Wow, thank you very much for the detailed information and practical advice.

Cris - That's great entrepreneurial and educational advice. I see your photos occasionally on Facebook and they always catch my attention. So, you're largely self taught? Impressive! How did you build the initial public interest in your work?

Mark - Thanks for the example and reference material.

canuckInLA^H^HOR - I really appreciate the time you spent writing all of that information. You're right, I'm open to many specialties in the computer graphics industry.

Your mention of pipeline development is interesting; I'll research that further. The story behind the MASSIVE engine and its (one) creator is near to my heart. I could see myself designing that, if I had coders to do the heavy lifting.


Can you provide a link to a good overview of computer graphics? That will help me evaluate the learning curve, then serve as a roadmap to learning the various elements.

Can you also recommend some resources to get me familiar with the industry? ie: podcasts, blogs, publications, professional organizations (SIGGRAPH), and most importantly, user groups - like Flickr for animation and graphics.

Does this industry have a place for professionals who interface with people, design systems, brainstorm, support and teach? Those are some of my other skills (my current job is very broad), and I would be happier splitting my time between those and hunched over the keyboard.

A demo reel question - I assume I'll need to specialize in, at most, a few areas of the graphics industry. To develop a reel, would I work with a team to which I contribute my expertise? Then, when showing the reel, ask employers/clients to focus on my contribution?

I bet this industry has a need for my love of automation, efficiency, logic systems, spatiality, and making things less prone to human error. Thanks again.