Life Changing or Career Building?

Getting into the industry is always going to be hard from the start, especially from a graduate’s point of view. The main reason is simply due to the lack of experience you will have when you leave uni.
When game companies are looking for a new artist, they usually spilt into two categories. The first being the people who are only interested in hiring experienced artists, people who have been working in the industry for several years. This means that they can pretty much guarantee that the person will be productive and creative enough to produce decent outcomes for the games the company is working on.
On the other hand we have companies who tend to prefer artists with a liberal arts background. This gives the chance for the inexperienced to give it a shot at the games industry, enhancing their abilities and gaining valuable experience. If you are an exceptionally talented graduate, some companies spot this, and offer students a job as soon as the finish the course. You often get people in from the industry to visit universities and have a look at some of the work produced. This gives the chance for students to receive valuable feedback from experienced artists who do the sort of stuff for a living.
Now, game art courses offer a lot to help students on their way to being a game artist, but they can't do everything for you. The courses are generally there to guide you and it is up to you to become unique to other artists. Game companies like to see a variation of styles in a portfolio; this means that the employee will be able to produce artwork for any genre. Of course, you will be taught rather a lot, the drawing techniques to produce convincing sketches, digital painting and 3d modelling such as 3ds max. However, as I said earlier, it is up to the student themselves to make that final jump, to stand out from the others and get that position as game artist.