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The name's Vince Vazquez. I'm 23-ish, love video games, and am a "crazy" hard worker. Hence, the nickname I earned in college - Vinsanity.
I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for one semester shy of 4 years to obtain a degree in Game Art & Design. But I consider it pretty worthless, because that school blew - they were literally making up the course as we went along. Which is probably why I'm such a generalist - I'm definitely a jack of all trades (modeling, concept art, texturing, rigging, animating, etc.), but alas a master of none -, and since I don't pick a specialty, I'm always trying to learn new stuff as an artist. Speaking of which, when you're judging an artist, there's only one thing that should matter - his or her body of work. Let the pictures do the talking, I say! The only reason I didn't drop out is because, let's face it, I'm from Brooklyn, New York and I'm fairly stubborn when it comes to this type of thing;) I finish what I start, okay?
After graduating, I almost immediately got a job at a small studio in New Jersey called Digital Embryo. I took a job as a 3D artist, but immediately went to work as an animator - my second love - for "Summer Sports 2: Island Sports Party" on the Wii. I felt like I would definitely be doing more good in that position, considering there was only one other animator at the time. Unfortunately, I only worked there for about two months - close, but not long enough to see SS2 to completion. The reason? I became legally blind - a symptom of my kidneys shutting down due to an auto-immune disease.
Lucky me, I know! That was a huge obstacle for me as an artist - as you can imagine, and I had to instantly re-arrange my life around it. I lost my job, my apartment, had to go live with my folks - if it's lame, I had to do it. While a lot of my friends went on to achieve a ton of success in this field post-college, my life just kinda stalled while I waited for a new kidney. Stupid dialysis; at least my vision came back relatively soon. That's kinda important for an artist, isn't it?
The point is, that dark, dark period of my life is over. And don't think for a second that I wasted ALL of my time while devoid of functioning kidney - though I did play many, many great games in that time. I spent my time learning new programs and techniques as an artist, and refining what I already knew how to do. Thanks to communities like 3DTotal, this chunk of my life has only made me a better artist. You better believe I'm sick of my life as is, and I'm ready to get back into this game! This is the career for me, and I don't care how long I need to work at it. I'm ready to join a new team and start working on art for games!
Oh, and I should mention this. I am absolutely sick of the weather up here in the Northeast United States. I love NYC and I'll always be a New Yorker at heart, but I'm 100% dedicated to this career and am willing to relocate. Especially to sunnier places, like Texas and California...;) |
