Unpublished work for portfolio

KustomZero

Hey polycounters,

I have a question to you. I am currently preparing my portfolio for a job application. I did publish several games with my current company, which are already uploaded to my artstation profile. But here is the catch. I have artworks from like three more games which are already finished but unreleased. My company is taking like forever to publish them and couldn't provide me with any release dates.

Now how can I handle this situation? Of course I don't want to tell them that I'm applying for another job and just uploading it would be to risky in my opinion (I don't want to get sued). Should I prepare a big ass PDF file and sent this to my hopefully new employer or do you have another suggestion?

Thx in advance

Jonas Ronnegard

I would probably not upload them anywhere especially if you are gonna spam it around to a bunch of companies, rather take the artwork with you to the interview and show them with an iPad or laptop.

If you are gonna quit anyway maybe asking for permission from your current company will result in a pay raise?

KustomZero

I thought about that too, but as I know my boss for quite some time now, he would rather cut off his leg than give anyone a raise around here  

About your tablet tip, I would do that anyway but I rather hand out my complete portfolio so the company can see all my strengths and current work.

nikola3d

I agree with @Jonas Ronnegard , best solution is to show them directly on interview. 
But, if your boss wouldn't give you a raise, would he sue you if you post your artwork? It may cost him alot more money

KustomZero

yes he would sue the crap out of me

Eric Chadwick

I've seen artists supply a password-protected portfolio link in job applications. That way you can limit each login to a particular company, which makes it easier to track who saw things when, if you have your own site with a stats dashboard.

Edit: of course that doesn't stop them from copying your work and saving it to their HDD or somesuch. But it does make it harder for random joes to find.

MagicSugar

KustomZero said:

Now how can I handle this situation?

Kit bash and modify existing work until you can argue it's no longer an official asset of any projects you were involved in.  

Personally, I'd keep on making original folio pieces during my free or vacation time to anticipate scenarios where I have to apply right away (say, your studio stops paying you or you got fired/laid off without notice).  

If you do mostly generic stuff anyway (example, stereotypical crates, furniture, yet another AK-47) I wouldn't worry to much of NDA cops chasing after you.  But if you leak hero assets...yeah, you deserve a surprise midnight home visit from the studio mafia (say goodby kneecaps and lube up the brown starfish).

SnowInChina

keep in mind that potential employers might get a bad taste if you show them stuff thats still under nda.
especially since they are the competitors of your current employer.
iam not sure how this is received in the games industrie, but where i work this would potentially screw you over

KustomZero

SnowInChina said:

keep in mind that potential employers might get a bad taste if you show them stuff thats still under nda.
especially since they are the competitors of your current employer.
iam not sure how this is received in the games industrie, but where i work this would potentially screw you over

That thought occured last night to me too, I guess I have to be very mindful of which assets I pick.

Eric Chadwick said:

I've seen artists supply a password-protected portfolio link in job applications. That way you can limit each login to a particular company, which makes it easier to track who saw things when, if you have your own site with a stats dashboard.

Edit: of course that doesn't stop them from copying your work and saving it to their HDD or somesuch. But it does make it harder for random joes to find.

Yea I did setup a Wordpress Page yesterday evening and password protected it. I guess thats the best solution for the process.

MagicSugar said:

KustomZero said:

Now how can I handle this situation?

Kit bash and modify existing work until you can argue it's no longer an official asset of any projects you were involved in.  

Personally, I'd keep on making original folio pieces during my free or vacation time to anticipate scenarios where I have to apply right away (say, your studio stops paying you or you got fired/laid off without notice).  

If you do mostly generic stuff anyway (example, stereotypical crates, furniture, yet another AK-47) I wouldn't worry to much of NDA cops chasing after you.  But if you leak hero assets...yeah, you deserve a surprise midnight home visit from the studio mafia (say goodby kneecaps and lube up the brown starfish).

Normally I would agree with you, but I barely do any Interface Designs in my spare time nowadays and as I apply as an Interface Artist I would like to show some finished work. And to be clear, of course I do UI Design in my free time, but not to that point where I would call it done and put it in my Portfolio. I do spent a lot time modelling in 3d and get nothing finished their either ^^ hope that changes soon

But thanks for your advice!