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- Name: Sean K.
- Year Of Graduation: 2023
- College/University: Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH)
- Major: Gaming and Simulation Arts with a minor in Sound Design
What do you do for a living? Can you share what a typical day at work looks like? Do you enjoy what you do?
I recently moved to Cincinnati and got a job as a digital printer operator at a local architectural signage business. So, day-to-day I’m kind of bouncing between two machines. The first machine is a direct color printer. It prints on large sheets of acrylic with direct ink solvents. Then that usually takes a while to run, so while that runs, I will bounce over to the vinyl cutter/plotter where I cut out basic vinyl signage. I take it to the table while the digital printer is over there doing its thing. Yeah, I mean, so far I think I enjoy it. The job does not have a whole lot as far as creative or technical involvement goes, so I don’t feel quite fulfilled there, but it pays well and that’s always really good. I’m trying to find ways to kind of flex those technical and creative muscles here and there. You know, maybe introduce new tasks for me that I can do for the company that will benefit them and also bring me fulfillment due to it being more creatively or technically oriented.
Why did you choose your undergraduate major? Do you feel your time spent in college was valuable? Why or why not?
I’ve always wanted to do video games since I was a kid. My dad was a manager at GameStop and he would always bring the newest games and consoles. I would watch him play, and I would try as well. I would try to play like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and I’d die within 5 minutes, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever and that was my biggest inspiration. I knew from that moment that video games were what I wanted to do with my life in some capacity. In high school, I didn’t even know that Shawnee State University existed until my advisor pointed out to me that it had video game degrees. I was kind of torn between an arts degree or a programming degree, but at the time I was more interested in the storytelling side of things and ultimately I went for the art side of the degree.
After four years of stressful classes, outdated curriculums, and tons of different teachers leaving, resigning, and being laid off, I can say it was frustrating, but at the end of the day, I think my time there was extremely valuable. I’d even go as far as to say that those four years were probably the best of my life so far, and I’m looking to recreate that actively. The thing about my time at college is that I evolved a lot. I became more involved with the mechanical side of game design, which I find more interesting. There’s a lot more that’s versatile about it that I can kind of apply to things in my everyday life. I can practice it pretty much every day with just random little offshoot projects and learn something every time I take a stab at it.
I learned from really good industry professionals. My favorite teacher was the art director for Saints Row 3. The most valuable thing for me was all the friends and people I worked with, whether they were dormmates or classmates in different video game classes. We are all still really tight-knit and I think they all have a lot of great talents, and I want to keep them within my circle in case I ever do start a game studio. They would absolutely be my first choice of hires.
Can you tell me about your experience finding a job after graduation? Are you happy with where your journey has led you thus far?
So my experience with job hunting after college was extremely frustrating. The job market right now is currently at a kind of a low point, as everyone else is probably saying. On top of that, my industry is notoriously oversaturated. Digital arts, video game design…it’s rough out there.
My first job after graduation ended up being at Starbucks, and it was okay. From there, I kind of bounced between different locations of Starbucks, whether they were corporate or Target-based. Eventually, I moved in with my girlfriend and found some jobs that were actually graphic design-related. I was in rural Ohio so I’m not really sure how much it can count for being graphic design but it was like print shops. The first job that I worked at was signage-based. There was one that was t-shirt-based. Now I’ve kind of recently moved back to Cincinnati and started my career over with the digital printer operator role.
For some additional context, in the very beginning, I did not apply to as many jobs as I probably should have. I’d say ballpark I applied to 10 or 20 whereas now I’m applying to 50 or so within a week span just because if you throw many darts one of them’s got to land a bullseye. I initially applied for much higher-level positions and after so many rejections and taking these weird assessments for different companies, I began to feel like I wouldn’t be able to fit in anywhere. After about six months, I decided to get a transitional job and hope that I could somehow work my way into, I don’t know, like a graphic designer for Starbucks. Maybe I could somehow climb the ranks there and move into a corporate office or something like that. I was doing freelance work, mostly video game modding and making assets, but after a while, I was running low on money.
The journey has been pretty stressful, and I haven’t really found a truly satisfying job, I don’t think. I mean, this one is probably the closest to it, but it leaves a little bit to be desired. I do like where the journey is leading me, because in every job that I go through I am learning to advocate for myself and understand my value, and make each job that I go for better and better.
Why is the game design and digital arts industry so competitive?
The thing with game design as a field is that there are a lot of people who see that and want to do it for a living. There is such a high skill gap where companies are only employing those who are the best. So it’s kind of a starving artist situation where you have to really put in your all to get a job anywhere. There is also the issue nowadays of AI tools that are kind of boosting people’s portfolios a little bit and making it seem like they are better at digital design and arts than they actually are.
I have seen people try to publish AI-generated art as their own on websites such as Art Station and that’s the biggest frustration I think, where it’s becoming easier to pass yourself off as a graphic designer. I think jobs are less interested in trying to sort through the people who are faking and who aren’t, so they are just looking for the undisputable best of the best right off the bat.
I think from a corporate standpoint, the whole AI thing is a little concerning, but at the same time, I think that most companies are smart enough to listen to their player base. A lot of the player base that I’ve seen will not stand for AI-generated content. A big example of this was Secret Invasion, the Marvel TV series, that had completely AI generated their show intro and it got a lot of backlash. I think as long as there is that pressure from the general audience and workforce it shouldn’t become too much of an issue. This is why I’m kind of keeping game arts and stuff like that to a hobby. My dream is to go with an independent studio that respects that sort of form more.
If I asked you three years ago, what goals would you hope you’ve achieved, in life or career?
Three years ago, I was kind of in a different spot in my life. Different relationships, different friendships, things like that. I was kind of hoping that by this point I would somehow have churned out a game. I could have gotten a graphic design job and started making money, and then when I got home, I would have had the time to work on some sort of small game project and get a studio established for myself. That would probably be what my goals were for life and my career three years ago.
How important is it to have a purpose-driven life? Why or why not? Do you think you’re on a path to do that? If not, what needs to change?
I think a purpose-driven life is extremely crucial. I think that we are born on earth without really any purpose or anything like that and then we go throughout our life gaining experience, meeting different people, and we establish our own purpose from what we are taking in. I think that is what makes us all so unique, it’s the fact that we all have our own individual purposes that are completely different from one another. I do believe that I am on the path of being purpose-driven because every day that I learn something new or life throws another challenge at me I feel more passionate. I use that kind of swell in my chest, that sort of feeling of pride or feeling of passion, as a compass. The path that I’ve been going on and the people that I’ve been talking to, the things that I’ve been doing, it has kept that flame within me alive. That’s how I know that I am on the right purpose-driven path.
What’s your biggest struggle right now? What led to it? How are you moving forward?
My biggest struggle definitely has been mental health. I’ve had anxiety all my life, but recently it’s been particularly bad. This probably started following the car accident I had back in November. I wasn’t injured particularly badly or anything, but it shook me up. I had a sort of grim reminder of my mortality and from that moment on I feared the worst in any situation. Recently, I’ve been doing much better. A lot of my anxiety before was health anxiety, so I went to all the doctors that I hadn’t been to in years. I got my eyes checked. I got my teeth looked at. I got, a general physical and all the results came back and I am perfectly healthy. That really helped ease the health anxiety. I try to remind myself that, because of these events, I am much more careful and I am able to kind of control or somewhat influence the likelihood of any sort of accident in any situation.
What interests/hobbies bring you the most happiness?
This one’s a tough one because there are so many answers. I am just so fascinated and obsessed with learning all of what life has to offer me. I will bounce between such a wide plethora of interests, but for my primary ones, I will do little game design projects here and there, translating one game to a completely different game, and figuring out what themes and mechanics can go into it. I do a lot of digital art, whether that be graphic design and iconography or sound design and music composition for some other project.
I like to do a lot of stuff in nature. I love being involved with nature. I love to cook. I am learning Norwegian and I got really into chemistry for no reason. I don’t know what brought it on, but I was just like, “I want to get into chemistry.” So yeah, I think that’s all of them for now.
What do you want to spend more time working on? What is stopping you?
I’ve kind of assessed this recently. In light of the recent job rejections, I do think I want to try to focus more on expanding my portfolio and doing projects that interest me, in a way that they apply to whatever job I want to pivot into. There are some projects online that I’ve looked at for data analysis because that’s something I’m interested in. Maybe trying to do more general graphic design or other iconography pieces to really help pad out that side of my portfolio. I’ve also thought about trying to dip my toe into the game industry and do more texture art because I felt like that was something I was really good at in college.
I think right now, the one hurdle is trying to figure out how to get out of my mom’s basement. I’m currently living under my mom’s house and it is a little embarrassing. So I’m trying my best to save up money and move out into an apartment where I can build up money and afford a new computer to make art better because my current computer is slow as a snail. It’s ridiculous. So, something to help really invest my time and talent into the art that I’m creating.
If we traveled three years into the future of your life, what do you want to achieve? What would you hope has changed?
I would hope that at some point within the next few years, I will be married to my partner. That’s one big thing of mine because we actually have the same goal of establishing an independent studio. And on that same note, I would hope that by that point, we would have some sort of small starter game released so that we can get a trademark ruling. Once we use the name of the studio and the logo and everything in a product, we can get soft rights to it and then go from there and really start to network with people and build up a studio. Career-wise, maybe I’ll have finally moved into the job that I’m looking for.
What’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you wish you had known earlier?
That is a very, very good question. I think the biggest piece of advice I would give myself if I could go back in time is just like I mentioned before: don’t worry so much about the uncertainty and just keep moving forward and keep creating. There were a few points in my life where I felt like I shouldn’t be creating. I felt like it just wasn’t panning out to be the best thing ever, but if you think about it, everything that anyone makes is a step closer to their best thing ever. So I don’t think there should be any sort of restrictions or setbacks for someone like myself creating anything.
I just think that people should always keep trying experimenting, learning, and creating stuff.
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