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I've been working on a 3d character artist's handbook(github wiki) that covers the entire workflow as well as other things like composition, anatomy and so on. I think it's now at the point where it is ready to also be used by others. Hope you like it😉

https://github.com/Epicrex/3DArtistsHandbook/wiki

Unpaid art tests are really something that bothers me and its actually something that is up to lead artists to stop doing. HR has no clue about anything and they will do what the lead artists says, so its just up to us who are in a position hiring others to stop demanding those tests just because we had to go through them ourselves.

I will admit, I'm only newly appointed to this role where I actually lead the recruiting, but I refuse to ask for unpaid art tests. The first person I hired was based on interviews and portfolio alone. Currently I offered a second guy a position based on portfolio and interviews. The only reason I offered him to do additionally an unpaid art test was based on his salary demands he would have need to rate him as a senior artists, something unsupported by his experience. I was open about it, told him that our offer stands, but if he wants to prove that he is better than what we see in him, he can do the art test or just work through out the trail period and we would re-asses him if need be.

I especially see no point in doing art tests that don't simulate the working environment. If you just drop a briefing and expect the result so you can check it, why even bother? The test can be used to see how the person communicates and how he/she reacts to feedback and how the employer and employee get along - so both sides get an impression that actually tells them if this would work longterm at all for them. If you lack the time to do so as employer than you are doing something seriously wrong as you are showing an utter lack of respect for the time of the candidates. Art tests shouldn't be a screening part of your recruitment process so you can reduce the number of applications. It should be a very thought through decision if you are demanding it from someone and just a way to see more than a portfolio offers.

Its utterly ridicolous to me what people think they can demand from artists. When I was working in a legal department of an insurance company and I had 100+k Euro per month going through my hands based on legal decisions I had to make based on dozens of cases thrown on my table each day I had no test what so ever. The chances of screwing up and doing financial damage to the company was far higher than what a bad trail period of an artist could cause. And yet we act as if artists who already show up with work examples need to be screened more diligently than people working in legal departments or at court.

That's just my 2cents. As I said, I might lack the experience being in the recuitment role, but at the same time I refuse taking shortcuts on my end that others have to make up for with the stress that art tests bring along.