Looking for advice/words of wisdom

njackson4190

So I have been unemployed for about two months now. I am located in upstate New York and I have applied to studios in the Austin, Texas region and LA, California region. For some reason I have not heard anything in more than a month. I have sent follow-up emails and have got no art test's or rejection letter's.

After all this time I am starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong, my portfolio is not up to par or could it be that I am all the way in New York and my applications get filtered out because I am not local. I don't think it has anything to do with my potfolio as I have had a few art tests in the past. Has anyone ever had this problem and what did you do to get noticed?

Oh and the reason I have been applying to Austin and LA (in case your wondering) is because I got laid off very unexpectedly and now I am kind of stuck. I want to move away from the cold and work in a game industry saturated location. There are more opportunities for me to learn, network, and grow as an artist. And in the event I get laid off, I will be in a better location to find another job close to home without moving from state to state.

slosh

Your work is solid but you have to realize, the industry is VERY saturated and EXTREMELY competitive. LA is just teeming with unemployed talented artists cuz studios are constantly laying people off. I have been looking for a new gig for almost a year now and have gotten 2 art tests, 4 interviews, and 1 offer...1!!! I've gotten a handful of rejections and responses but in general, 80% of the places I apply, I never hear back from again. You almost HAVE to know someone who works there so your stuff gets in the right hands. Sadly, unless you have the BEST PORTFOLIO, you're stuff probably never even gets passed from the recruiters to the artists or leads who make the hiring decisions. And they get so many applications, they will not respond to non considered applications. It sucks but this is the way things are run in the industry right now. I am in the same shoes as you and am still plugging away at my folio in hopes of getting a gig soon. I think you could definitely benefit from another environment in your folio...perhaps something edgier and grittier. Don't get too discouraged and good luck man!

glottis8

Where upstate NY? would you like to work in educational and kids game? 1p is hiring 3d artists at the moment. Env artists actually. How about that?

http://www.1stplayable.com/index.html

you do? apply and also send me a pm with your resume and stuff.

Edit: 1p is in Troy NY.. 15 mins away from Albany, which is the capital region. maybe something good will come out. hang in there.

njackson4190

@slosh: I figured that was the case. With all the great schools and studios out west, the likely hood of getting a job out there is pretty slim for me. Why would they hire me when they could hire someone in their backyard and not have to pay moving expenses. If I were in their shoes I would probably do the same thing.

@glottis8: Thanks for the offer.:) Do you know if they would be interested in contract/freelance work? If I was single I would definitely be interested, but my girlfriend's company is opening a place on the west coast and she may get a position out there. We are waiting on the details and when/if we have to move (could be in the next month).

slosh

Yea, if you are moving out here, don't sweat it. Work on your folio and hit the scene full force when you get out here. Join some meetups or CG groups and network. You'll find something.

glottis8

I hear ya man. If you gotta move where your partner is going then you have to find work over there.

About contract or freelance. I think there is a position for a coop... usually that is short term, mainly for the summer when we are really busy. So you can look into that. I know we do remote work for certain people, but most of them are people who have worked here and have shown good work ethic and dependability.

Since you said upstate NY and saw your portfolio was pretty solid i would offer. I know what its like to be looking for work and getting no replies.

As far as advice goes, i guess being patient does the trick. My job here at 1p i got cuz i applied, they said no thanks we don't have any open positions. A month and a half later going over sent resumes i noticed them again, sent a follow up that i was still available and bam... got a phone interview scheduled the next day, 3 days later i was on site interviewing, a month later i was all moved and working. So what kind of places are you applying?

Like Slosh said... it is a pretty saturated market over there in LA and Austin. I am actually looking at changing jobs to be closer to family. But so far no openings. Then you think that Santa Monica just laid off like 50 people, and other studios as well, there is a lot of talent looking for job and i am sure they just get scooped right away instead of the far away people haha But look around here on Polycount. I agree that networking puts you one step of the rest.

Good luck if you have to move tho! and if you don't and you want just send me a pm.. or apply on the website for regular 3d artist. We could certainly use another hand here as far as 3d artists.

skankerzero

Find some recruiters to help you out.

No cost. They get paid by the studios so it's in their best interest to help place you.

Recruiters can be hit and miss, but it doesn't hurt to have someone else helping you out. They know many tricks.

StephenVyas

^ ^
To help ease the pain of finding a recruiter, you can search for "[Company] Recruiter" on linkedin using their search tab. You'll often come up with a bunch of choices...

Quack!

Your work is very solid. Keep on doing complete environments like your great beach one and you will land a gig sooner or later. Apply everywhere!

njackson4190

I have been applying to a variety of studios. I really want to get into a larger studio with some shipped games under their belt. I want to be challenged and work with artists who are more experience than I am. I love to learn and I love challenges. I've applied to Certain Affinity, Sledgehammer Games, Ready at Dawn, Robotoki, Spacetime, Psyonix, Edge of Reality, and Unkown world entertainment. Mostly studios that are in LA, San Diego, and Austin. I've browse through gamedevmap.com and click on the company to see if they have any open positions. The last studio I worked at was a startup and it was tough working with them. I had to redo a lot of work and we were kind of making the game as went. Very little concept work and planning.

Does anyone know of any studios located in the Corona, CA area?

I did not think about looking for recruiter's. I will definitely give that a shot. Hopefully with some luck I will get something.

skankerzero

Linkedin is a very powerful resource if you use it right. Be sure to have your resume on there polished up and begin talking to recruiters there.