Recently hired in AAA? Show us your portfolio

samnwck

I'm looking to see if we can get a good list of people who recently made their first steps into the AAA developer arena. This includes people that have been in AAA for 2-3 years but haven't yet updated their portfolio or even people who have since added work to their portfolio but still have some of the works that got them initially hired in their portfolio (just be sure to tell us what's new, and what's old). This also includes freelancers who still have works in their portfolio that initially got them gigs with a AAA developer as well.

Now I'm mostly looking for people that are new hires into game dev altogether, but open to anyone that wants that mostly meets the criteria above. 

I think it'd be nice for everyone (myself included) to see where the bar is for content. Depending on how much traction this post gains I'll start updating this post with your name, how long ago you were hired and where, with a link to the portfolio.

Thanks guys!

AGoodFella

Nice idea. I'm eager to see some animation demo reels.

MILA

Just this week I signed the contract to a AAA studio. Will start working as soon as I finish school, in about a month. http://michaeltranart.com/

samnwck

I saw your portfolio on Artstation a week or two ago and was wondering why it didn't say you were at a studio yet, you do really good work. Can I ask who hired you?

MILA

Thanks. Sure, I ended up choosing MachineGames.

Can link other peeps from my class:

http://robintran.com/ - Junior Concept artist intern at Massive Ubisoft
http://tonytranart.com/ - Also Junior Concept artist intern at Massive Ubisoft
http://mhansenart.com/ - Junior Character Artist intern Massive
http://camillaspanberg.com/ - Junior Environment(? not sure) intern at Avalanche

jesusblasco

Thanks for share with everyone all of these portfolios , It really show where the level is ay for a Junior.

I am in the works of improving mine.

Thanks for making this thread Sanmwck

AGoodFella

MILA said:

Thanks. Sure, I ended up choosing MachineGames.

Can link other peeps from my class:

http://robintran.com/ - Junior Concept artist intern at Massive Ubisoft
http://tonytranart.com/ - Also Junior Concept artist intern at Massive Ubisoft
http://mhansenart.com/ - Junior Character Artist intern Massive
http://camillaspanberg.com/ - Junior Environment(? not sure) intern at Avalanche

Nice dude! They're a fantastic games company. You might be working on the new Wolfenstein...

MILA

@AGoodFella Yeah they are great ones. Who knows...

I assume you've heard of The Rookies but if you haven't it's pretty much a portfolio competition for people who haven't, or have just made it into the industry. All applicants are from a certified school or similar, could be worth taking a look if you haven't already : http://www.therookies.co/people/

beefaroni

https://www.artstation.com/artist/chrisstone3d

Graduated May of 2015. Started working in March of 2015. AAA in January of 2016.

The pieces that got me hired are circled, rest that were created after are crossed out.

samnwck

@beefaroni Thanks for keeping this going and great stuff! As much as the CoD franchise gets hated on I'd still like to work at one of the studios as I enjoy their art style and games.

AGoodFella

beefaroni said:

https://www.artstation.com/artist/chrisstone3d

Graduated May of 2015. Started working in March of 2015. AAA in January of 2016.

The pieces that got me hired are circled, rest that were created after are crossed out.

Nice dude. Do you have any tips for working in a big studio? Stuff that you wish you knew before.

Cheers.

beefaroni

@samnwck  - Thank you! All we want to do is make the best weapons possible!

@AGoodFella  - I would say just to be professional in the work environment. From a super tiny studio to a super huge studio a lot of things are similar. There may be one or two small things that change but I they can vary from AAA studio to studio. 

Benvox2

Horribly outdated, but I started recently at FS. https://www.artstation.com/artist/benroachstudios

Before that I did freelance and worked for a few outsourcing studios.

samnwck

Excellent additions!
@JoshuaG What studio did you get on with?

@Benvox2 What pieces do you think initially got you in (I saw you were at Square Enix before that)

gerridoo

I started at Capcom Vancouver around 6 months ago with the pieces in my current portfolio. http://www.garydo.com/

MILA

gerridoo said:

I started at Capcom Vancouver around 6 months ago with the pieces in my current portfolio. http://www.garydo.com/

Oh man, I'm following you on artstation. Thought you were a senior or something, absolute beast. 

pmiller001

*casts reincarnation on this thread*

Glad I stumbled on this thread! Its super useful to see what got people to where they are. Wondering..if there are any character artists

JLHGameArt

Recently hired by Ubisoft Annecy as a prop artist. https://www.artstation.com/jlhgameart 

sacboi

@JLHGameArt you've got some cool stuff there, especially that crossbow, really looks the bomb! very nice texturing and congrat's getting a gig at Ubisoft.

Cheers.

JLHGameArt

@sacboi thanks man. 

Eric Chadwick

Great thread. Added to the wiki. More useful links there 

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio#Examples

Ali_Youssef

Oh boy, and here I thought I had a chance at being hired at some point soon.
Looking at your guys' 'folios both inspired and crushed my dreams simultaneously..

Ashervisalis

@Ali_Youssef Don't sell yourself short. Your stuff is looking pretty cool. Keep on going

DRoss3d

Hired back in June as a hard surface artist. Portfolio that got me hired - https://www.artstation.com/dross3d

pmiller001

Cool! thanks for the share Diego

displacedinvader

I've been hired (for freelance) to AAA FPS title as a 3D Character Artist for about a year ago with that portfolio.
https://www.artstation.com/displacedinvader
I guess there was a bit of luck. 
Well, to be honest, there was an art test and I'm successfully passed it.

Solid_Otter

Thanks for posting these, everyone. It's helpful to see what quality I should be aiming  for in my own work.

RustySpannerz

This is a great resource! Hopefully, I'll be able to post in here one day! 

AGoodFella

Any animators that have been hired at a studio. I'm job hunting right now and it's BRUTAL!

mspalante

Awesome post, thank you very much, helped me a lot ! 

Jesse_Flores

This thread is pureeeeee gold man.  

honglong99

No AAA hired me. But I would like to show some artwork. I want work oversea, travel, learn and study in new environment. Yaaaaaa!!! I will come back after 10 post.

MattN

Dam this is an awesome resource! Great to get an idea of the bar set to get in the door.

manuelfuentes13

Great thread! It wold also be awesome if people could post how far they where located from the place where they got hired, I've been applying for a while and gotten a few responses recently from AAA studios but not hired yet. I have to think there is some slight advantage gained by being able to do an in person interview or visit a studio before getting hired, specially for entry level jobs.

NikhilR

manuelfuentes13 said:

Great thread! It wold also be awesome if people could post how far they where located from the place where they got hired, I've been applying for a while and gotten a few responses recently from AAA studios but not hired yet. I have to think there is some slight advantage gained by being able to do an in person interview or visit a studio before getting hired, specially for entry level jobs.

Where are you located? I'm currently in Canada and could not dream of getting work here on site, had I been back in my home country, regardless of how good I was. (Though I could possibly get freelance contract opportunities)
While there is a bar for a portfolio to reach, there are several additional factors that influence the selection of a candidate (location is a big one)
So while its good to see the portfolios here as a good standard, probably not the only determinant in getting that job unfortunately.

manuelfuentes13

NikhilR said:

manuelfuentes13 said:

Great thread! It wold also be awesome if people could post how far they where located from the place where they got hired, I've been applying for a while and gotten a few responses recently from AAA studios but not hired yet. I have to think there is some slight advantage gained by being able to do an in person interview or visit a studio before getting hired, specially for entry level jobs.

Where are you located? I'm currently in Canada and could not dream of getting work here on site, had I been back in my home country, regardless of how good I was. (Though I could possibly get freelance contract opportunities)
While there is a bar for a portfolio to reach, there are several additional factors that influence the selection of a candidate (location is a big one)
So while its good to see the portfolios here as a good standard, probably not the only determinant in getting that job unfortunately.

@NikhilR  I'm located in Mexico, the replies I've gotten so far late last year where 2 studios from Europe and 1 from USA, I'm limited to applying to bigger studios (probably competing against more candidates)  because smaller ones don't offer relocation assistance. 

NikhilR

manuelfuentes13 said:

NikhilR said:

manuelfuentes13 said:

Great thread! It wold also be awesome if people could post how far they where located from the place where they got hired, I've been applying for a while and gotten a few responses recently from AAA studios but not hired yet. I have to think there is some slight advantage gained by being able to do an in person interview or visit a studio before getting hired, specially for entry level jobs.

Where are you located? I'm currently in Canada and could not dream of getting work here on site, had I been back in my home country, regardless of how good I was. (Though I could possibly get freelance contract opportunities)
While there is a bar for a portfolio to reach, there are several additional factors that influence the selection of a candidate (location is a big one)
So while its good to see the portfolios here as a good standard, probably not the only determinant in getting that job unfortunately.

@NikhilR  I'm located in Mexico, the replies I've gotten so far late last year where 2 studios from Europe and 1 from USA, I'm limited to applying to bigger studios (probably competing against more candidates)  because smaller ones don't offer relocation assistance. 

Visa situation makes it more challenging. Even once here, it is rather competitive.
I must say your work is super! I hope everything works out for you!

7bajwa

I've been hired as a 3D Environment Artist at Dhruva Interactive a year ago with this portfolio. 
These work they mainly liked. These are not much as per the quality but they liked that these are made procedurally.

I think I was lucky. I had a telephonic interview and they sent me an art test and that went very well.
I was also like the most graduated students desperately looking for a job. I was not focused on portfolio and I missed the point "Quality vs Quantity" so It took me a long time to get the job. Then I learned to focus on one thing as for me it was Environment Art.
Getting the first job is tough but once you get in you find yourself surrounded by great artists with great talent and then there you learn and grow.
I am updating my portfolio. You can check it out here. 
https://www.artstation.com/bajwa
Hope it will help.
I still have to learn and improve my work a lot 

VladV95

Oh man, took a look at your portfolios and now I know why nobody wants to hire me...dreams of becoming Environment/Level Artist are crushed... Im located in The Netherlands, and here are just 2-3 3D Game companies 2 of them want INTERNS or SENIORS only and then there is Guerrilla Games, where for people with my skill to get a job is impossible especially after HZD release and success... I guess I need to pursue something else in my life...
Portfolio: 

[ moderator snip. please put it in your signature instead, thanks. ]

Meloncov

VladV95 said:

Oh man, took a look at your portfolios and now I know why nobody wants to hire me...dreams of becoming Environment/Level Artist are crushed... Im located in The Netherlands, and here are just 2-3 3D Game companies 2 of them want INTERNS or SENIORS only and then there is Guerrilla Games, where for people with my skill to get a job is impossible especially after HZD release and success... I guess I need to pursue something else in my life...

You're in the EU, though. No reason to limit yourself to just the Netherlands.

JLHGameArt

VladV95 said:

Oh man, took a look at your portfolios and now I know why nobody wants to hire me...dreams of becoming Environment/Level Artist are crushed... Im located in The Netherlands, and here are just 2-3 3D Game companies 2 of them want INTERNS or SENIORS only and then there is Guerrilla Games, where for people with my skill to get a job is impossible especially after HZD release and success... I guess I need to pursue something else in my life...

Just keep practicing, learning, and improving. Seek out critique and you will get there eventually. It takes a lot of work, but if you really want to do it you can.

cgtoolsmith

Junior Real-time developer (R&D pipeline team) at Axis Studios. AAA game cinematics.  (http://www.axisanimation.com)
http://yvovonberg.nl/index.html

dropyhop

I got hired as 3D Environment Art Intern with this folio - https://www.artstation.com/ashaythube at 2K Czech

Biomag

Got the offer from Sperasoft as 3D artist for an AAA-project working mainly (by their estimation 90+%) as character artist -> https://biomag.artstation.com/

Taylor Brown

Hell yeah @Biomag, your work is great. Congrats

Biomag

@Taylor Brown  : Thanks, man

Meloncov

I just accepted my first AAA games job (Shader and Material Artist at Volition), though I've been doing professional 3D art for indies and a marketing company for five years now:
https://kevinbaker.artstation.com/

Andyc

+1 to see some more animation reels. 

aanselmo

This is a great topic, I am a working on my 3d character portfolio to someday (hopefully this year) get a job.
I see most of you started as a hardsurface/prop & environment, probably the easier way to start in the industry, but is good to know some of you started as well as character artist, wich is good   

If there is any tip where to find ( besides the usual artstation and here) or how to approach the companies to show our work I would like to know, as anyone here 
 
Good luck to all the artists working hard to get a job and congrats to those who made it  

KHM3dia

Dont like to boast but here is mine http://stefanoprisanart.co.uk/ 

Erwannd2d

I recently got hired with 2 other guys at Ubisoft in France here are our folios

https://www.artstation.com/erwannd2d
https://www.artstation.com/alexgodbille
https://www.artstation.com/arthurchamerois

And a few months earlier another cool guy got hired too 
https://www.artstation.com/henripatrier