The Tech Artist's Dilemma
Sep 2025
So you're a tech artist. The user of tools. The tool knower. The tool developer.
This is a position that makes it pretty hard to create meaningful art.
The way I see artmaking (for visual arts) is like this:
Level 0: Processing. Thinking, observing, conversing, feeling.
Level 1: Translating. Drawing, sculpting.
Level 2: Polishing. Refining and adding detail.
Level 3: Architecting. Creating and modifying tools.
Processing0 starts close to reality, and each ascending level moves more abstractly into the meta of artmaking. Processing0 moves from reality to the brain, translating1 from the brain to the page, polishing2 from the page back onto itself, and architecting3 from many pages back onto themselves.
In my opinion, the best art comes from the heart. It's something meaningful, something beautiful. The meaning and beauty of art originates in those processing0 activities; it comes from what you think, what you study, how you read/converse, and what you feel.
In an activity like sketching, you're doing processing0 and drawing1. A sketch from observation involves observing0 and drawing1, or a sketch from imagination thinking0 and drawing1.
As you begin polishing2 a drawing, you move away from levels 0 and 1 and up to level 2. You fix the wobble in your lines and clarify the edges. the drawing becomes more refined, more solid. and often less... visceral
Many times I've seen someone share a beautiful sketch, full of emotion, only for the final piece to lose its charisma. Artists lament that their WIPs get more attention than their finals.
Some twisted individuals even decide to go further beyond polishing their work and labor away at level 3 - architecting. The tools they use aren't good enough, so they must be improved.
At level 3 the artist studies not reality but instead the tools they use, and tries to architect3 their artmaking experience. They create new tools and modify existing ones.
This is the position of the tech artist.
It's no surprise you only see meaningful tech art once in a blue moon. I'm not trying to devalue tech artists' work, but I am saying - how can you make meaningful art when you're working several layers removed from your own feelings?
Tech artists make good tools, and those tools are most appreciated by other TA's who understand the craft. If a tech artist is lucky they might even find a crowd who wants to use their tools.
As a tech artist myself practicing materials, texturing, and art pipelines, if I were to try and create meaningful art, my regimen might look something like this:
- Observational sketching
- Texture/material studies
- Tools learning (tutorials)
- Tool writing/brainstorming
- Doodling
- Prop modeling practice (modeling/texturing/rendering)
- Shader practice
- Tool development practice
- Creating that really cool and meaningful thing that no one's seen before
Let's break this down into levels.
- Observational sketching (levels 0 & 1)
- Texture/material studies (levels 0 & 1)
- Tools learning (tutorials) (level 3)
- Tool writing/brainstorming (levels 0 & 1)
- Doodling (levels 0 & 1)
- Prop modeling practice (modeling/texturing/rendering) (levels 0 & 1 & 2)
- Shader practice (levels 1 & 2 & 3)
- Tool development practice (levels 2 & 3)
- Creating that really cool and meaningful thing that no one's seen before (levels 0 & 1 & 2 & 3)
This is a lot. There are probably more things I'd add too.
Deep down, I work with tools because I really want to create that cool and meaningful thing that no one has seen before. Hell, I think creating new and cool things is why a lot of people become artists.
But the regimen you'd need to create something so advanced and nuanced and novel, with any kind of regularity, is dizzying. You're definitely not fitting even half of those practice items I listed into a daily routine, or even a weekly one.
There's also the matter of context switching. Not only are there numerous things to practice, it also takes time to mentally switch from something like doodling to tool development.
This is to say, even if you truly dedicate yourself to a comprehensive, meaningful tech art practice, it would still take a long time to see the results you want.
I may be foolish for chasing this dream, but I'm not foolish enough to give up on everything else in life for it.
Because working in all four levels is so difficult, most tech artists focus on architecting3 an artmaking experience. For themselves? Not really, they're too busy making tools.
Tech art is thus a supporting role. Traditional artists focus on their craft at levels 0-2 while tech artists support them from level 3.
Part of me yearns to make meaningful digital art.
Meaningful 3D art, meaningful games, using the affordances of the new digital medium to express ideas and feelings even stronger than what I can draw on a page.
But whenever i open up Blender, Unreal, or whatever complicated software, those ideas and feelings are arrested as the technical brain takes over.
While drawing, there is a smoothness with which ideas manifest on a page - the brain thinks, and without word or worry the hand follows through.
But with many digital crafts, operating the software demands attention. To make anything deliberate you need to plan ahead and observe proper protocol. *
Imagine a 3D model for your game. It needs to be low-poly, have good topology, and be sectioned for rigging. You open up Blender and begin blocking out the main forms.
By the time you're deciding if the edge loop you just added to the arm is necessary or not, you've forgotten part of what was so compelling about that model in the first place.
Some digital crafts do work well with feeling, such as generative art or glitch art, but it feels like there is potential for so much more.
Why shouldn't you be able to make characters in 3d without going through a 10-stage process akin to driving through mud? Or describe a melancholy snowscape without lagging your PC?
If only there were a good tool for that... **
That's also part of why I make tools, because I want people to live that dream.
This is the tech artist's dilemma; do you make what you want, or do you make the tools you need first?
The answer is found in the process.
* Making tools seamless to use is a big thing in UX, go read 'the design of everyday things' or something if you want to learn more.
** This would be an awesome place to promote AI if i was into it, but no. Generative AI is shit and sidesteps the translation1 process that saturates art with meaning. Meaning needs to bubble up through all the levels, you can't just skip one.
If you have any questions or comments, email me or message on discord - andrewdunne.gamedev@gmail.com | @oatvercast (discord).
Thank you for reading and thanks to TeaWithCthulu for feedback