The main problem of CG in Russia and the first step towards its solution

Everything that I see around me always changes with some speed or another. Something very quickly, something slowly, something does not budge at all. And here we are talking about the mentality of people, about their attitude to things that are not connected with them; about their understanding of the fact that there are many interesting and complex professions / sciences in the world, the depth of which they never thought about. I'm talking about people living in Russia. In our country, since Soviet times, well-established norms are firmly settled in people's heads, which they are practically unable to stop or change. What thoughts are in the minds of most of our people about politics, financial literacy, and learning something completely new for themselves are scary. And if everything is clear with politics, financial literacy is the same, although, perhaps, there are problems not only among Russians, but with respect to the work of others, or at least with the knowledge that your work is not the hardest in the whole universe. we have very big problems.

And it is here that I want to focus on the living conditions of CG in our country. I know that this post can be read both by artists-specialists and people with computer graphics that are not related at all. And therefore there will not be difficult words for a “concept art”, or, God forbid, any “renders”.

To begin with, computer graphics in our country is one of the most misunderstood and, perhaps, along with IT, the most unobvious branch of activity. “Unobvious” here is incomprehensible, ambiguous or simply “a thing for specific, enthusiastic people.” Have you ever tried to compare yourself with the same IT people (for example, programmers)? Now, when in the trend of VR and AR technology, CG and IT are increasingly beginning to cooperate with each other. However, unlike IT, where “exclusively botanists” work, who work day after day and get deservedly high fees, in CG there are guys who can poke where they need to, they know about the “make beautiful” button, well, and they also draw cool robots or humanoid creatures in 3D, well, they can still draw games, “adjust some kind of engines so that they play normally”, and they also sit and add effects that the same IT specialists really developed for them ... In short, brains especially not necessary, each can sya, and when it is, and so everything is ready, then the time is not much need ...
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Surely noticed how I quietly slipped to the most generalized opinion of CG? Well, how? How do you like what most people think about computer graphics and its importance in modern Russia? How do you like the fact that, in connection with the above, you will not be offered decent payments, and the investment in CG ... even sounds strange, do you agree? But what about the fact that it is all this society that puts you deadlines or just the conditions for implementation? In the case of CG, the ideal CG company / people will always be the ideal customer, because only they know the true value of your work and the complexity of the work. But, for the sake of justice, we all know that in good, established studios for game development / production of 2D / 3D animation, motion design, visualization of interiors / exteriors, salaries are significantly higher than the national average. However, such money will be paid only to those people who managed to recommend themselves, managed to learn their skills and are ready (by the way) to train the rest of the newbies. But this is exactly the case: CG works with CG.

About the situation on freelance exchanges you can generally write a lot of volumes dedicated to inadequate customers with their deadlines and revisions, the problem of dumping, the lack of a clear understanding by the customer of the scale of work, low cash rewards, the problem of a large number of beginners and people with disastrously little work experience who are willing to work for pennies, thus making it difficult for experienced artists to find their clients. I constantly hear about it on the forums, I see it in various blogs, and lately I have been following this mood in instant messaging chats such as Telegram.

I was struck to the depths of the soul by the salary difference between Russian and foreign studios. But if you can still find an excuse in the economy of countries and currency trends, then absolutely no excuse can be found in the difference between payments in Russia and abroad to freelancers. Even if we compare the exchange rates, it still turns out that in the west the attitude to the work of CG-artists is completely different from ours, and this can be seen already from the money that is offered as payment.

In short, the work of CG-artists is not valued or not appreciated. It is a fact. Many people put up with this; the government of our country seems to be completely unaware of this problem, just like the fact that in other countries there are special investment companies that invest in the media, CG, IT, etc. (same Providence Equity Partners). Although, for example, I know about WargamingLabs, a Wargaming studio project created to help indie game developers to promote their product. But again, this is only gamedev (Game Development, game development) and the scale of this enterprise is unknown.

On the other hand, I absolutely do not perceive whining (it is whining, and not a statement of fact) that the requirements for applicants in large studios are too unattainable. I have not seen a single vacancy where it would be said that you are required to have knowledge of all the programs for modeling, the ability to work in everything that exists, and also to draw like Michelangelo. Another thing is that even those who meet the requirements simply do not want to leave their native place at the computer and change to the office, where strangers wander around. But the situation in freelance is deplorable, outsourcing is already available for accomplished studios / experienced freelancers, and now imagine that after all this a newcomer is experiencing who simply wanted to create explosions and destruction / simulate / composit / draw and at that earn he has yet to learn all this, and mom and dad, who are able to help, have not been around for a long time?

CG is now going to people who truly want to learn this and continue to work, raising the level of graphics in Russia to a new level. Of course, there are those people who like the graphics, and after many years of study and work in an unloved position, they decide to change everything dramatically and plunge into it (as your humble servant).

And after such a brief overview of the situation with CG in Russia, a reasonable question immediately arises: how to change everything? How to make the attitude to computer graphics from neutral to positive, to the relationship that has long existed in the USA, Canada and the UK?

In my opinion, you need to start with something that is available to absolutely every person, regardless of the type of activity, salary level and amount of free time. Something that will be able to demonstrate the entire amount of work needed to create such things familiar to the common man as games, advertising, cinema with special effects, beautiful pictures in architectural magazines, etc. This is something that should show the whole process of creation; how much time it took, exactly how much physical force was spent on it.

For several months now, the idea of ​​creating this “something” has not left me. However, relatively recently, I once again came across the site of the world-famous school of computer graphics Gnomon, and in the Community section I found confirmation of my theory - the exhibition. The famous (as it turned out) exhibition Gnomon Gallery is positioned as an exhibition of the best works of school students in the "setting" of traditional exhibitions.

It seemed to me that this is it: the first step in introducing people to computer graphics, to their understanding of what it really is, and how it is actually created. It’s not even about just pictures hanging on the wall, but about a visual demonstration of the work, of the creation process itself. From this it would be quite possible to create not just an exhibition designed to draw the attention of the audience to the CG scale, but a whole platform in which large and small studios could cooperate with each other, search for newcomers, tell a different audience about their work and so on, and etc. In the end, quite theoretically, but such an event could well create its own fund to support CG-professionals in our country.

But the main thing here is to develop the scant knowledge of people about the work of artists, to show them that everything is not so simple, that everything is so difficult that even experienced professionals cannot always keep up with new trends in their work. To show that there are a lot of artists in fact, but many of them are unknown to the public, while the quality of their work is akin to the work of an entire studio; that there are guys who create crazy commercials in the shortest possible time, which people switch when they see their beginning; that there is a huge notion of research & development even in CG, when, for example, it is required to achieve maximum realism by sophisticated methods themselves. But most importantly, all this is a great work, as well as the work of a programmer, a geneticist, a top manager, a miner or a doctor. It is only important to lift the veil at last.

Of course, I do not pretend to the role of super-creator-solution-from-all-problems, but no one forbids us to try. In the end, at least we tried, even if this idea was a nonsense with an absolutely zero final. It is important to try. In this sense, I am very inspired by Sergey Zyptsyn, who wrote “Understanding Maya”, the founder of Real School, and subsequently Scream School, the main organizer of CG Event. Sergey did a lot to popularize CG in Russia, but if the CG Event was created primarily for people living in CG, then why not create something equally huge for people who did not know about CG?

Thank.