Josh Singh

February 8, 2024
The Great Hall

After achieving his dream of being a video gamer artist and reaching the top at Blizzard Entertainment, Josh Singh was faced with the reality of what it takes to make it: time and constantly hitting the mark. After leaving and helping make League of Legends the game it is today, Josh finds himself climbing the ladder, both up and down, eventually leading back up to the top of the industry as the Art Director for Marvel Entertainment.

Josh attended BYU-Hawaii, earning an Associate of General Studies in 2001, and studied Graphic Design at Eagle Gate Technical College in Murray, UT. Since graduating, he has worked as a senior character artist at Sony Online Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, and Riot Games, as well as other companies. In addition to being Art Director for Marvel Entertainment, he has also been an Art Director for Wavedash Games, where he built their art department entirely from scratch, and Brazilian gaming company Wildlife Games, which taught him a working proficiency in Portuguese. He has worked on such notable projects as Titan Quest, Project Titan (the predecessor to Overwatch), League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, and Icons: Combat Arena, and Tennis Clash. He has been with Marvel Entertainment since September 2021, where he has been an Art Director for Marvel Snap, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. In 2011, he was named a Master Artist by online art community CGHub (a honor with such weight that it has a history of being used to gain a US O-1B Visa, given to those who have extraordinary artistic ability) and was an instructor of a Masterclass at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects (the “MIT of VFX”) in 2013. Josh also speaks fluent Fijian.

Synopsis

A.P.E.X. Event: From passion to career
By: Christina Schweiss

The Ask. Ponder. Educate. [X]. event on Feb. 8 featured video game artist Josh Singh. His presentation was called “From Used Car Salesman to Marvel Entertainment: Building a Career That’s All Yours.”

Singh began his presentation by explaining that he was always that kid who would draw in class and fail to focus on the lesson. However, the passion he had for art helped him create the career he loves today -– being a video game artist.

According to Singh, to be a video game artist you have to work hard and take on some side jobs. In the video game field, rejection is common.

“A creative path is a lonely path, you will constantly be rejected,” said Singh.

Singh briefly brought up the concept of A.I. generated art, asserting that A.I. creations lack the individualism of art that is created by a human.

Singh said, “Learn to develop your own artistic voice. When you cultivate your own style, that’s yours.”

When starting from the bottom, toxic companies can be very common. Singh moved all around the country for different jobs because of the priority he placed on positive culture.. Singh knew when companies were about to implode based on the habits displayed by leadership.

“Company culture always comes from the top,” explained Singh.

Networking is extremely important when beginning a career in the video game field. Singh emphasized the need to actively work to build relationships.

“When you are first starting, you have to be scrappy and make friends,” said Singh.

Just like the way movie characters come together and cross paths, Singh said that networking will be the key that brings people together.

Singh said, “[If you] network well, people will all come together in your own life.”

Singh went after many jobs, ignoring the fear of rejection. He quoted advice he received from his father, saying,, “Just ask. The worst thing they can do is say no.”

Singh started at the bottom working for small companies and worked his way to working for Marvel Entertainment. At the end of the presentation, Singh said, “When times are tough, keep creating. Don’t stop. That’s who you are. Eventually you will be worth more.”