most common work visa for the United States, if you are not a senior level artist; if you do not have a degree, you need to have 12 demonstrable years of experience in the industry already. There are other options but this is the most common work permit used by studios, in addition to the O-1 visa, which is used for exceptionally skilled artists (google for a list of requirements – they’re not easy to meet). There are one or two other visa options as well but the H1B visa remains the most commonly-petitioned visa for those of us in this field.

How do you get a job in another country?

If you want to work in other countries, then in addition to the advice I mentioned above regarding degrees, it’s also worth bearing in mind that due to the hassle and expense of importing talent from other countries, studios don’t generally hire people from outside their own borders unless they’re senior level artists (artists with a lot of professional experience) or exceptionally talented. If it’s your dream to go work in some big studio in another country, my advice would be to work for a few years in your current country first, to expand your CV, to gain experience and to develop your skills to the level where they’d interest an employer enough to consider bringing you over to them.

Most large studios do not work with texture artists remotely, due to reasons too numerous to go into here. Some smaller and mid-sized studios may occasionally outsource work to individual artists off-site, but it’s not common practice.

What courses of study are beneficial for becoming a texture painter?

To be perfectly honest, I’d advise people to be very wary of colleges or universities offering “3D media” type courses. Computer graphics has become a very popular field and many educational institutions have hopped on the bandwagon to provide courses for students wishing to study in fields like visual effects, game art, and other fields made popular by games and Hollywood blockbusters. Unfortunately, many of these courses are of questionable quality, ranging from mediocre to outright appalling – often taught by recent graduates who have little to no experience in the industry themselves. Be sure to thoroughly investigate any college or university that you may be interested in attending before enrolling and potentially making a heavy financial investment in a total waste of time.

Back to the point though, a relatively broad gamut of subjects can be beneficial for those wishing to pursue a career in texture painting: traditional painting can greatly help to develop your ability to work with colours, especially when it comes to matching and mixing colours, developing brush technique (digital brushes these days are often designed to emulate real ones very closely), as well as teaching you about colour theory. I studied oil and acrylic painting in college for two years and still use things I learned in those courses every day. Knowing basic photography is useful if you plan to go into visual effects, as we use photos for textures all the time; understanding how to shoot texture references correctly requires some knowledge of how to use a DSLR camera properly, as well as an understanding of how to grade photographs to Macbeth charts for colour fidelity, which is extremely important. Life drawing is beneficial for many facets of 3D work; drawing teaches you how to study a reference properly, and also improves your brushstroke technique for texture painting. In addition to these, it’s a good idea for a texture painter to have a decent basic knowledge of the actual 3D creation process, even though their work deals only with the textures. Understanding 3D modelling, even if only a basic, fundamental understanding, is certainly going to help, as is a good understanding of UV maps.

What software is commonly used by texture painters?

The most common 3D package used in the film visual effects industry is Autodesk’s Maya. I’d highly advise you learn Maya or a similar high end 3D package to familiarise yourself with 3D fundamentals, as it’s very likely that you’ll need to use a 3D package from time to time. In some studios, the texture painters handle the UV mapping, which is yet another good reason to learn how to do them properly.

On the software side of things, a texture artist should know, first and foremost, Photoshop. Photoshop has long been a staple workhorse of our field, and you’ll find that most studios require their texture painters to know it. Knowing a 3D painting package has also become essential, as most studios now incorporate them into their workflow. Mari by The Foundry and Bodypaint 3D by Maxon are both popular, while Pixologic’s ZBrush and Autodesk’s Mudbox are also occasionally used by texture painters.

Does the software you use really matter?

Yeah, it kinda does. Even though software is only a tool, it’s important to know the industry standard ones if you intend to work in a studio environment (and it’s unlikely you’d be reading this if that wasn’t the case), for the simple reason that if a studio needs to hire artists, they’re more likely to hire you if you already know the software they’re using. This is because it means they won’t have to train you. If two artists apply for a job, and they’re both of equal skill level but the one knows the software the studio is using and the other doesn’t, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess who the studio is going to hire. So learn the most popular tools. This means knowing, at the very least, Photoshop plus either Mari or Bodypaint. Knowing ZBrush/Mudbox would also potentially help, as many studios have licenses of both.

Is it okay to use photographs as textures?

Yes. In fact, you should. A lot of silly people on the internet like to make absurd claims like “using photos is cheating”. Ignore comments like that. The most important goal is to make work that looks good – how you did it does not matter, so discard any notions you may have about “cheating”, because they’re just counter-productive and unnecessarily purist. Unless you’re working on a project that specifically requires a hand-painted look, try to avoid hand-painting your texture maps as much as possible, unless you’re a very highly skilled painter. This is because hand-painted textures tend to look hand-painted, which isn’t good for realism. Photographs, when properly shot and graded, provide an essential range of details that are difficult to emulate with hand-painting. It is standard industry practice to use photographs for most texture work in visual effects, so get used to it.

What should be in a texture painter’s showreel?

Your showreel is your number one ticket to getting a job, so the most important piece of advice I can give is to take their time with it to ensure it’s good. Rushing it to get something out is a way in which many artists may ultimately harm their chances of getting work, so make sure you do it properly. Spend as much time as you need to make it look great. Before sending to any studios, send it to some trusted peers to give you feedback; if you don’t know anyone in the industry well enough to ask, then post it on a CG forum online to hear what people think.

A texture painter can show their work in a variety of ways: fully rendered in a shader on the model, flat-shaded (ie no shading, just pure colour) on the model, or as flats (ie a shot of the texture map itself, not applied to a model). Ideally, a combination of all three is usually best. A texture painter does not need to show wireframes in their reel, so don’t waste time with them. Show your colour, specular and bump maps to show that you understand the relationships between these different surface components. Show variety: have at least one character, one hard surface model (like a vehicle or prop of some sort) and one environment setpiece; rotate them one or twice and zoom into areas of interest if you have time. Show even more if possible, but try to avoid having a reel that’s longer than two minutes. Show only your best work – putting in random filler stuff just to pad the length makes a bad impression, so don’t do it. It’s better to have a short reel of only strong pieces than a long reel showing inconsistent quality examples.

Tailor your reel to the work of the studio you’re applying to. This is really important and commonly overlooked – don’t send a reel of cartoon work to a visual effects studio, or vice versa. If you’re applying to a visual effects studio, then show realistic work.

Avoid making an interactive disc with menus and stuff. A disc with a Quicktime, a PDF of your resume, and perhaps a couple of snapshots of your texture maps is sufficient for a texture painter’s reel. Be sure to print your name and contact information clearly on the disc and the disc’s cover.

What is lookdev?

Lookdev is short for look development. In a VFX production, lookdev is the production stage that follows texture painting. In some studios, texturing and lookdev can be done by the same people, although this isn’t very common in large studios; in most large studios, the texturing is handled by the texture painters, while lookdev is handled by lookdev TDs (technical directors). Lookdev is basically the process of setting up shaders for the surfaces on the models; it is a far more technical process than texture painting, but it’s also a very creative process because shading defines the tangible quality of a 3D surface. Textures are used to drive some properties of the shaders, like colour, bump and specular, but the shading ultimately determines how they behave in a 3D environment with lighting. Texture painters and lookdev TDs usually work closely together to create surfaces that look good, and match the brief. It’s a good idea for a texture painter to have at least a basic understanding of shaders and how they function.