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So Im still tied up with what i want to do with my life. I jokingly thought of becoming a mini sculptor or designer.
While i have no real plans to pursue this, it got me wondering.
What kind of Qualifications or education would you need for work like that?
Like would you need an art degree for sculpting and such?
What about Codex Writers and such?

The ability to sculpt well in a timely manner either from drawn concept art or photographs or vague concepts, and the ability to answer an e-mail in a timely manner.

For a sculptor, i'd imagine that a portfolio with your work in would be enough. possibly an art degree or some-such, just to acknowledge your ability. IMO, the bottom line is your ability, hence the portfolio.

Not too sure about codex writers.

dam, ninja'd^^

An art degree wouldn't teach you 90% of what minis sculptors do. Sculptors have no use for color theory, or anything in 2D really.

I think the qualifications of a sculptor would purely be prior works. Same as a photographer really. Put together a portfolio with examples of what you have created. Experience is the vast majority of learning how to sculpt as the basic techniques only get you so far.

As for codex writers, I think the test for that would be to have the person submit their proposed codex and have it be reviewed by veteran writers and playtesters.

For GW, I'm fairly sure that they have a wheel with each employee in the company's name on it in, and they spin it to find out who is writing the next one.

"And it looks like Joan from accounting will be writing the High Elves book this year, good luck Joan."

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So Im still tied up with what i want to do with my life. I jokingly thought of becoming a mini sculptor or designer.
While i have no real plans to pursue this, it got me wondering.
What kind of Qualifications or education would you need for work like that?
Like would you need an art degree for sculpting and such?
What about Codex Writers and such?

First of all codex writing is a world apart sculpting or concept designing. To be a concept designer you need basically to be trained as an illustrator. There are many paths to that. The basic training consists of drawing, painting in various mediums traditional and digital and studies like basic anatomy mostly human.
For the sculpting part although I'm not expert I assume that classic training would be a solid basis. But you should know that those art forms overlap to a point. To be able to sculpt or draw/paint you have to understand about form. A good sculptor can also draw and a good illustrator can also sculpt to an extend because they understand how volumes of small forms synthesize a whole.
I'm not part of this industry though I assume that mini sculpting is not a carrier decision exactly. Being mainly a freelance job it's something that you like and do on the side until you have a big enough name and customers that can support a living. I don't know what the fees are, but already there are enough people and not so many big companies to ensure you a future unless you are something extraordinary.

You could learn to use ZBrush as theres a number of companies looking for people with portfolios I believe Spartan Games have an advert up at the moment, also it's a fairly industry standard program with uses from animation to computer games and visual effects.

It is expensive unless you get a student license but the sculpting part of the program is available free as a separate program called sculptis and is good fun to play around with and is relatively easy to pick up also to a certain point it uses similar techniques to traditional sculpting.

Should add that obviously this is digital work but most companies are heading that way to a greater or lesser extent.

As someone who commissions a lot of sculptors for my work its simple. I don't care about their education or ppast just that they can sculpt well atm and not slack off. You won't make a lot of money though so u.know.

Oh, Im not considering this as a career.

All you need are skills to pay the bills, starving artist.

For codex writers:
The ability to ignore any fluff that precedes it, and to shoehorn new stuff in where it never existed before with a casual "but they've ALWAYS been there" laissez-faire attitude.

 chromedog wrote:
For codex writers:
The ability to ignore any fluff that precedes it, and to shoehorn new stuff in where it never existed before with a casual "but they've ALWAYS been there" laissez-faire attitude.

Are you suggesting that Hurricanums and Demigryphs WEREN'T ridden at Black Fire Pass?


That is something that really grinds my gears. Why can't GW armies create new weapons? Everything they come out with has some stupid paragraph that inserts the item into history out of nowhere.

Next army book for Empire will have Sigmars brother Bob as a special character who wields Archaons sword and rides Deathwing while wearing the One Ring.

Required Skills and Proficiencies

Experience sculpting miniatures from Fimo, green stuff, and brown stuff
Acute attention to detail
Patience, focus, and determination to see a project through completion
Capability to work under the direction and meet the needs of mold makers, production specialists, and artistic directors
Ability to keep cool and produce quality work under pressured deadlines

Preferred Skills and Proficiencies

Familiarity with Privateer Press’ properties. These include WARMACHINE, HORDES, Iron Kingdoms, Monsterpocalypse, Bodgers, Grind, and Formula P3
Previous experience sculpting for tabletop miniatures games.
Familiarity with metal, resin, and plastic production methods
A background in games or similarly creative job (e.g. skateboarding, video games, board games, comics, etc.)
Experience working in a team environment
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Great sense of humor, the ability to quote movies (good and bad), and a desire to participate in the development of a fast-paced, growing company

Taken from Privateer Press. They're currently seeking a Traditional and a Digital sculpter.

I think the main "qualification" you need is simply being good at sculpting/designing miniatures. It's a specific enough skill and the results are readily apparent, so there isn't really a degree or anything that you would get to be "qualified."

This is both good (because it removes barriers to entry) and bad (because there's no standard way to get into the industry).

I imagine you just need a good portfolio, since a lot of the skills you can practise yourself without needing to study. It would probably be more beneficial to attend workshops with sculptors than take an art degree.

However, for frame of reference, an art history course would be invaluable - most of 40k's backstory is gleaned from historical sources, as well as armour, weapon, insignia and decor style. A good knowledge of period would inform this.

In addition to what others have said I would think being able to do 3D model design on a computer would be useful. I believe Gw uses a lot of computers in their model creation now.

Learning how to be a graphic artist might be a lot more lucrative too. Your potential career options are a lot bigger than being a sculptor.

Go with digital sculpting if you want to do this.

The entire industry is headed in that direction.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So Im still tied up with what i want to do with my life. I jokingly thought of becoming a mini sculptor or designer.
While i have no real plans to pursue this, it got me wondering.
What kind of Qualifications or education would you need for work like that?
Like would you need an art degree for sculpting and such?
What about Codex Writers and such?

I sculpted with clay and dabbled in some other bits in high school, as an amateur.

What I can say is that sculpting itself is an art form. It requires you to be in tune with what it is you're making and to develop the skill necessary to put a 3D image into an inanimate object. Can you sculpt? Can you draw? What level of 3D imaging do you have in your head? Can you represent a human figure, a dog, a landscape, a portrait or a bust on canvas, on a piece of paper with a pencil, or in a hunk of clay?

Start practicing with representing the human form in clay. It's very challenging and it requires a lot of gradual alteration and trial and error. It's a very minute process, and - looking at the quality of the miniatures that Games Workshop produces - I think what their sculptors do is simply beyond most people. It's beyond me. Far beyond me, but I tend to have a very loose style. I'm good with detail but when you're sculpting, it's a challenge getting fine details because you're either using a reductionist technique, in which case it's hard to render precise details because the force required to make such fine details often results in you fudging the sculpture. Or you're using an additive technique, like with clay. Clay has an interesting characteristic, which is that when you render fine details in it, it leaves a crust alongside whatever tool you're using of excess material that has to be discarded - which means you sometimes get filmy junk that builds up in whatever you're trying to render. Say, for instance, I was trying to carve the edge of an eyelid in a hunk of clay - there would be a film that would build up along that eyelid, which is fine for an eyelid because you can scrape it with a sharp instrument. But if you're talking about fine details - spiky bits, truck interiors, engines, and so forth - that junky build up is hard to deal with.

So I would say the first step is to ask yourself - do you have the capacity to model complex and detailed forms in a tiny miniature sculpture using a medium like modeling clay?

Second, I would say - do some research on the production techniques that Games Workshop and other miniature companies are using in order to create their work. See if you can get someone to give you access to the materials they use and gain a familiarity with the medium they're working in. Focus on expressing a basic design and then add detail progressively. Then focus on developing techniques that will help you render those images more precisely.

From ~6 semesters of art classes in high school and 5 semesters of art classes in college, I would say - an art education is absolutely not necessary. Find something that inspires you. Art schools and hobby stores -are- useful to the extent that they have the tools you need to develop your skills. For instance, art schools usually have a kiln.

You -need- to have a portfolio. If you cannot produce a large body of convincing work that you can present to admissions at an art university or a potential employer within the timeframe that you expect to get this job, do not bother. An art portfolio is essential to convincing people that you are capable. They want you to show them your work. It's the most important thing that you can do to be successful in any art-related field. You need to have art to show people.

Then, I would say - research the industry. Sculpting minis is such that - a firm like Games Workshop would have a specialized team of top-class sculptors creating their minis - they've probably been hand-selected and working there for a long time. Games Workshop's production methods are such that they do not need a sculptor for their day-to-day operations, which differs from fine art in which you would be selling work that you can produce on a day-to-day basis (because it is uniquely hand-crafted). GW, and all miniature modeling companies produce their minis by an industrial manufacturing process that simply reproduces the sculptor's design over and over again - so the sculptor is only necessary to create the initial base and then subsists on royalties from intellectual property from the industrial product's sales or additional requests for more models being sculpted for new product lines. As such the sculptors on their staff will not be overworked and can take on new contracts, therefore - there is a slim to no likelihood of being hired at a successful miniature studio like Games Workshop et al.

You may have to tie yourself on, therefore, to a new startup, which means job insecurity.

Overall I think this is an awful idea. It requires a lot of research and a large amount of dedication and an established body of work that you can present to the employer. It could take years of preparation with an uncertain payout.

I would suggest instead that you start sculpting and/or modeling for fun - if you develop a passion and a lot of skill, you can take this to the next level.

The foremost thing you need is a firm grasp of the subject you'll be working on. That typically means the human form. If you are going to be sculpting people you need a relaly strong foundation in human antomy. There's a lot of really great self taught artists so you may not need formal education, but it doesn't hurt to take some classes at least at a community college.

As with most everything in life it comes down to the drive that you have and how commited you are to it. You need that drive to develope your skills be it self taught or in school. You also need a string desire to keep improving on your work as it's the only wa you get better. I majored in art and I've been out of college now for 15 years but I still push to improve on every model I do. If you give up on that drive to improve then you won't make it as an artist.

Also get used to having another job in order to get by, art no matter the subject isn't something that pays until you get established and that can take years or even decades. If you're lucky enough to have crazy natural talent that can happen quickly but typically it's not the case.

I'd highly recommend learning zbrush or rhino if you are interested in doing sculpting, they are doing more and mroe digital work nowdays and those are pretty much the baseline programs being used.

 paulson games wrote:
The foremost thing you need is a firm grasp of the subject you'll be working on. That typically means the human form. If you are going to be sculpting people you need a relaly strong foundation in human antomy.

This. Start doing "research" at local singles bars.