No game companies are even hiring interns! Screw them, I got my own website set up where I sell my own games. Hope ya like hentai! Warning, my website contains adult content. http://www.oppaisoft .com/
You can do it, there are lots of free programs to practice with and even prototype actual working games. You have Gmax which is a free 3d modeling program (use YafRay to render your images, it's a plug in for Gmax). You have free image editing software like Gimp. If you have Macromedia Flash, we know you can make games but if you don't I recommend Game Maker, it's free to download at yoyogames.com. Do as much freelance learning as possible and if you are still interested, then I recommend going to school for it. Good luck!
7swords
Nice you have a great job, i want to be a game artist one day!
Oppaisoft (Updated )
You can do it, there are lots of free programs to practice with and even prototype actual working games. You have Gmax which is a free 3d modeling program (use YafRay to render your images, it's a plug in for Gmax). You have free image editing software like Gimp. If you have Macromedia Flash, we know you can make games but if you don't I recommend Game Maker, it's free to download at yoyogames.com. Do as much freelance learning as possible and if you are still interested, then I recommend going to school for it. Good luck!