I found an article Game Career Guide's "Top Ten Tips" feature series, Robert Chang lists his top tips for industry artists.
I think this is useful, so I am posting these words here for my own reference and for other guys who read this blog.
1. Never turn in work that has technical mistakes.
As a professional artist, your job is to give life to what exists only in the imagination, and other people rely on you to do this with a certain level of proficiency. When you turn in work that has obvious anatomy mistakes, incorrect perspective, or contradicting lighting, you are basically telling your co-workers that you are an incompetent artist.
Ideally, your work should contain as few technical mistakes as possible, and the only critiques you get from your peers and superiors should regard style and design, never your competence as an artist.
2. Never turn in sloppy work.
As an art director, I constantly see sloppy mistakes which are just inexcusable -- white halos around cropped images, jaggies around edges, stray pixels in alpha channels, reversed normals, double faces on a polygon, messed up UV, and plenty more.
As a professional production artist, you should be turning in work that is clean, up to spec, and ready to run in the game. Take that extra 10 minutes to check your art asset on a local copy of the game to make sure it works before officially checking it in on the server. Don't be the one who breaks the latest build with your sloppy art asset.
3. Always get approval between stages.
Often artists will work in the dark and only realize they've been going in the wrong direction when they resurface with a new batch of work.
The art director won't always have time to come and check on your progress, so you need to make sure you are getting approval during each agreed-upon stage.
4. Don't be needy.
The reverse is also true -- don't be insecure and needy. If your task is to do concepts for 10 different combat vehicles, don't go and bug the art director after you sketch each one.
Ask the AD at what stages he or she would like you to submit assets for review, and how many variations you should be creating.
5. Always save in iterations.
Often as we iterate and change a piece of art, we get further and further away from the original intent -- sometimes in a negative way.
Save in iterations and compare what you have to the earlier versions, and you might be surprised to find that you actually prefer an earlier version more. Saving in iterations means you can always retrace your steps and revert to an older version if necessary.
6. Always use references when necessary.
If you have any baggage about using references for your artwork, get over it immediately. Professional artists are required to use references all the time, as there is no better way to achieve authenticity and accuracy.
Human brains are simply not that amazing when it comes to recalling the detail of an overwhelming number of objects, animals, buildings, cars, or anything else. Even if you are working on a totally fictional world, you can still reference the real world for inspiration and ideas.
7. Learn shortcuts.
Shortcuts can mean literally the ones used in software, or simply ways of doing things. When you know all the important shortcuts in your most-used software, you can dramatically speed up your workflow.
For example, Photoshop Actions can save you a ton of wasted time if you create them to perform the repetitive multi-step actions you use often. Shortcut keys also allow you to zoom through many tools and settings without ever having to find anything in the menu or tool bar.
8. Brush up on your foundations.
Many artists get their first jobs before they have truly mastered the important foundations they need to know as professional artists.
From that first job on, they just tread in the same spot and virtually stop growing and learning as artists aside from what they do at work. Don't be one of them. Keep on learning and strengthen your weaknesses, learn new tools, and try new methods.
9. Don't be a production machine.
As a creative talent, you are hired for your creativity, not just your technical skills. Don't just do what you're told and nothing more -- be creative, come up with ideas, and suggest alternative approaches.
Artists who just go through the motion with no sense of artistic pride or sense of ownership are typically called hacks.
10. Don't be a prima donna.
At the same time, don't be a difficult person. Realize that although you have your own artistic style and personal taste, as a production member, you have to work well with others and be able to follow orders.
If you disagree with every art direction, refuse to make changes, and march to your own beat regardless of what's asked of you, then don't be surprised if you're the next person to be let go when it's time for a layoff (if you don't get fired first).
Note: All the stuffs are copyrighted by their respective owners. I wrote this blog for my and others' reference.