My first GDC, can anyone offer some very helpful advice?
polycounter lvl 6
Over the last few months I have been preparing for GDC building up my portfolio and reels. This will be the first GDC I've attended, I'm both excited and terribly nervous. Does anyone have any advice that can help me so I don't botch the event. :poly122:
I plan on having plenty of business cards, and resumes printed up. I also plan on having a tablet so I can show off my reels as well as a website if anyone wants to see additional work. I also read some additional threads from a few years back saying I should also bring a printed portfolio, but being an animator, that really isn't an option.
If anyone wants to take a look at my site you can view it here. I also recently went back and made some corrections based off of a thread found on this site that was very informative. I've been searching for it like crazy, but can't seem to find it again.
Cheers!
I plan on having plenty of business cards, and resumes printed up. I also plan on having a tablet so I can show off my reels as well as a website if anyone wants to see additional work. I also read some additional threads from a few years back saying I should also bring a printed portfolio, but being an animator, that really isn't an option.
If anyone wants to take a look at my site you can view it here. I also recently went back and made some corrections based off of a thread found on this site that was very informative. I've been searching for it like crazy, but can't seem to find it again.
Cheers!
Replies
TL;DR
Be a good person and remember that everyone else is a person, too.
The filo crits are like the first phase of an interview, does your stack up, do you show potential, and are you someone that they want to work with? If the crit goes well you could talk to the next person.
As far as what to bring and show...
Only show your best stuff, maybe 3-4 pieces at most. Most crits last 5 mins. Know who your talking to and what you want to do. Your filo should reflect that. If you want to do environmental art, don't show characters. Most of these positions are for very specific things. If you also do something else, keep it on your blog or something. Your resume shouldn't be more than 1 PAGE!!! It doesn't matter how long you've been in the industry, you can be cut done to a PAGE. I wouldn't give anyone a resume unless they ask. Probably 30 copies is enough. Get lots of biz cards (probably 150-200)
Also, hit up the social events and talk to people. Oh and one last thing, just wear nice regular clothes... don't ware a shirt and tie:) no one goes to work like that.
Just curious, what are certain folks looking for? Is there something they aren't looking for?
Are there certain pieces that will turn fellows off?
1- Make sure your business cards have some light/white space for them to write notes on. A blank back works just fine, this doesn't have to be anything fancy; just don't be one of those people with a plastic/laminated black/etc. business card. Also, make sure it's printed at a high resolution, 72dpi looks like you printed it at home. 4x6 has some pretty good deals and I've always been impressed with their quality, if you feel like splurging a little.
1.5- Write down notes about everyone you meet on their business card, too. Nobody's memory is perfect and a meaningful follow-up can be huge.
2- Go to the career pavilion EARLY. Sometime mid-morning on Wednesday, after everyone's gotten into the groove. By Friday everyone is exhausted, and the number of job-hunters has at least tripled since it's student day.
3- Bring a notepad. Write down everything a critiquer says, don't make excuses, and thank them for their time. WDewel said all this better and more thoroughly than I did and she's dead right.
4- An iPad will work for showing off your portfolio if it's all still images/video clips, but if you have anything realtime to show off, at least bring a laptop and that way you'll be ready if they ask to see it. I've heard of people getting second interviews/hired/etc. simply because they brought a laptop that could fully show off their game, scene, or whatever.
4.5- Make sure you have all your portfolio images/videos with specs saved to your desktop (do iPads have desktops?) as well. WiFi in the pavilion is awful and having to explain at each image what programs you used, how many tris and maps you used, and so on is really awkward (not that I would know).
4.75- People still use paper portfolios? I really wouldn't worry about that if I were you, unless you decide to dive into concept art and nothing else.
5- Everything Kon Artist said. Quantity far, far over quality. Showing some breadth of style or skillset is good too, especially if you're just starting out.
I would suggest using at most a third of your current stuff- pick your knockout pieces and show only those (I took nine pieces last time and it was waaaaay too much).
6- Hit up Riot, even just for a critique (judging by your portfolio you want more than a critique from there.:P) They gave me the nicest and most thorough critique of my entire career, even knowing up front that I wasn't looking to get hired there.
I hope that helps! Good luck and have fun.:)
Most importantly I have no idea what you are or what you want to do. You seem to have a lot of animation, but then some modeling/art as well. What should I hire you for? What are you actually good at? Is asset "X" your best animation piece, or is it meant to show off your modeling skills and the animation is rudimentary?
Put your desired job title on the portfolio page, instead of the words "Digital Portfolio" it should say "Animator" or "Character Artist and Animator" or "Cake Tester".
Hadd's tips up top are great. I would definitely use an iPad for anything non-interactive, though, as laptops are cumbersome and typically require a hard surface to set them down on, which can be at a premium with a lot of the booths.
Above all, when you ask for critiques, don't be defensive. Whenever you get the urge to respond to criticism with "but I did it like that because" instead say "what would you have done differently?"
If there's somewhere you're really gunning for, just try to do one knockout piece for them in their style. If you really want to charm them, make it using the same software they use in-house, but that's less of a big deal.
Blizzard in particular is a little notorious for pretty much glossing over any portfolio that isn't geared specifically towards them.
I can't think of anything that would really be a turn-off except a really bad piece. Just don't bring anything but you're best- everyone's busy and they're far more concerned with where you are now than where you came from.
Alright, I'm really getting out of the way of this thread now, I've talked too much.:)
And always move in groups on the street,
This may sound a little self-serving, but the people you make friends with at GDC may just walk away from there with a job. The more friends you know in the industry, the more likely it is your name will come up when someone is looking to hire without posting a job publicly.
Best of luck!