Becoming a professional 3D artist with an unrelated full time job

Vaztor

Hey guys

As a quick intro, 3D Art has been my passion for quite a while now. However my schooling and my current job has essentially been Computer Science related. At the moment l currently do Unity scripting for military simulations so I'm not too far off from the game industry but lately lve really been feeling an itch to turn my career more towards art and less towards programming and Im considering getting into the "normal" games industry

I'm really content with the job I have now and it's not something I want to lose without something solid to jump to. It also enables me to pay for online courses that help me sharpen my art skills. So currently I'm spending most of my free time on week nights and weekends creating new art and trying to improve my portfolio and pretty much everything art related.

I guess my question is what advice would you guys have for the path l'm currently on? Has anyone been in a similar situation before? I'm in Orlando so I don't have many options as far as game studios and I'm afraid to move for something unstable with smaller studios when what I have is pretty stable. Do you guys think I should focus on freelance and remote work until when/if something solid comes around?

Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance guys!

Hito

 I'm in similar situation as you... all I can say is the longer you do something... the more likely you'll be stuck doing it. If you really want to make the switch, earlier the better.

Add3r

Make a really bad ass portfolio of work, apply at whatever studios that you want to work at, and see if one of them turns into something A lot of the larger studios will have some sort of relocation assistance, even at Associate level positions.  Really just comes down to how much of your time you are dedicating to your portfolio, and while working a full time job, it is forcing you to be very efficient and precise with how you spend it.  

Pick up tutorials from 3D Motive or any of the other tutorial sites popping up, watch live streams, videos, etc.  Use this stable time to work on your portfolio in peace, without having to worry about forcing work out just to get whatever job pops up first.  You are actually in a pretty good spot to turn it into your dream job with enough dedication and discipline. 

Also, I recommend picking up a specialty, as right now your portfolio is a little bit of everything.  That should be a first step before diving into any specific practice and portfolio work.  

Kevin Albers

You seem to be in a fairly decent situation. Having a similar job and being able to work on your portfolio in your spare time is not too bad at all. Doing scripting for simulations in Unity is pretty decent experience, even though you want to move over to the art side of things.  I hope you don't quit your current job until/unless you get something nicer lined up.

Vaztor

Hito said:

 I'm in similar situation as you... all I can say is the longer you do something... the more likely you'll be stuck doing it. If you really want to make the switch, earlier the better.

That's a really good point. I agree which is why I'm really trying to push forward on this now.

Add3r said:

Make a really bad ass portfolio of work, apply at whatever studios that you want to work at, and see if one of them turns into something A lot of the larger studios will have some sort of relocation assistance, even at Associate level positions.  Really just comes down to how much of your time you are dedicating to your portfolio, and while working a full time job, it is forcing you to be very efficient and precise with how you spend it.  

Pick up tutorials from 3D Motive or any of the other tutorial sites popping up, watch live streams, videos, etc.  Use this stable time to work on your portfolio in peace, without having to worry about forcing work out just to get whatever job pops up first.  You are actually in a pretty good spot to turn it into your dream job with enough dedication and discipline. 

Also, I recommend picking up a specialty, as right now your portfolio is a little bit of everything.  That should be a first step before diving into any specific practice and portfolio work.  

Thanks for the very detailed response. It really means a lot to get this sort of feedback from this community and I super appreciate it. I'm definitely trying to maximize the free time I have between making more art and online courses. I'm doing my best to track my time and ensure that I'm spending most of it towards achieving these goals. I do agree it is a pretty good position to be in and hopefully I will be able to make the most out of it! As for the portfolio information, thanks for the feedback! You're absolutely right and it's definitely something I need to work on. Lately I've just been putting everything I work on in there cause I'm not totally sure exactly the direction I want to go in. I'm leaning towards more realistic work as it's something I really admire in a lot of artists and a skill I want to flesh out. Narrowing it down (as well as relaunching an actual website) is on my to do roster

Kevin Albers said:

You seem to be in a fairly decent situation. Having a similar job and being able to work on your portfolio in your spare time is not too bad at all. Doing scripting for simulations in Unity is pretty decent experience, even though you want to move over to the art side of things.  I hope you don't quit your current job until/unless you get something nicer lined up.

Yeah I consider myself really fortunate to be in the situation I'm in. I absolutely have no plans to leave without a a much nicer opportunity. I've just been having internal debates about if i should be doing an art job instead, but I guess I should as Add3r mentioned just keep applying to places with an improved portfolio, see what happens and then cross that bridge when I get to it. Thanks for the perspective guys. It really does mean a lot to hear from all of you

Joebewon

Vaztor, definitely seems like you've got some solid plans already. 
I will say at the end of the day it's really time management, if you want to move towards art just make sure to set aside time to learn and practice as much as possible.  

I know you mentioned being in Orlando, but after checking the gamedevmap (http://www.gamedevmap.com/) there are a good handful of studios in Orlando, you should check them out if you don't have any studios that you'd really want to relocate for.  

Good luck on your art journey!