I'm not sure what to do now.
polycounter lvl 5
It's coming up on five months since i've graduated college with a BFA in 3D Modeling/Animation. I've been trying to build up a portfolio and find work (3D or otherwise) while I can before the grace period on my loans end. I'd like to focus on characters since that is what I enjoy doing the most.
But even then I just don't feel good about anything I am doing. I move slow and just don't feel like I have much motivation to work. Honestly I just don't know how I should be using my time and what to do with it besides trying to come up with characters and putting them in 3D. On top of that I do not feel like I have much ability coming out of school to begin with. I don't know what to do or if i'm even any good. I don't know if this is the right place to put it, but this is what I have for a portfolio for now.
Honestly i'm not even sure what i'm looking for with this post. Post-graduation life has been confusing.
But even then I just don't feel good about anything I am doing. I move slow and just don't feel like I have much motivation to work. Honestly I just don't know how I should be using my time and what to do with it besides trying to come up with characters and putting them in 3D. On top of that I do not feel like I have much ability coming out of school to begin with. I don't know what to do or if i'm even any good. I don't know if this is the right place to put it, but this is what I have for a portfolio for now.
Honestly i'm not even sure what i'm looking for with this post. Post-graduation life has been confusing.
Replies
I'm still amazed on how people still have the courage of paying dozens of thousands for art education, almost inspiring if I may say so. Here, alot of students quit at half course or even at the end sometimes because they simply don't like it. They dno't lose anything since College education here is cheap (5k average).
Ranting aside, I suppose your school (like all the others) formed you to be a generalist I guess? That's one of the biggest problems with CG education, I mean, it's good to know the basics of everything but I think schools should give the student a whole session of specialization so they can focus on one thing and have a SPECIFIC goal in mind after graduation.
I guess by the looks of thinhs, you wanna get into character modelling whihc is quite hard and comepetitive to get into. I'd suggest you to start modelling somes props aside just to show you can handle hard surface too. I'd be great if you could choose what industry you wanna work into since there a differet ways of working on things. Are you into games or movies/commercial? What are you aiming?
I think the biggest problem with people studying in art, any type of art, is that during theiir studies, they don't work enough sadly. I think teachers should always warn them that diplomas aren't worth anything much outside and it all comes with the skills (and the netwrok) in the end...
In summary, find yourself a focus (a reachable one aye?) and work on that.
Edit:Post-graduation life has been confusing.
It is for all of us!!
Just to chime in, being a generalist can work out for you. In advertising it's an asset to be able to handle everything. It keeps budgets down. It also puts you on the path to take the director's seat.
But it's true, most people just don't work out hard enough. The really successful people? They worked like demons back in school. And a lot of the people I'm talking about sucked in the beginning. They just worked REALLY hard.
What I suggest to you is that you look here at polycount for the coolest stuff you've seen and then aim for that level and delete anything from your portfolio which you couldn't do better every time you think you've gained another level. Learn to sub-div model hard surfaces, study the shit out of anatomy, work your ass off that'll get you there. You graduate once you get a job that you like. Set yourself work hours and deadlines. Take time how long it takes you to make something, keep track of it, build amazing playlist and listen to it, plug yourself out of the internet if it makes you focused on cat pictures and so on and so on. Hope this helps.
Then be a character artist.
I'll try doing props and stuff but seeing people do super-detailed stuff like guns and cars and such is intimidating.
Brutal truth; Your current portfolio is, well, bad. There's no area you seem to be beyond the absolute beginner stages of, and you're at least a few years away from being good enough at character art / animation / texturing / etc. to get work. If you don't already have one, look for a regular job outside of art for now to pay the bills.
If you continue to insist on pursuing character art, at least choose the spec to build your portfolio around. The lowpoly Inkling/Splatoon and cat are the only pieces there that seem complete, so maybe go after low spec art targeted at mobile games. Also get some experience with 2D art, its a foundation that can greatly enhance your 3D work but is normally overlooked by students.
As for the loans, you can put them in forbearance for years if need be, though even if you don't the worst that can really happen is you or your co-signers wages get garnished, and lose any tax refunds you'd have otherwise got (which really sucks if it happens, but at least no worries about loan sharks coming to break your legs
The unfortunate truth about this industry is that you have to put in some serious hours to get to a state where you can work in the industry. As PolyHertz has said your work isn't anywhere near the standard needed to break into the industry, especially as a character artist. Have a read through this thread if you want a brutally honest look at how difficult it is to secure a character artist job right now.
There's a demand for talented low poly hand painted artists for mobile games. You don't have to be a really technical hard surface artist to make games
My advice would be - Have a good long think about exactly what it is you want to do. If that answer is character art then try to narrow down exactly what kind of characters you want to create. Take a look at Artstation and try to find some art that really gets you going! Having a clear, focused goal is half the battle. Beyond that it's just practice, practice, practice. Be prepared for it to take a good couple of years before you snag that dream job and plan accordingly.
A lot of people have been in a very similar situation to you and are now top class artists so don't be discouraged!
Just need to figure out where to start
Tried to find the thread of the triangle/texture limitation on engines but can't so yea get new projects to around 1000-2000 triangles and texture them start with hand painted.
That should be right up your ally, just to give anyone an idea i do no game at all, i found to have a lot more enjoyment in creating game art material than playing games, but i bounce in and out after 6 month breaks.
So if your playing more than your creating there is your problem.
Get a reg job doing something on your down time create interesting pieces at top quality, youtube has a butt load of info and the wiki are god sends. Back in the days we saved any tutorials that where posted to the HD cause we would lose the info otherwise, you all got it easy now, probably too easy.
Best of luck.
I still love the profession though and everything that you can create, but there is so much you need to know and its overwhelming so your post really appealed to me and I totally know what you're going through..
You have to study hard and also be clever about how you do it. Just practicing hard will not get you where you want to be. You have to think about and seek out information that will help you train effectively otherwise you will end up spinning your wheels. Produce pieces of work that you see are in demand, use the wip forums here and also concentrate on your weaker areas as you come to identify them.
Good luck man.
I made this mistake as well so just want to warn you, if your design skills suck your models will suck. Don't try to make your own concepts try to find good concepts.
Designing and modeling are two different things.
two very, very different things. I agree with Daew - find concepts that you really love online and do your best to do them justice. Try things you might be comfortable with at first and once you have a grasp at that you should model some things that intimidate you
NO one starts off making good looking Models. and very few people make good looking stuff straight out of school.
so keep at it dude, and dont get discouraged. I think its safe to say we have all been there at some point.
make good use of the wiki and ask questions on polycount like you are doing. It is good that you can see your art may not be at the level it needs to be yet. It means you can be critical of your own work and you need more practice. You can either keep working on characters, or you can do a few simple props.
I noticed in school their were two types of people (actually way more, but they all fell in either one of these categories) People who could take criticism and could see flaws in their own work and those who could not. Those who could not take criticism, and would not see that their work was not at the industry standard never improved (and are constantly getting rejection emails), those who did see it, practiced and got better and most have found a job doing art in some way or another (not all of them wanted to do games).
And don't be discouraged if someone posts and insanely complex prop or environment. ask them how they did it. they will probably explain it.
these will help
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Polycount
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio
looking at your work it seems you have not studied anatomy that much if at all.
all of your works look like stylized, but to be semi-decent at stylized you need to be decent in anatomy first.
the typical stylization in game art is simplification of realism and often with exaggeration. so you cannot get better at stylization without being good at realism.
so please study real anatomy first, then move on to stylization. study bridgman's constructive anatomy cover to cover.
also, to be taken seriously as a character artist, you need to showcase the following three at the bare minimum:
1. anatomy
2. topology
3. textures
how bad do you want to be a characters artist ? have you ever skipped entire night of sleep just to get better at a specific task ? have you skipped meals just to keep working on something till it looks good enough to you. you will need to learn to sacrifice some things now so that in the long term you have a better outlook.
if you want it bad enough then you will figure out everything on your own without having to ask for every little thing and looking for tutorials for every task.
artists who progress are the ones who get inspired by looking at a piece of high quality art.
people who looks at an awesome artwork and get unmotivated or uninspired have the wrong attitude.
there will always be someone better than you in one aspect or another. that will never change.
only thing you have control over is how good YOU can become.
also, ask yourself what do you see yourself doing 10-20 years from now. visualize yourself in the future. what do you see yourself doing ? do you see yourself as an artist or some clerk in a desk ? you have to see your own future first to realize it.
the rest depends on how bad you want it.
Im the same boat as you, I graduated last year doing a general games course and I guess that was the problem, it was too general. Ive had some other jobs unrelated but did work in games testing for a bit, I need to work on my 3D a lot also.
And Im the opposite, I tend to shy away from characters and I prefer hard surface modelling like props or scenery and Im like wow when I see super detailed characters but when I see an awesome spaceship or something it usually inspires me and motivates me to come up with my own designs.
I would suggest maybe finding a job that might not be related to your course and working on your portfolio in the mean time. What i've learnt is that it doesnt happen straight away it takes time.
You said you like characters. There is a lot of competition in characters and a lot of amazing artists. But if that's what excites you, use the passion, and do lots and lots more stuff. Different stuff. Try more realistic stuff. Try digging into the shading on the characters you're creating, maybe you'll enjoy that. Maybe you'll model a realistic weapon for your realistic guy and find you love that. DO MORE STUFF. Use the passion you find as fuel to barrel through this period where you're learning and the art will never be as good as you want it to be.
TLDR: Find excitement in the craft and not in the idea of being a games guy. Find that excitement, do tons of stuff, your work will excel; and low and behold, you'll be a games guy.
+1
during college i remember working close to 12 hours everyday which included classes and personal work/practice/study etc. on average i got around 4-6 hours sleep. there were days when i nearly fainted while ridding the subway trains in NYC to and from class. there were too many days when i felt miserable, but just feeling miserable should not be enough to stop you from working hard. also from early age i had good knowledge of what a balanced diet is so i balanced out my protein, fat and carbs to keep my energy up. knowing how to cook your own meals also help both economically and is healthy for you.
my point is not to sacrifice your health or become sick. if you cant keep your health then there is no point in anything else. that should be very obvious to any adult and i didn't think it was necessary to point it out explicitly.
my point is to be willing to sacrifice a lot in life when you start out, and actually sacrifice some of it during that time ONLY if you need to in order to get better. feeling miserable a little bit should not stop you. endurance and patience is key.