Great article from Gamasutra

Ran across an interesting article on Gamasutra Game Artists: The Three Cardinal Rules by Keith Self-Ballard (Quoting the intro here) "What guidelines do video game artists need to follow to succeed? Volition manager Self-Ballard draws from his experience to suggest three key traits of the best game art creators."
There is nothing in the article about how to draw, model, or create art in anyway. It is instead all about how to conduct yourself in a working environment - and that is important stuff. Art school teaches you the tools and the craft of the job, but often neglects the dynamics of working with others.
I'm not going to recap the entire article (because you should just go read it!) but his first trait is all about being able to manage the ego and I totally agree with that. As artists creating work for others we walk a very difficult line. Yes, there are underlying principles to what makes good art or good design, but there is also a very large subjective factor to our field. I don't expect everyone to like every piece of art that I make. As I explained to another artist once "I don't expect to bat 1000, but that doesn't mean that I'm not trying to." As artists we're used to putting our heart and soul into our work. If that work is for other people, especially if they're your supervisors, their opinions matter and their judgement needs to be respected.
Again, give the article a read. Gamasutra has a bit of a reputation for well-thought out articles and this one is no exception.