Need some advice from experienced freelancer
Hi everyone, my name LEO ,i'm freelancer 3d art
I tried to learn how to use the software on the internet
Zbrush ,maya ,photoshop ... I have to stick with them during the past 2 years
My portfolio :https://www.artstation.com/artist/leonguyen1992
I have experienced freelancer jobs, I have worked with clients bad, they did not pay me when I finished the job ,sometimes my received the invitation to join the project for free ?
Current I'm having some difficulty, the cost of daily living, I do not have friends, lovers, I worked more than 10 hours per day ,I am currently 22 years old
In recent months, no customers ,I'm unemployed, and needed a job, I think I need $ 300 per month (sorry because I was complaining about my life )
My reason for writing this content, I need some advice, how can I continue to maintain ,how do I get a job
Waiting for a comment from another freelancer .
Thank you for taking the time to read this article
I tried to learn how to use the software on the internet
Zbrush ,maya ,photoshop ... I have to stick with them during the past 2 years
My portfolio :https://www.artstation.com/artist/leonguyen1992
I have experienced freelancer jobs, I have worked with clients bad, they did not pay me when I finished the job ,sometimes my received the invitation to join the project for free ?
Current I'm having some difficulty, the cost of daily living, I do not have friends, lovers, I worked more than 10 hours per day ,I am currently 22 years old
In recent months, no customers ,I'm unemployed, and needed a job, I think I need $ 300 per month (sorry because I was complaining about my life )
My reason for writing this content, I need some advice, how can I continue to maintain ,how do I get a job
Waiting for a comment from another freelancer .
Thank you for taking the time to read this article
Replies
Right now, it looks like the Diablo piece is textured, as well as the low poly assets. I don't really see anything else (other than Zbrush polypaint renders).
Finishing the Zeratul fan Starcraft, Goblin WIP, and Ultralisk fan Starcraft would help a lot. Make a low-poly for them, bake them down, texture, and present them in a real-time engine (toolbag 2 or UE4).
By the way, I'm assuming you want to do characters for games. If not, you can bake them down with displacement and render out in V-Ray or something.
While I haven't done very much freelance at all. I assume, as with any potential employer, they want to be confident that you can finish a piece to their standards. If you have 3-5 finished characters that look great (with varying styles), that will put them at-ease with hiring you for a full character. Right now, your portfolio does not explicitly tell them that you will be able to finish a task they give you.
As for clients who aren't paying you: ALWAYS USE A CONTRACT. there is alot of advice about this online, generally having a contract in place before you start work will weed out the pretenders from the real clients. If you do a job and don't get paid, just sending a formal sounding email to the client explicitly referencing the contract, and what you are owed is likely to get a positive response.
disclosure: I'm not a hugely experienced freelancer. I've worked self employed on steady, long term contracts. It's not quite the same but the rules still apply.
Usually the person \ entity hiring you will take care of making a contract, because it's in their interest to legally establish...
- your assignments (what you will do for them);
- the quality and warranty of your work (it's production quality, it's not stolen etc.);
- the ownership of what you produce (they own it);
- the confidentiality of their project (you can't reveal details to the public);
- terms of payment (about your rate, payment method etc.);
- conditions to terminate the contract (in case either wants to stop);
- the governing law and jurisdiction for the contract (the contract is in accordance to the laws of their country, not yours);
- etc.
Then they will send you a printed copy by mail, you will add your signature to it and mail it back to them, along with confirmation e-mails.
before I only work based on the trust of customers
I sometimes still get their pay, but I often meet clients bad, they canceled the project midway, not 50% deposit upfront.
I do not know of a contract it like? How to signing the valid
if any of you have a copy of the contract, please share them with me, I will probably refer from your contract
I usually put a price like this
I often look at a concept to be delivered, and how I thought it would take much time to complete them ,1 hour = $ 10, I made a character takes about 10 hours, 10 x10 $ = $ 100 which is the value I received, but I often get less than $ 10/1 hour
I think I need $ 300 per month to maintain current job
I can work harder every day, for game characters including texture (I believe I can do more than 10 characters per month)
so thank you for giving me a comment, Have a good day
Maybe work on 2 or even just 1 character in that month and really go for quality rather than quantity
1 high quality character is better than 5 mediocre ones
Speed is important, but so is presentation. Your portfolio will look stronger if all the pieces are high quality and finished
most of the customers I met them that a level of 2-3 days duration for a character,I have never successfully negotiated a price over $ 100 for a character, they always ask for a good quality, fast time ? ( although I know the quality is what is important )
very grateful to you for giving me some great comments, I think that it would need to change, I do not want to have to go find another job right now
hope that I will do something better
Freelance job only works when you have contacts with studios and those contacts often need years to amass. Such freelance work imposes a certain risk on your customer since he couldn't be sure you have not stole from somewhere what you are trying to sell and thus requires a certain level of previous work history.
So I would forget about freelance and try to find a regular job in one of outsourcing studio I am sure exists somewhere around if you are saying in your place you are ready to work for 300. Whatever low they would pay. Once such a studio goes bankrupt you could get a chance to talk to their customers and find your own.
ps. Don't give up. in fact you have better chances o find a job in gamedev than in those counties where workforce costs much higher. You just need to build your way to right customers. Your quality is well enough, sure textures is not a problem.
To OP, your art is nice, but you do need to work on your texturing a little and show more finished game pieces. Your plain woman in a dress piece really shouldn't be on your portfolio yet. The model is pretty good, but the material definition is pretty terrible-- everything looks like it's made out of the same stuff. There's none of the color/gloss variation or details that I would expect these days, she just has the most basic of textures. Compare her to a generic NPC from AC:Unity or The Order or some other recent game and really take note of the differences. Your sculpts tend to be pretty close to the quality bar I'd expect before I'd be asking "why aren't you hired yet!?" but your LP work isn't quite there yet-- or at least you aren't showing that it is. Just keep finishing stuff though, you're on the right track!
RE: Low rates. Those people who think your work is worth so little are worth nothing to you nor your professional growth. Try to look elsewhere for jobs than the places you're looking now, expand your search/presence.
And look, you can have any of these combinations.
- Cheap, fast, but poor quality.
- Good quality, cheap, but slow result.
- Fast, good quality, but expensive.
They want that character quick and they want a good result? They pay for that. Quick, Cheap AND Good Quality is not a thing they can have, even just by the nature of having to create work on a very tight deadline. If you can do all of that, likely you've been working so long that everything you make is incredible, so these guys are paying for your expertise + Still have to take into account taxes and health and software/hardware costs.
They're being scumbags asking for so little for your time, don't feel too crushed by it, certainly don't feel like you need to charge the lowest rate to get jobs.
Good luck out there, sorry if this post is a mess I wrote it as I was still rolling out of bed.