3D Artist vs Environment Artist

aaronmwolford

Hey guys, I'm currently on the career hunt trying to land my first in-house position. I currently freelance for various studios. With that in mind I've been applying to multiple smaller studios and received some recent feedback saying that in order to land a job with small studios 3D art is unlikely to get a position and that I should be focusing on environment art. Also larger studios are more likely to hire 3D artists. I tend to focus on weapon creation as I find the most joy in this. So with that in mind I was curious as to others thoughts. Anyone have similar experience in this area? Is it time to start learning the environment process more? My portfolio is below. Thanks for any feedback.

http://aaronmwolford.dunked.com/

Joebewon

Hey Aaron,

Checking out your work I think your stuff is solid. But looking at your works, your site looks more of a prop artist portfolio than an environment artist. Just due to the fact that your only environment is the "Robot Race" piece.

I feel like finding a "specific" title is really hard to tailor down to. If you dig weapon creation though, you should definitely title yourself as a "Weapon Artist" or something to that effect. I have seen jobs specifically to that title, so that might be your best route for getting into larger studios.

And if you do end up building an environment or experimenting with something different you could throw it on your art-station since you've got a link readily available on your portfolio page.

Hope this helps man!

Tobbo

3D Artist basically encompasses everything that is 3D, so it could be another name for generalist.

I don't think what you call yourself is nearly as important as what's in your portfolio. If you do another environment scene or two you could easily be considered an Environment/Prop artist.

If you wanted to specialize in weapons, you're going to have to dig deep and really push the quality. It's possible, you just have to show employers that you have that extra quality and they would be better off hiring you as a weapons artist as opposed to an environment/prop artist that can also do weapons well.

I think you're doing well. Don't get hung up on titles.

beefaroni

For the longest time I thought I would do environment art. What I didn't know is all the damn optimization and stuff that you have to learn before you are even considered for an entry level position.

Your portfolio definitely looks more towards a prop artist.

Zephiris

It kinda depends on the studio, some seem to understand envi art as "doing everything 3D that isn't a character" , others strictly want terrain work and modular sets, sometimes vegetation. Some positions are just about modelling the stuff, others include putting together the scenes in the game engine, complete with lightning, collision, and effect work.

As always the smaller the studio the more versatile the roles, and the bigger the studio, the more likely they're looking for very specialized stuff.

TL;DR Different studios can have quite different requirements for the "same" roles. But as others have said, if you want to keep making just weapons, do look for specific prop/weapon artist roles, usually found at bigger studios. Good luck!

aaronmwolford

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm definitely not letting the job title hang me up. I'm more so asking if it is wise to add environment art to my portfolio for the sake of getting attention from both large and small studios. I definitely do not want to dilute my portfolio if there is little benefit vs specializing in one thing such as weapon/prop creation.

sprunghunt

Most studios will want to see more architecture and environment specific props like trees for an environment artist position. Although for a junior position they might not care.

As others have said if you want to be a in-house weapon artist they'll want much higher quality. And you might want to have a variety of weapon examples. EG - include some sci-fi weapons or weapons from a non-realistic game.

xvampire

* edited

several props would be a good start i guess.
if you want to start environment it always good to start with small area first.

my friend did really good job controlling his environment to minimum but effective size .

http://www.alexkam.com/

but if you prefer just weapon then you can focus on it