Do you ever get work DIRECTLY from Artists Looking For Work?

Eric Chadwick

As in, someone saw your thread in that one forum section, contacted you, and paid you to make art for them.

If they found you through a What Are You Working On thread, or anywhere else, it doesn't count. I'd like to get a sense of how useful that section is, in practice. I wonder if employers ever browse there, looking for talent?

I've been a hiring manager before, looking for game artists. And it's such a labor-intensive process. I never had to seek individual artists. Instead I just ask colleagues to look around, and put out an ad in a couple places, and then received a ton of applicants to sift through.

Artists get hired in this business more often based on knowing someone... having gone to school with them, worked with them before, or talked with them face-to-face at an industry event. These kinds of connections seem to fill more positions than random contacts.

I'm not saying we should get rid of that forum section. Members asked for it. I'm just curious if it's actually working?

tulkas09

Got my first work ever on WAYWO(1,5y ago), later I started on a outsourcing studio, 1 year later I quit and quickly found work on Artist Looking for Work(some months ago). I don't have many contacts as I'm relatively new, and as Spain it's not big in 3d AAA stuff.

Also I didn't look for ads, as usually more than half don't even reply(my experience) and just waiting to have more porfolio to apply to studios for inhouse. With lack of contacts I'm trying to do quality... I also know a friend that got work via ALFW(?).

cptSwing

I haven't tried, maybe that should be a poll option? Or make it clearer that people such as me shouldn't vote on this poll?

Eric Chadwick

Why haven't you tried?

Blaisoid

Yes, I definitely have gotten some freelance jobs from that section.
The amount of offers that I'm getting is lower than it used to be a few years ago though.

PRV

I was also found by a few customers through the ALFW.

Basically it is one of a few options to find at least something for freelance artists who doesn't have connections in industry.

But something is really happening nowadays as Blaisoid already mentioned. Does it mean that gamedev is in crisis, or it is simply overwhelmed with artists?

Magihat

I have gotten freelance gig through the both the unreal and unity forums but I haven't even posted a thread here yet. I guess I am feeling insecure about the fact that this is a forum where pretty much every artist I look up to reside (or at least have an account) and I am not near that level yet. It's really odd thinking about it especially since I, as said, have gotten through other channels so this should be not really be much different at the end of the day.

Steppenwolf

If i remember correctly i found one of our character artists in that section. My boss talked about wanting to hire someone, i just looked around, found an awesome portfolio and forwarded it.

Blaisoid

dustinbrown said:

Eric Chadwick said:

Why haven't you tried?

Like cptSwing I haven't tried. Honestly, if I were going to put my work somewhere with the intention of marketing myself to an established network, it would probably be ArtStation. They have a well-developed portfolio system that does a great job of showcasing work. They also have tagging and a good site search feature, making it easy to brows by content, medium, or style. And those portfolios have a nice fat "Hire Me" button for directly and privately contacting the artist. These features make it far easier for the artist to market themselves, and for the employer to find the right talent.

By comparison, slugging through forum threads is tedious and antiquated.

Well, so far I don't see any evidence of artstation being a better place to get offers from, compared to forums. I imagine that artists whose works get featured on front page do get offers from it but for everyone else it seems a bit difficult to get noticed. Most of recognition there comes from fellow artists and students rather than potential clients. In theory clients, recruiters and studios could take advantage of all these cool search features but it doesn't mean that majority of them do actually use them.

Rurouni Strife

I was contacted by Hangman Digital in 2014 based on my work in that forum. Wasn't the best job, wasn't the worst job. I still update that thread as my schedule allows (these days I'm quite booked).

almighty_gir

i did when i started out, but now it's almost all word of mouth, people asking me when i'm free next etc.

Jonas Ronnegard

Since I went freelance I have only worked with people that found me trough artstation, so artstation is great

Will Faucher

I think your poll results may be a bit skewed by the fact that probably a lot of people have never even used it. Thus making the "Not yet" option getting much more votes.

Eric Chadwick

Will Faucher said:

I think your poll results may be a bit skewed by the fact that probably a lot of people have never even used it. Thus making the "Not yet" option getting much more votes.

Oh, certainly.

And a lot of people who use Artists Looking For Work never post anywhere else on Polycount, so they probably never look here in General Discussion.

I was just curious about how members perceive and use that forum section. It's kind of flawed to begin with, as forum software in general is not designed well for portfolios/sales use, our search is not optimized for it, no sorting, display options are limited, etc.

But hey, enough people get a benefit from it, and that's what matters.

rino

I got few gigs from there yeah - great ones too. But it doesn't happen often though, I seem to get more offers from unity/unreal forums.

fearian

I've never tried, but I feel like it's relevant to say:

I've had fantastic results, and my company has ended up hiring people, from posting an ad in the jobs board. and usually whoever is in charge of the hiring comes back to me and expresses how all the responses they got are head and shoulders above the responses from any other site.

Eric Chadwick

I'm moving this from General Discussion into the employment subforum. Please vote, and add a reply if you have any opinions you would like to share.

CptAlbatross

Just got my first commission off there a few days ago after posting at the beginning of the month and updating it on the 18th. That's fairly quick for still being new to the forums in my opinion, but I may have gotten lucky.

Mathew O

I said yes but not because I've received work from this section but I have approached artists from this section for Massive.

DeathstrokeFTW

I am desperately trying to find work but it seems no one has ever looked at my page or checked my portfolio. I understand that there are many experienced artists out there but the why do the little guys like me have to be set aside

Eric Chadwick

DeathstrokeFTW said:

I am desperately trying to find work but it seems no one has ever looked at my page or checked my portfolio. I understand that there are many experienced artists out there but the why do the little guys like me have to be set aside

Well, as the voting shows, 2/3 have not gotten work from just making their own portfolio thread. That tells me this section alone is not a direct generator of work leads. You can't just make a page and expect the work to flow in. Instead you need to seek your clients directly and actively.

To that end here are the proven methods to get clients, and thus, paid work:
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance#Finding_Clients

The point of having a thread in this section is to be able to give a link to potential clients, so they can look at your artwork. Yes, some seem to have gotten work just from have a thread here. But I bet they are promoting themselves elsewhere as well, actively working to send people here. I don't think 1/3 of people are just getting work passively.

omar_0007

Its a tough set, I had a number of people contact me about work, but in the end it is about you chasing them up and actually looking and reaching out to people. Keep trying, I know how it feels, but if you love to do what you do, you'll manage eventually. Good luck.

 One thing you can do is try to become very social like with instagram and other platforms, helps with morale and motivation c:

DeathstrokeFTW said:

I am desperately trying to find work but it seems no one has ever looked at my page or checked my portfolio. I understand that there are many experienced artists out there but the why do the little guys like me have to be set aside

cody.rauh

I passively post a my thread on here, opening or closing commissions. It makes it convenient. I don't freelance full time, instead I work for a company and pick this up for fun when I need a break from some of the dull projects I get from my job.

This section of the forum has been beneficial for me, and I would be sad to see it go.

Eric Chadwick

cody.rauh said:

...
 and I would be sad to see it go.

Oh, it's not going anywhere. This was just a poll to gauge effectiveness.

Spoon

DeathstrokeFTW said:

[...] why do the little guys like me have to be set aside

Because the best candidate will get the job. The client wants a job done, and will take the safest option. No matter how good you are, if someone if better (for this specific job), he will be the one getting the job.