Explain your role as if I have zero knowledge about it?
Basically my job it to setup the lights for the game cutscenes and levels. So that player does not get lost at the level and has an idea of what is important in the environment. With the help of lighting I also set the mood of the scene, atmosphere, post process, color grading, etc. I usually start a lighting level when there are only greymeshes from the level designers. And continue my work on improving and optimizing the lighting through all environment art stages.
Breakdown your average day at work?
My average work day starts around 9-10 AM with e-mail checking, engine and content update. Checking new bugs/tasks and assigning them to the right person. After that I work on my usual lighting tasks and check to see if everything is in order and nothing is broken, which requires immediate action. Several days a week we hold team meetings for synchronization between departments; also lighting feedback sessions and once a month 1:1 with lighting team members
What was your educational and career journey into this role?
I started to learn 3d back in high school. I had a tutorial on CD disk on how to model Ford Mustang in 3Ds Max. I loved it so much that I kept practicing and modeling other things.
At first I didn’t think that I would become a 3d artist or lighting artist. I wanted to be a programmer so i studied at the university as a programmer. In my third year at university I was lucky enough to get a job as a 3D Artist. It was more like technical modeling of ship equipment from blueprints rather than game models. From that moment on, I started making game props for the experience and adding them to my portfolio.
In 2016 I finished internship for 3D Artists at Sperasoft and got my first game dev job as a Junior 3d Artist. After a while I switched to another job and worked on Escape from Tarkov as a 3D Artist. After another year I returned to Sperasoft as a Level Artist and worked on Overkill’s The Walking Dead.
After that I realized that I love lighting art and want to light levels. Fortunately, there was an opportunity to become a lighting artist on Saint’s Row The Third Remastered. So I’m started to ramp up to a lighting artist, watch and read a lot of videos on this topic. My art director helped me a lot in my growth and still helps.
So after a few courses in lighting, a lot of personal re-lights, big amount of professional work, I’ve recently been promoted to Senior Lighting Artist.
What is your most favourite thing with your role?
The best thing about lighting art for me is that the player will see my work. I have the ability to influence mood, feeling of level and how it plays. I have a certain amount of creative freedom and a great team.
What is the hardest part with your role?
The Hardest part for me is when I start lighting new level. It can be a bit tough to get started on such a voluminous work. For me the solution in this situation is just to start no matter what.
Since I’m introvert and my role sometimes requires a lot of communication it can be exhausting but I’m learning to deal with it.
Also, the technical limitations of the engine can sometimes be very difficult. But this is the life of a lighting artist
What are the important skills to do your role?
Ability to know how to make environment looks great with minimum cost. If you know how to do it in general you can mimic it any engine you working in.
Understand how light works in real life with all bounces, material response, etc. Real-time engines have a lot of limitations. But as a lighting artist you can get around them and fake a lot if you know how light works.
Know the difference between lighting for single player and multiplayer. For example in multiplayer you need to light the level so that enemies are clearly visible and there are no super dark areas.
Trained eye to detect lighting bugs. Also it’s the biggest curse when you play games. You see lighting bugs everywhere and can’t unsee them
Communication. It’s crucial to clearly understand what art directors want from you, and deliver clear feedback to your team.
What is the difference between Junior Lighting Artist, Mid Level Lighting Artist and Senior Lighting Artist according to you?
As you move from Junior to Senior artist role you gain more creative freedom. But with freedom there is also more responsibility. Senior/Lead lighting artist responsible for overall level look from lighting point of view, communication with art directors, discipline leads and clients. Also as a senior artist it’s important to interact with your team. Keep them motivated, know their strengths and weaknesses, help them grow.
With Junior artists you need to invest more time in them. They have less experience and you need to show them how to make their part of the level beautiful as well as optimized. Juniors require more feedbacks and control over their work. Even on the junior lighting artist stage it’s important to communicate with other disciplines such as level designers, fx artists, environment artists, tech artists, etc. to deliver great work
Middle lighting artists usually ready to deliver their work with lesser or even without feedbacks. They are also capable to transfer their knowledge and experience to younger artists.
What can someone do to improve their lighting without sitting in-front of the PC?
Go for a walk. Especially in the morning or evening. See how light works in real life and get inspiration from it. Take some photos of beautiful lighting, even mobile phone will do.
If you were doing an interview to recruit a lighting artist, what are the things you would look for in your colleague?
Before interviewing potential candidate I usually check his/her portfolio and choose one of the latest works and one of the earliest works to talk in the interview.
While talking about recent portfolio piece I just ask to tell how it was done from lighting art point of view, what was the main idea, what difficulties arose and extra 1-2 questions about specific details in scene or how to change them. It helps me to understand knowledge level, creativity and how good this person can handle difficulties.
And for the older work I ask to tell what would he/she made differently. Since a lot of time has passed these shows me how much this person has learned during this period and how critical looks at earlier works.
Also very important point is soft skills. How comfortable it is to communicate with a person, how well perceives feedback, how motivated
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently or tell yourself in this context?
Learn more about art (color theory, composition etc.) back in school and university. Practice in drawing and photography. Learn English better. And don’t be afraid to risk and change something in your life/career.
What are your recommended articles or videos to help someone get started with this role?
First of all it’s unreal lighting academy https://www.youtube.com/user/51Daedalus and polygon academy https://www.youtube.com/c/PolygonAcademy because there is not only artistic knowledge but also some technical tips and tricks that will help you better understand the engine and what you can achieve with it
CGMA lighting course are great. You can have a valuable feedback from professional artist regarding your works and do couple relights https://www.cgmasteracademy.com/courses/50-the-art-of-lighting-for-games/
Beyond that I would suggest checking lighting artists interviews, to have knowledge about industry. Read something about color theory, composition and practice practice practice.
Yury’s linkedin – (1) Yury Vorobyev | LinkedIn
Yury’s Arstation – ArtStation – Yury Vorobiev
Lighting Bot Discord Community – https://discord.gg/DwRhSrBtKe
Lighting Bot Youtube – Lighting Bot – YouTube
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