What are the best ways/resources to find 3D artist Jobs?

Judgement45

Hello polycount,

I am currently a 3D artist living in Texas about to finish school with a degree in Arts and Technology. I am having trouble though finding the right way to go about looking for jobs. I am interested in anything that has to do with me creating 3D artwork for movies, games, product shots, educational examples, really anything that allows me to use my current skills and improve them.

The problem is I do not know how to search for these jobs aside from looking at a few local gaming companies. I just tend to search for 3D artist jobs on google, but I tend not to find much of anything. Can anyone give me a point in the right direction or just some good advice? Thank you in advance for any help.

Cheers

Justin Meisse

I just search out studios and apply, it's a bit out of date but GameDevMap has pretty much been the only tool I used for my last 2 jobs.

Another good list of studios is the Polycount Job Census

Judgement45

Thanks Justin, GameDevMap is a great tool, didn't even know that was out there.

Jason Young

There's plenty of job boards targeting creative jobs. Gamasutra, creative heads, game guzzler, etc.

And yeah, polycount is a great resource. Get your stuff out there and visible.

The Mad Artist

Since you mentioned things beyond just games, and you live in Texas, there are a lot of Oil and Gas 3d artist jobs around. Thing is, they are usually referred to as Graphic Artist or Multimedia positions, with "3D" being nowhere in the title.

MagicSugar

Judgement45 wrote: »

I just tend to search for 3D artist jobs on google, but I tend not to find much of anything.

The secret of google job hunting (freelancing or staff positions) is to use the time filters. Obviously you don't need jobs listed 3 years ago, you want leads in the last 24 hours. Apply same logic if you're on twitter. Save your search tags and search every hour...if you can. On twitter see the "all" category not just the "top". Don't just use formal or obvious job titles, look for "zbrush artist", "max artist", "maya artist", "Unreal engine artist".

If there are companies you really want to get into, save their website career pages as browser tabs (or setup an email alert if you're that knowledgeable), so if they have new positions you'll know it right away.

Apply lots. Don't wait for reponses. If freelancing always insists on upfront pay (percentage or half) especially if the work involves days of work. Exception is if it's a verifiable studio so you can just invoice later or they'll tell you they'll compensate you via debit.

And even if you have zero network, follow pros on twitter anyway (Jon Jones! but not the mma fighter). Occassionaly they'll have advance tips for jobs.

Good luck!

Judgement45

Thanks everyone, all great advice and I really appreciate the input!

JohnnyRaptor

Theres a guy on here that has a new gamedevmap style list setup that uses Google maps and should be a lot more up to date!

cant find the thread but heres the link!

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205433213486745599629.0004d6f9c6ac8957a5971&msa=0&ll=49.382373,-26.894531&spn=111.693308,270.527344

Drav

dustinbrown wrote: »

If I was a betting man, I would wager that the majority of people on Polycount who are currently employed in the industry didn't get their job by seeing a it posted online, applying, taking an art test, passing the test, going through multiple interview processes, etc. Surely some DID get their job through that process, but I'm betting that most of us got our jobs by knowing someone who reach out directly to us when the opportunity arose.

Unfortunately thats exactly what I had to do. If anyone would like to be friends with me so i dont have to go through this again, that would be great

I dont really get the networking thing.....I like meeting people face to face, and Im a bit slack with the interweb bonding....any tips?

Bruno Afonseca

I got all my jobs from cold calling, not a single referral... So it's possible.
Back when I was a freelancer looking for a studio job, I had some bookmarks that I'd visit everyday. Here are some of them, they might be out of date, hopefully you'll make something out of this

http://www.polycount.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=45
http://www.polycount.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=51
http://www.gamejobhunter.com/jobs/art/
http://twitter.com/#!/search/gamejobs?q=gamejobs
http://twitter.com/#!/search/gamedevjobs?q=gamedevjobs
http://motionographer.com/jobs/
http://www.tsumea.com/australasia/jobs
http://www.gamesjobsdirect.com/browse-jobs/art-and-animation-jobs
http://www.develop-online.net/jobs
http://www.game-artist.net/forums/hiring-industry-contracted-work/
http://twitter.com/#!/GamesJobsDirect
http://twitter.com/#!/gamerecruiter
http://gameguzzler.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/Gama_Jobs
http://twitter.com/#!/creativeheads
http://www.change-job.com/jobs.php?action=show_category&cid=1

Mstankow

I got a job thanks to the help of my friends. Made me believe in the power of friendship.

visoutre

Those links are awesome, thanks fonfa.