An evaluation of progress
polycounter lvl 12
This is not another topic complaining I don't have a industry job yet, nor a portfolio review thread(thought if you have any suggestions by all means say them). I want to let other people know who might be just starting how important it is to not give up and to keep progress screenshots around.
I joined here May 22nd 2011, after posting some work on the UDK forums and having Chris Holden crit them I found Polycount. I had just started doing 3d work and was only a year away from graduation. I thought I was ready to get a job when in reality I was blinded by the praise my teachers at school were giving me because I was able to UV map some simple objects. At this time I thought a spec map was just a desaturated diffuse, no clue what a gloss map was and thought all normal maps came from a nvidia filter. Needless to say I was far from where I needed to be. No clue what baking was, what a lightmap did or what the hell was a hard edge. Needless to say I was far from where I thought I was and wished I had seen that fact a lot earlier.
That's when it hit me like a brick wall, school was not going to prepare me for a job, I needed to learn everything on my own. So with that I began taking all the crits I could get. A lot of the time I felt stupid not knowing what was so obvious to everyone else. It did not help I had only been 3d modeling for a few months not really knowing what game ready art should be like. So I was starting from square one. I kept telling myself that in a year I would be ready for a job but deep down I knew that was not enough, skill takes time and time was not on my side. Almost that entire year I went thought a ton of work that I posted and even more I never showed. Of all that work only one is in my portfolio and even then I went back to it to improve textures and lighting. You will do a ton of work that is not up to par. This is necessary to get thought as once you break thought that wall everything gets much easier.
When going through this process it is easy to not see how you have improved. The only thing being on my mind was that it was not good enough. This is a huge mistake, you should be proud if what progress you make. yes it may not be perfect and you need to see where you still need to improve but pat yourself on the back every once in awhile for being better than you were yesterday. If you can look back at your old work and see significant progress, then you are on the right path. It can be hard to swallow that you are not at the level you want to be at, but you learn to accept that. No artist is ever really happy with where they are at, you want to constantly improve and make yourself better. The key here is to not get yourself down over it. It is good you have the drive to improve but that does not mean the work you are doing now is bad, hell even if it is as long as it is better than the last piece that is what counts. You are going to go through a lot of work that is not going to be good enough to get in a portfolio, this is normal as you are pretty much working out the kinks of your workflow and skillset.
So fast forward to today, more 7 months after graduation and I have only had a handful of freelance gigs(One I got burned on pretty bad so lesson learned their) and pretty much no replies to any studio I have applied to(Props to the one's that took the time to reply and even give crits as to why!). Looking back thought I have made huge progress since I joined and that is what is important. I know I'll get my first job sometime soon, a lot of factors go into getting a job including luck that someone else applied right after you who is better.(There is always someone better, enjoy and accept that challenge!)I feel I am just now getting to a point where I can consistently pump out portfolio quality work. I may have been a member for over a year but it feels like I am just starting the path of becoming a game artist. I look forward to the day when I get to work in a studio with you guys.
TLDR Looking back at your work and seeing your own progress can be a huge motivation. Keep that in mind as you move forward and improve yourself.
I hope this helps someone, new artists see posts showing kick ass art and end up thinking they were always like that. We were all their at some point. Feel free to add to this, the more artists that share their own experience the better. Going thought tons of work can be tough and I'd like this to help those that are currently going thought the same thing.
I joined here May 22nd 2011, after posting some work on the UDK forums and having Chris Holden crit them I found Polycount. I had just started doing 3d work and was only a year away from graduation. I thought I was ready to get a job when in reality I was blinded by the praise my teachers at school were giving me because I was able to UV map some simple objects. At this time I thought a spec map was just a desaturated diffuse, no clue what a gloss map was and thought all normal maps came from a nvidia filter. Needless to say I was far from where I needed to be. No clue what baking was, what a lightmap did or what the hell was a hard edge. Needless to say I was far from where I thought I was and wished I had seen that fact a lot earlier.
That's when it hit me like a brick wall, school was not going to prepare me for a job, I needed to learn everything on my own. So with that I began taking all the crits I could get. A lot of the time I felt stupid not knowing what was so obvious to everyone else. It did not help I had only been 3d modeling for a few months not really knowing what game ready art should be like. So I was starting from square one. I kept telling myself that in a year I would be ready for a job but deep down I knew that was not enough, skill takes time and time was not on my side. Almost that entire year I went thought a ton of work that I posted and even more I never showed. Of all that work only one is in my portfolio and even then I went back to it to improve textures and lighting. You will do a ton of work that is not up to par. This is necessary to get thought as once you break thought that wall everything gets much easier.
When going through this process it is easy to not see how you have improved. The only thing being on my mind was that it was not good enough. This is a huge mistake, you should be proud if what progress you make. yes it may not be perfect and you need to see where you still need to improve but pat yourself on the back every once in awhile for being better than you were yesterday. If you can look back at your old work and see significant progress, then you are on the right path. It can be hard to swallow that you are not at the level you want to be at, but you learn to accept that. No artist is ever really happy with where they are at, you want to constantly improve and make yourself better. The key here is to not get yourself down over it. It is good you have the drive to improve but that does not mean the work you are doing now is bad, hell even if it is as long as it is better than the last piece that is what counts. You are going to go through a lot of work that is not going to be good enough to get in a portfolio, this is normal as you are pretty much working out the kinks of your workflow and skillset.
So fast forward to today, more 7 months after graduation and I have only had a handful of freelance gigs(One I got burned on pretty bad so lesson learned their) and pretty much no replies to any studio I have applied to(Props to the one's that took the time to reply and even give crits as to why!). Looking back thought I have made huge progress since I joined and that is what is important. I know I'll get my first job sometime soon, a lot of factors go into getting a job including luck that someone else applied right after you who is better.(There is always someone better, enjoy and accept that challenge!)I feel I am just now getting to a point where I can consistently pump out portfolio quality work. I may have been a member for over a year but it feels like I am just starting the path of becoming a game artist. I look forward to the day when I get to work in a studio with you guys.
TLDR Looking back at your work and seeing your own progress can be a huge motivation. Keep that in mind as you move forward and improve yourself.
I hope this helps someone, new artists see posts showing kick ass art and end up thinking they were always like that. We were all their at some point. Feel free to add to this, the more artists that share their own experience the better. Going thought tons of work can be tough and I'd like this to help those that are currently going thought the same thing.
Replies
I also like your stance on judging your progress - is this piece better than my last? If yes, then it's a success. That should be in flowchart form for a wallpaper..
Surrounding yourself with inspiring people and just getting involved in the pc community has really helped me too. Joining the hangouts lets you watch other people work, lets other people casually critique your work, ask questions, even just laughing along with other artists helps keep you going sometimes. Browsing through the previews forum and critiquing other people projects is a great way to give back and learn yourself too. Sometimes when you go try to explain something you'll realise you don't properly understand it yourself yet, which forces you to fix those gaps in your knowledge.
The two components that determine your potential are 1) your ability to look at something and know what is wrong and 2) your ability to execute on those observations and get it closer to perfect. Either one can hold you back, though #2 can generally always be improved with practice, while #1 everyone has their own maximum skill level sort of built in. (my personal views, feel free to disagree)
For what it's worth, the best I know in the industry constantly beat themselves up about wanting to be better, or seeing room for improvement. You're kind of doomed to never be satisfied with your own work when you're at the top 1% or so. Once you become satisfied, you lose some of that drive, and can become complacent. Nothing is perfect of course, and "good enough" is a very dangerous plateau to reach.
I hate looking back at old work--it sucks! I even hate looking at current work. I feel I have the skills to do whatever I want now, but there's an additional constraint--time! Curse you time, it always throws a monkeywrench in things.
Always back-up your work even if just screenshots. You'll really want it in ten years.
I started to learn CG one year ago... At that moment I had no idea what CG stands for.. The only information I had was a vague knowledge that there is a program called 3ds Max and another called Maya. I started from there and here I am today, with not so many portfolio ready peaces but with a lot more knowledge and a lot more that I can do. I had to learn by myself everything and it wasn't easy... Ofcourse, you have great websites like Digital Tutors but is not like I had some one who could come and tell me what was wrong and what was right... Sometimes I would go mad over this because I had moments when I would hit a wall and I wouldn't know anymore if what I was doing was good or bad.
There were those mind blowing moments when I would sit like an idiot and try to understand what an UV map is... or how and why and what render passes you need if you want to compose... or basic basic stuff such as how to clean your canvas in Zbrush... how to save your work (yea, I saved the Doc...)
But I've learned to get over these moments and soon I will have about 5-6 portfolio peaces and a portfolio to send to a school, here in Sweden. Being a foreigner here doesn't make it easier for me since I have to learn the language as well.... But yea.. At least I can try.
And this is how I return from where I started, Biofrost. I think is great that you shared your frustrations/experience/story... I might be a little girly or whatever but I feel..... not encouraged.. I feel ... a little more safe maybe... just because I can see that I am not alone.. And I feel a little more hopeful since I can see that I am not the only one who's dreams are big even though is a long long long way until getting there. So yea.. thanks mate! Really appreciated!
Maya model made 22/09/2009. Worked in CAD and 3D APIs before, but never polygonal.
Current project.
like a fucking carrot hanging on a string before me :poly142:
if i had been aware of how much time i would have to sacrifice in order to even get to the point i'm at right now i don't think i'd have gone down this path, or perhaps my dedication would have been less extreme. But i don't doubt that it will do me good in the long run.
@Blaisoid I know that feeling. That's exactly what I keep telling my self. Eventually it will be true right!? I know its kinda depressing sounding but that really does help if you fool yourself that it might be coming soon.