Home General Discussion

Novice as leade environment artist.

polycounter lvl 7
Offline / Send Message
underfox polycounter lvl 7
Hi guys, I sent my resume and portfolio to few game studios and one replied me that my " dossier " drawed theyr attention for the position of " lead environment artist 3D " ( damn I probably didn't noticed it was " lead environment artist " and not just environment artist ) and they are asking me for for a meeting :poly122:

The thing is, i'm a novice who never worked in the game industry before except with my school mates ( were i actualy was the game designer but i don't think it counts as experience ) and clearly stated in my cover letter that i just finished school.

Do you think they saw it? do you think i should turn down the offer saying that i wasn't carefully reading the offer and though it was for an environment artist position? Or should i try going to the meeting anyway?

I'm not afraid of challenges, i wouldn't mind starting my career as a successfull " lead environment artist " but i'm afraid to fail and then beeing blacklisted by the other companies because of my failure.

I need your opinion on the matter, i'm scarred shitless. :poly127:

Replies

  • slipsius
    if they want a meeting, give them a meeting. Just be completely honest and upfront about everything. Talk to them about how you feel about it, and if you`re up for the challenge. Some smaller studios do have notice people as leads. They may have more schooling then the other people working there, or just be so small that they ONLY have leads.

    Thing is, let them decide if you`re good enough for the position. Why turn down a great opportunity just because you think you`re not good enough? Believe in yourself.
  • underfox
    Offline / Send Message
    underfox polycounter lvl 7
    @dustinbrown here is my portfolio http://jimmypereira.weebly.com/

    @slipsius scary situation , i shall give them a meeting then and tell them what they can expect from me.
  • PolyHertz
    Offline / Send Message
    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    If they indeed contacted you, someone who has no experience, for a lead position, then they either have no clue what they're doing, and/or are a very small studio (likely, though not necessarily, financially unstable).

    Either way, nothing you do would get you "blacklisted".
  • underfox
    Offline / Send Message
    underfox polycounter lvl 7
    Honestly PolyHertz, i though about it, and then did a bit of profilling on the name of the person who sent me the e-mail, the information i gathered was that he was an ex producer 3rd party from ubi soft who worked on titles like

    Call Of Juarez : The Cartel
    R.U.S.E.
    Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood

    Now, as far as I know it could be someone using his name who know, I think i'll definitly do as Slipsius said, just go for the meeting and see by myself.
  • PolyHertz
    Offline / Send Message
    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Yea with things like this its best to just feel them out if you can. If the meeting is being held at thier office you should be able to get more of an idea if they're on the up and up or not.
  • ScudzAlmighty
    judging by the quality of the Prairie vid on your portfolio I'd guess they were impressed and thought you could handle the role.
  • breakneck
    Offline / Send Message
    breakneck polycounter lvl 13
    totally off topic - but i was forced to watch a 30 second ad before that Prairie vid. That totally sucks :(
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator
    just make sure you got the "lead" (as in leadership) part right. Make sure you delegate work. Don't hog the best / coolest work for yourself, especially when there's other talent in the team (won't make people happy). Be prepared for some tutoring if there's juniors. You will also be setting the standard for technical and artistic quality and actively help weaker people to get up to your level. You'll also have to do reviews and determine when stuff is ready for the AD. One you manage all that, then you won't have a problem.

    Good luck!
  • oXYnary
    Offline / Send Message
    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Don't some underhanded companies put people in supposed "lead" positions to have an excuse to keep them there longer? In reality they might lead one other person and still have many people above.

    If they are putting you in a lead position right away. There doesn't seem any room to move up or increase your pay as easily?
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator
    oXYnary wrote: »
    Don't some underhanded companies put people in supposed "lead" positions to have an excuse to keep them there longer? In reality they might lead one other person and still have many people above.

    If they are putting you in a lead position right away. There doesn't seem any room to move up or increase your pay as easily?

    In the worst case it could be a starting point for a proper lead position afterwards at a different company. Sometimes it doesn't matter so much what you do but what other people think you did. Could be a nice door opener as long as you make sure you're also working on the necessary skills.
  • Andreas
    Offline / Send Message
    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    To be honest, your work is solid. You just got lucky and they are probably in need of you, and a small operation too boot. Go for it! Then if this job eventually disappears, you'll likely keep the title, and associated paycheck! :)
  • Ryan Hawkins
    My 2 cents don't bite off more then you can chew being a lead has a lot more to do with management and politics then it does art. If things go south for investments and projects they won't be looking at the grunts they will target management first.

    Good luck with whatever you end up doing man.
  • skankerzero
    if you're hungry to do artwork, then lead may not be for you. Often times leads have to pass off cool work in order to help run things.

    Make sure you fully understand what they expect from a lead. It may just be a fancy title for an artist of a certain skill level and not management.
  • aesir
    Offline / Send Message
    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    If you're really talented and it's a tiny operation, then I could see it happening. I'd expect it to be the sort of situation where you're the only enviro artist, at least at first.

    But whatever, go to the meeting! Have fun!
  • Andreas
    Offline / Send Message
    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    they will target management first.

    Who then point the finger at the grunts. ;) Shit rolls downhill in this world...
  • Ghostscape
    Offline / Send Message
    Ghostscape polycounter lvl 13
    Follow all job leads that do not cost you money. No job that isn't a scam has ever cost the potential hire money up front.

    Once they make you an offer, then you can make the decision to go with them or stay the fuck away. Until then, there is no point in removing yourself from a potential job earlier in the process.
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator
    Ghostscape wrote: »
    Follow all job leads that do not cost you money. No job that isn't a scam has ever cost the potential hire money up front.

    Once they make you an offer, then you can make the decision to go with them or stay the fuck away. Until then, there is no point in removing yourself from a potential job earlier in the process.

    +1
  • underfox
    Offline / Send Message
    underfox polycounter lvl 7
    +2 I'll definitly go for it, sent the e-mail a while ago, I'm waiting for the answer now. Thanks for the kind support everyone.

    Wish me luck.
  • Isaiah Sherman
    Offline / Send Message
    Isaiah Sherman polycounter lvl 14
    Being a lead is less about art and more about managing schedules and giving proper amounts of work tailored to peoples' strong points within the team. Being blacklisted only happens when you really fuck up bad, like... faking overtime, never finishing any work, being a huge asshole that no one can possible work with, etc.

    Worst case scenario is they bring you in, you get it, and they feel you're better suited as an artist and they use you as that instead.
  • dpaynter26
    Offline / Send Message
    dpaynter26 polycounter lvl 11
    Good luck, wish you the best! lucky guy lol
  • Geezus
    Offline / Send Message
    Geezus mod
    I sure hope you actually know how to lead a team. If you've never been in a leadership role before, let alone industry experience, and went for a position in leadership, I'd say that's poor form. If these people are hiring you based on art skill alone, for a leadership position, despite having zero leadership experience, I would say they know little of, or do a poor job with leadership.
  • Mask_Salesman
    Offline / Send Message
    Mask_Salesman polycounter lvl 13
    Excel is your best friend as a lead, that and constant communication. ;P

    good luck with it :)
  • WarrenM
    Yeah, if there's one thing the leads I've worked for have always said it's that they wished they had time to do actual work. Most of their days are spent in meetings, on the phone, and in Excel.
  • Ghostscape
    Offline / Send Message
    Ghostscape polycounter lvl 13
    If this is a place hiring a novice with no industry experience as a lead there's a very good chance he'll be a defacto lead of a team of 1, in which case I wouldn't worry too much about it.

    By the time the OP has a job offer he'll know enough to decide whether he's a "lead" because the team is really small and inexperienced, or because the hiring manager's brain is really small and inexperienced, or whether it is some sort of trap.

    I think I a lot of folks are jumping the gun on assuming he's going to be leading a team of folks and I really can't see that being the case given his experience. I think the scale is going to be a lot smaller.
  • EarthQuake
    Yeah if this is a small studio, or even a small team, a "lead" could be a lead of just a couple people - in which case there will be plenty of art to do. I've been in that situation before.
  • Torch
    Offline / Send Message
    Torch interpolator
    Your environment work is pretty sick bro, I don't think you have anything to be scared about :D
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator
    paint a triangle, put Art Director, Producer, most senior artist at the corners. Depending on the company the job falls somewhere in there - sometimes with lots of management and sometimes with almost no management, except hands-on, at all (in that case they often have a good producer taking the mgmt stuff off the lead's shoulders)
  • Quack!
    Offline / Send Message
    Quack! polycounter lvl 17
    This is a very similar situation to what I am currently going through. Small startup company, relatively small number of people below me, thrust into the position.

    Just keep your head on straight, put out the fires that start logically and maturely and make sure you know the answers to everything, and if you don't know the answers, make sure you are humble enough to defer to your co workers for answers.

    If you want to advance your art, try to be just a regular artist. As a lead you spend a ton of time just doing administrative work as people have said.
  • underfox
    Offline / Send Message
    underfox polycounter lvl 7
    Thank you quack, i have indeed made my research about the job and I think I starting to know more or less what they are expecting from me as a lead environment artist, the studio i'm applying for seems to a be startup human sized studio so my work might consist in the following.

    - Delegates the works to the others environment artist and make sure to be fair about the work delegation, I can't keep the cool stuff for me only, it would be good to actually take most of the boring work for my self from time to time, so that my team can work positivly and pro actively.

    - Be sure to respect the polycount established by the programers to ensure that the game load fast and run "fluidly".

    - Same goes for the texture resolution per object size, I must make sure my team doesn't use a 1024x1024 resolution texture for a coca cola can lying on the ground.

    - I must make sure that me and my team respect the ambience and art style imposed by the lead designer and his team.

    - I have to respect the constraint of the level designer, so the player can evolve in the environment as the level designer planed it. If he needs a box there so the player can jump higher to grabe an item, I must make sure there is a box at this exact location ( just an exemple )

    - I should always be trying to improve the workfow of my team by adding new processes in the pipeline that would enhance the efficiency of the team and thus permit them to work faster whilst keeping the quality of their work.

    Maybe i'm missing a few important things, and if i do, please do correct me, The meeting is tomorrow at 11 o'clock via skype.

    must get rid of the stress.
Sign In or Register to comment.