Thriving in an environment that fosters learning

Seven years ago, when I first joined Nanobit, there were only seven artists and we were mostly drawing in one and the same non-painting software, Adobe Illustrator. Today, there are around 30 artists, among which 70% are women. Our roles have expanded to 2D Artists, 3D Artists, Animators, Marketing and Technical Artists. Together we are bringing colors and life to the virtual world which game designers and developers have created.  

The role artists have in game development  

Everything you see in a game is divided to User Interface (UI) and art. As artists, our job includes drawing characters, environments, assets, cut scenes, animations, loading screens, basically all visuals that do not include the user interface. One important aspect in our work is to define the game visually which has an impact on the whole gameplay experience and interaction with the game. All our art is done digitally and the softwares we use on a daily basis are: Photoshop, Illustrator, Spine, Blender and After Effects, while our artists illustrators work on a cintiq or a tablet. 

We cherish learning and knowledge sharing 

Nanobit established a culture of continuous learning, which in their turn, employees embrace and value. We regularly organize internal workshops covering a wide spectrum of themes and skills. If one of the artists is skilled in some particular aspects, she/he shares that knowledge by organizing a workshop so that we all benefit. Every Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Nanobit artists get together for the weekly free sketching sessions to unleash our creativity and set our imagination free!  

Throughout the years, we learned what our individual skills are and we got the opportunity to polish and harness them even more, thanks to the supportive work environment, where everyone is valued and every skill is recognised and nurtured.

I’m glad to see us grow together along with Nanobit and that is mostly because of the help and support we give to each other as a team and because of the caring environment we work in, where everyone is valued and every skill is recognized and nurtured. If you do not cherish the rule of learning and teaching, then you definitely won’t be a fit.  

On-the-job learning and art workshops throughout Europe  

Learning takes different formats; from internal workshops, online courses to attending worldwide global art festivals! Nanobit allocates an education budget for each team member and thus, we all have benefited from attending festivals across Europe: the Independent Festival of Creative Communication (IFCC) in Zagreb, the Trojan Horse was a Unicorn (THU), an annual five-day festival for digital artists set to take place in Portugal, Playgrounds festival in Amsterdam and many more creative festivals and workshops throughout Europe. Looking back at our old games and projects it is fairly visible that we all progressed so much thanks to the continuous on-job learning.  

With that, our criteria when hiring future artists have also grown. I’m sure that my portfolio that got me into Nanobit all those years ago would not do the same if I were applying with it today. 

A palette of individual skills 

Seeing our team doing what they do best is also a great pleasure. Throughout the years, we learned what our individual skills are and we got the opportunity to polish and harness them even more. So, among 30 of us we have a whole palette of individual skills – some rock in character design, others rule in landscapes, one does insane animations or 3D models, another is great with realistic stuff, someone excels in stylized and cartoonish stuff... so I’m proud to say we can basically do it all and do it well. Continuous learning in the workplace has granted artists as well as other teams the tools, time and resources to expand our skills and acquire the expertise to excel and reach their goals.