therad full of self criticism of why i can't find any job
polycounter lvl 10
hi all!
I started working in industry few years ago and i'am wondering why i can't find any job.
here is link to my gallery
http://zxcman.cghub.com/
I started working in industry few years ago and i'am wondering why i can't find any job.
here is link to my gallery
http://zxcman.cghub.com/
Replies
Good luck.
It won't be as much as a studio paying job but if you're willing to take some of the work on places like the Unity/UDK forums for a little less cash, I'm sure you could get work no probs.
As for finding a job, well, honestly, if there is no open place, there is no open place.
The only question I have is how much are you putting yourself out there? Do you a Link account? DA? Etc.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ ( i cant access your linked in
2. lots of your art is quite stylized, its gonna be quite challenging to find company that suit your style.but that still possible
cos you artwork is awesome in overall \
as for art crit : one or two characters still don't have strong silhouette, and I still can notice the zbrush base mesh
like this http://cghub.com/images/view/209477/
summary : don't give up or go to completely different direction for the shake of getting job.
The only thing i can say would be market yourself more. Network better etc. That must be the only bottleneck for you not to be in work.
It also seems like you have very few (none that are finished) normal average humanoid characters that show off your knowledge of anatomy or regular clothing drapery. Part of a character artists job is to be part fashion designer.
You have NO females
Only 2 normal males and one is covered up with a hood and facial hair and they are both unfinished. They are also heavily armored and clothed so it doesn't tell people a whole lot about what you can do if you need to create not so heavily covered up characters. I think this might be holding you back.
Aliens are great but...
They are also great at explaining away flaws in anatomy. So much so that the zbrush only portfolio full of untextured aliens is kind of a cliche. You go well above those portfolios but you might be getting some eye rolls by having so many?
You will probably be asked to wear many hats.
Normally there aren't that many character artists on a team and they have to handle a wide range of characters, not all of those will be heavily armored male hero characters, aliens or robots, some will be normal people.
Of course people land jobs like "creature artists" or "female butt painter" but when you have a very specific skill set that limits the number of places you can apply. With teams seeming to go smaller with more of a focus on having fewer people who excel in a few areas instead of one, you probably want to show off a wider range.
I don't see any facial topology geared toward real time animation.
That leaves a big question mark and makes me wonder if you're thinking about the next guy down the line that has to deal with your models? Great looking stuff, how well will it deform? This should be a question answered by your portfolio.
Almost all characters going forward are going to have some kind of facial rig, so knowing facial topology for animation is pretty critical and not that hard to learn, it's just another check on the road to giving you a call, and you're missing it right now.
If I was going to suggest projects to add to your portfolio to fill it out a bit more...
1st) I suggest you get some normal female and male characters, in different styles and outfits. Sure do some armor it seems to be your strength but also toss in some civilians, maybe high ranking politicians in fancy outfits? Something that shows that you can dabble in fashion a bit and do some drapery on characters that isn't punctuated by pouches ever 6 inches.
2nd)Get some low poly stuff up there, show people you can nail the same look but at lower poly specs, show off some topology and texture sheets. Let them feel comfortable about hiring you and not having to introduce you to the world of real time tech-hell.
Do not underestimate this part of the job, if there are two candidates and one knows a little more about working with real time engines they might swing that way just because its less supervision, less time spent training, and less likely they will make a mistake that requires a lot of rework later.
3) instead of renders, stuff it in a game engine and get some experience with lighting and post processing effects to get the same looks, only in real time and show them that you have some engine experience even if its pretty minimal its better than none at all.
that is really great info.
ok. I'm working on low poly almost everyday but it is all under NDA and not awesome really
in the other hand the only thing I want is to stay creative because working on others concept art works isn't too much inspiring for me
the only available in-game stuff i have - http://dmitriyr.daportfolio.com/gallery/405497#3
and I do not think there is anything that I can show to the customers.
The work itself is solid. It's just very specific. While it's fine to make the things you like to make, if you're applying for jobs that don't do the sort of thing you are showing, it's going to be a lot harder on you to find work. Echoing what Vig said on all points, follow his advice. You need to have better samples of what regular people would be like. It doesn't need to be boring, but it needs to show technical ability in a realtime setting, understand of fashion, understanding of different materials and how they work, anatomy, organics, etc.
On top of that, the method you are using to show your work and have people connect with you if they do want your help is more complicated than it needs to be. for example, you send us to a cghub portfolio that has broken links to your LinkedIn resume and Facebook account (which I personally wouldn't use unless it was a "The Art of Dimitriy" page rather than a personal account.) Your actual folio site, hosted by DA, points to a pair of lobster claws for some reason - then we need to click a few times to see work that may be useful.
Make it easy to hire you. Make it easy for an art director or hiring manager to see you on their team. Give us the best work possible right up front, trim down the amount of work you are making available, and show us work that could easily be used on different projects.
Your not being hired for a one major reason, and a few smaller ones.
Major reason:
I am assuming that your not in the States. Companies have to go through endless loops to get visas for foreigners, they are both expensive and time consuming. It would be a huge risk to hire a person that the studio wasn't 100% on board with.
A few reasons they are not 100% on board, (smaller reasons).
1. Your portfolio doesn't show game art. Studios need to see that you know how to build your low polys for animation, efficiency, texture work, etc.
2. Your portfolio has limited human models. Need to see that you know human anatomy.
3. Show your portfolio on your website rather than on CGHub, be professional.
4. Make sure studios see your art work on you site immediately, not a pair of steaming lobster claws.... I would have dismissed your site. This guy likes making cartoon lobsters that have on them... "Give Dat Job". He must be looking for a... cartoon job.
5. Only show your best work on your site. If the studio asks you for anymore work, then show your older less polished stuff. Rule is, show your second best piece first and your best piece last, mid level stuff goes in the middle.
You have the talent to get a job, and might even get one from developers looking at this post. Keep working hard, you have some great stuff on your site already.
Seriously, when looking at a piece of art work, first impression will always be the shape and form. If those are already ugly to begin with, people won't even get to the polishing part.
I suggest you pick some beautiful concept art, something which has rock solid design, and start your sculpt from there.
it is a really great infromation.
thanks for your time guys it already helped me to review myself as an artist.
I have few questions:
What is the reason of doing humans if I do not want to do humans as daily job?
How can it help me to get the wanted job?
I am 20 y.o. now and I am extremely looking for any chance to move USA|Canada|UK or any other country
-Put yourself out there more. How are people going to notice/remember you if you don't.
-Try and focus on the 'style' of the studio you're aiming for, your style would fit very well with plenty of studios like Crytek and Bioware.
-Revamp your 'folio, it's currently taking my 'lite' connection about 10-30 seconds to load an image, not sure if it's monetarily issue. Here is a thread with some good advice in it to follow certain rules: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114677
Organization and naming is key here, if you can avoid putting your work by date, that would be grand (unless it's really old work, in which case do so, but not for newer stuff included).
-If you like doing mechanical stuff, that is fine, but as other mentioned, vary it up, they pretty much have all the same color scheme, poses and look.
-You also are lacking technical sheets, like wireframes, textures, etc, put them all together in one picture.
Again, your artwork isn't bad, it's just that it's extremely disorganized and all over the place with your site and connections, I can't tell what is High-Poly or low, which places I should look in first if I want to hire you, and why your site is sometimes timing out.
This + everything previously posted should get the issues solved.
One question, where do you live? If you plan on getting a job in another country, there is the problem of documents, so you might also take that into consideration.
Unless you plan to freelance and only take up the stuff that interests you, you will have to balance what you want to make with being able to pay your bills.
If you're interested in casting a wider net, you need a broader portfolio.
If you want to focus on landing a specific job at a specific place then tailor your portfolio just for them and show them everything they will want to see and then some. Just know the chances of landing that job will be extremely tough and even if you are really good at making the things they want they still might want someone with a bit more range, in case they switch gears or start up other projects.
character artist is a specialization of modeler, which is a specialization of 3d artist. And now you want to specialize in non human characters?
Have you tried approaching the modeling humans from a different view? Forget that you're modeling a human, a robot, or a teletubby. Focus on the form and anatomy and the challenge they bring when translating them into a 3D shape. Occupy yourself with faithfully replicating a concept rather than just thinking "meh, its just a human character" all the time. Because in a studio you will have to do also tasks which are not glorious or fun (that's why we call it a job and not a vacation
Thar's ya problem bill. Seriously drop this mindset it is nothing but destructive and childish and i wouldn't even consider hiring anybody like that. If you want to specialize like that get a job at seven eleven and do that shit in your own time, or get your foot in the door and then move around.
A specialized skill is something that you are great at doing, awesome, but it shouldn't be the ONLY thing you can do.
I do not mean that I ignore anatomy or drapery stydies, i do a lot of human stuff as daily sculpt.
obviously I cant sculpt a usual demon hand or head without knowing human anatomy.
because it is all about human anatomy.every line must be nicely curved and it is all about your academic knowlage and experience
Your english is atrocious, i don't know if you are a native speaker or not but if you are misspelling things everywhere employers will be turned off. Take pride in language and it will help more than you think.
but it is really wreid so I do not think I should show it to someone
but it was my daily job from dusk till dawn duing 2 years
Cloth and anatomy are now huge talent points so is worth looking into.
Cut down your work and only show your best stuff. Maybe take more screenshots (diff angles, close ups, etc.)
Wireframe and texture maps is a must.
And I can't seem to find your email address.
I don't see a resum
Here's a good place to start.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91572
template: http://dan-art.com/SimpleSite.html
There's a phrase that we should all follow.
"keep it simple, stupid"
me a bit confused,
based on what I understand, you want to do robots or non human stuff, your own design.
which is fine. everything is possible
then hard surface modeling ( both prop and mech) should fit on your category, but you need to demonstrate that skill on polygons, zbrush is kinda unreliable for that kind of stuff.
get some recognition like cghub or some modeling contest top rows.
also one more thing, many polycounters here would kill to get human modeling job as you did
ps :
you might like this guy, http://www.torfrick.com/
he has to wear different hat , but as you can see he still keep his style consistent.
poly_bob thanks a lot. i wish it can help me
xvampire thanks! actually there is even no question about doing my own concept stuff as paid job, I just can't find any kind of job.
about my hardsuf models - mostly this is polymodelled robots with zbrush alpha work for final details. so I am nor sure if I can show the wires in my folio. I have attached an example here