I'm studying games art at uni and have been tasked with studying the phrase 'Character artists are higher skilled than Environment artists'. The topic is based around modelling in 3ds Max and ZBrush. I am required to gather opinions from outside sources.

I myself think that character artists have more skills as they need to pay closer attention to details. They have an important job role as they are creating the main focal point of a game. Even in 1st person games there are cut scenes where the model is used.

No. There are different skills involved but it's simply false to suggest that one type of artist is 'higher skilled' than another based purely on their title.

Both skill sets require dedication, neither is easier or requires more skill. The reason why character artist are perceived to be more skilled has nothing to do with the field but with the learning progress.

When someone starts 3D modeling they will focus more on objects. Because organic modeling is so different they find it hard to do and it takes longer to learn. The result is that organic modeling appears more complex than hard-edge.

The opposite happens as well just with less frequency. There are modelers who started with characters and as a result took very long to learn hard-edge modeling.

Think of it like a language, the first one you learn is the easiest. It's all there really is to it.

The reason there are less character modelers is because there are a lot more objects to use as reference.