carreer advice
polycount sponsor
Hi! I need some advice.
I'm mostly self taught and I don't have any degree.
I'd like to get a job soon and I've already applied at a few places but no luck yet.
The problem is I don't think i'm good enough yet to apply for a regular position and I can't do an internship because most countries/companies require you to be part of a university (as far as I'm aware).
I also live in Belgium so i'll have to relocate and a lot of companies are reluctant to hire foreigners because of this.
Right now I'm trying to spend 8 hours a day including weekends on improving my portfolio and skill set. Though it's hard to keep motivating myself, And it's a pretty lonely existence.
I could go to a game design school but I've had bad experiences with that in the past.
I guess I'll keep working for a few more months, though when do I know when I should start applying for a job?
here's my portfolio: http://komaokc.carbonmade.com/
Any input would really be appreciated!
I'm mostly self taught and I don't have any degree.
I'd like to get a job soon and I've already applied at a few places but no luck yet.
The problem is I don't think i'm good enough yet to apply for a regular position and I can't do an internship because most countries/companies require you to be part of a university (as far as I'm aware).
I also live in Belgium so i'll have to relocate and a lot of companies are reluctant to hire foreigners because of this.
Right now I'm trying to spend 8 hours a day including weekends on improving my portfolio and skill set. Though it's hard to keep motivating myself, And it's a pretty lonely existence.
I could go to a game design school but I've had bad experiences with that in the past.
I guess I'll keep working for a few more months, though when do I know when I should start applying for a job?
here's my portfolio: http://komaokc.carbonmade.com/
Any input would really be appreciated!
Replies
All your pieces are the same thing. Wood and/or metal tile, same theme. So you can really only apply to placing making a game like skyrim. The mod house is the best piece. More full, complete pieces like this would help.
It's plausable you could apply somewhere and they'd make you an offer because timing can be on your side. Till then, take UDK, Unity, CryEngine, whatevs, some realtime game engine. Every three months have a new full env scene complete giving four solid pieces a year till you get the jobs.
If you're doing this, keeping active in communities with your progress, people will see it, keep applying and it's bound to happen.
I guess to just give you some perspective... I went to a Game Art college and I had an industry job for 3 years. Then left that job to relocate with my fiance. I worked on my port for a year before getting any sort of work again. This is in the US with 4-5 studios in the immediate area. It's not uncommon to work on your port for more than a year before getting any sort of response to applications. Of course this is just my experience. It seems that environment artist positions are a tad easier to come by because there is more of a need.
@cholden: Yeah, I need to have more big projects on my portfolio. The problem is that I'm working on an indie game right now(thread here) so it's kind of hard to juggle my time between that and portfolio work.
I was thinking of doing some stuff like weapons and vehicles purely for my portfolio and having the main environment art be from the game, which would all be in the same style. Though I don't know if it would be better to do full environments on the side instead.
And yeah, I'm aware that some of the props like the cart are very poorly optimized, but I made those a long time ago. I Just need to make more stuff so I can replace them. I also use higher resolution textures for my portfolio than I would in the game, is that a bad idea?
Also the house set is far from being finished. It will be used for different styles of houses in a city. so it will probably take a few more months to finish it.
@HardBaller: I haven't changed the about me in a few months, but I always send a cv with my portfolio when I apply.
@JacqueChoi: I was not aware of this, that complicates things quite a bit...
I don't really have the funds to go to university, and I don't feel like spending 4 years JUST for a piece of paper. Are there any alternatives?
I really don't know what to do... I'm prepared to spend another year or more working on my portfolio, but if that can't get me a job I don't think I have any other options. I can't really do any other jobs, even if I wanted to, because I don't have any qualifications.
On your portfolio, there are a few things that a guy from naughty dog told me. He was the top artist guy, cant remember his name. Anyway a few of us were swamping him at a convention called "animex" in the UK, a guy was showing his portfolio of a door, a boat etc and within 30 secs the guy said "You have shown me a boat and a door... that doesn't interest me in the slightest. Make a scene. To get a job you need to make a scene, have lots of things going on because it shows your ability to make different things and how to compose different bits together."
Not 100% word for word but you will get the point. Your portfolio has some alright stuff, but compare yours to the very best and you will see rather harshly that you don't have much going on. Think about it another way, try and sell your portfolio to someone in your head or outloud. Say "here is my portfolio and here you can see.... etc" because if you are face-planting your computer everyday which is what I did, you start to become comfortable in a strange way with your work. You think "yeah I could do better, and I'll explain that but I am going to move on to a different project and come back to this later."
It wasn't until I had a few interviews and I realised from my own work, half of it was unfinished and I didnt really like the rest. I recently got a job because I did an Art Test which forced me to make a scene and put a time pressure on me so I couldnt mess around for ages and put up another un-finished piece on my portfolio.
I know its horrible and hard to spend all your time on your portfolio. I moved down to my girlfriends house, had like no friends and was just sat in her parents kitchen with my computer on their dinning room table and thats how its been for me the past 9 or 10 months. But it was the drive that I wanted to work within 3D that pushed me through it and now I have a job
You'd be amazed at how addictive hard work is once you get pieces of success.