When entering the industry as a Junior Environment Artist

kevingamerartist

Hi all,
I have a quick question about a process in the video game industry. In the future when I enter the industry as a Junior Environment Artist/Prop Artist, how does the whole project process function?

What I mean is once you and all the other artists have completed your tasks required for the project, and your part of the project is completed, are you automatically assigned to a new project that might be in very early stages of production?

I'm just curious how this whole process works, or if you're notified if there are no more known projects in very early production being developed at the company that you are working at.

Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated. Thank you

mcleantr

It really depends on the studio you work at and the contract you get. You could end up at a studio that mainly outsources, like me, and they have multiple projects at once and you can get offered another project if you work well on your first. Alternatively you could end up at a studio that has only a few games on the go, or even one, and you're only hired for a certain amount of time and laid off after that.

slipsius

Entirely depends on the company you work for. There are a few different scenerios...

1) You`re moved on to a different project
2) You interview within the company to go to a different project (if there are multiple projects)
3) You get laid off / your contract is not renewed
4) You enter a bit of an idle state where you are sitting around waiting for another project to start up. You`re usually encouraged to take your vacation time during this time. If you are still at work, you are researching, practicing, cleaning up asset librarys, coming up with new ways to do things. Anything to stay busy.
5) You are put on a hiatus. Unpaid time off till they have new work for you to do, then you`re hired back

I think those are the most common ones, but there might be others if anyone else can think of them.

Brussells

Interesting thread, as I'm initially heading toward Environment Artist as my new career path. I'd heard/read that Environment Artist roles were one of the more secure roles, and availability was somewhat higher than say character artist - Maybe I mis-read, or the author was incorrect?
Obviously depending on the size of the project etc, is there a rough indication how long an Environment Artist contract could last? Or is that a 'How long is the piece of string?' kind of question?
As it's a completely new job field I'm looking to go into I need to know as much about job security etc as possible, as I have a family to support, and bills to pay.

Add3r

Sadly in the game industry, the only way to secure any sort of job security is by working your way up the ladder. The higher you are up, the less chance there is you will be laid off at the end of the project. Its very much a totem pole that is chopped from the bottom up.

As for a "secure" position in the game industry, I think any role has equal chance of getting laid off at any point (most of the time right after bugs start to clear up and people start to dole out to other projects). If you get hired on as a full-time, non-contractor, you are much better off. Means the company most likely has plans for the future and they want you to be apart of them.

Slipsius nailed the possibly scenarios. +1 to all that.

erroldynamic

I wouldn't worry too much about this stuff, you never know how it's gonna play out. Just give it your all and keep your options open.