Where You Fit In
In a perfect world, Lighting Artists would not start working on a level until the Environment Artists are completely done with it. That way, as a lighter, you don't have to worry about any changes being made to what you've already lit. But real life doesn't work that way, and there are a couple of reasons why this isn't really feasible:
1) Lighting has a huge impact on the way any given area looks, especially indoor areas. The environment artists that are building the levels will probably want to see a lighting "first pass" so they can get a better idea of what the level will really look like. Without that initial lighting pass, environment artists would basically be guessing about how things would look, and then at the very end the lighting artists would come in, light it, and it would now look completely unlike what they may have been expecting. Seeing the materials that have been created in the correct lighting environment helps artists decide whether that material may need tweaking. (Although this is less of an issue with the advent of PBR shaders.)
2) The QA department need to be able to see lighting as well. This is especially important for a player having the ability to find their way through an area that has lower light overall. And of course, any "flashlight only" type areas (an area where overall lighting is so dark that the player can't see where they're going without the use of a flashlight or torch). The balance needs to be right. In a game where there are no flashlights or player light sources, it can be confusing and annoying to not be able to see where you're going.
So throughout the project, you'll be going back and forth and making adjustments to the lighting based on any changes that have been made by the Environment and FX departments, as well as the Design team.
If you're lucky, you'll find yourself working at a company that implements (and honors) the "Art Lock" towards the end of the project. What's an art lock? It basically means that since you're nearing the end of the project, all final lighting and post work need to be done. At the art lock, the Environment Artists are asked to stop making changes to the environment and concentrate on bug fixes and collision etc., so the Lighting and FX artists can finish the final work.
Hopefully the lighting department and FX departments are communicating with each other on a regular basis, since very often lighting affects FX, and FX affect lighting. At this point the Environment Artists should be wrapping things up and getting started on the next project. One way to handle this is to have meetings on a regular basis, say, two times a week or so, where lighting and FX both go over cinematics and gameplay areas where either new effects and lighting need to be added, or existing lighting and FX be altered or balanced.
While you'll spend a lot of time working with FX artists, there are a number of other people you'll be working with too.
