3D artist career advice?
polycounter lvl 10
edit: Wow, I didn't mean to write such a wall of text.
TLDR: I need some advice. I'm an aspiring 3d artist. A bit lost on what to focus on exactly. I have a few questions at the end of the post.
TLDR: I need some advice. I'm an aspiring 3d artist. A bit lost on what to focus on exactly. I have a few questions at the end of the post.
Hi polycounters
I've been lurking around these forums for a long time but never really posted much for some reason. So much great content on this site. Thanks to everyone who contributes!
Posting this thread since I'm a bit lost when it comes to my career as a 3d artist and figured someone might be able to give me some advice. I've been wanting to work as a 3d artist in the game industry for many years now. Started playing with "Bryce 3D" like 10 years ago and I was hooked. Went through 2 different school courses, been updating my portfolio somewhat often, sent out hundreds of CVs... but haven't been able to really "break through" just yet. I had pretty given up a few years ago. I was battling with depression at the time and couldn't find the motivation to keep trying. I'm now 30 years old, I've since then turned it around, I feel better and I figured out it really is what I want to do as a career. I am giving it another shot!
I've had trouble choosing a specialization. I started out wanting to be a generalist since I enjoyed most aspects of 3d production equally. Found out junior generalist jobs basically do not exist and that specialization was pretty much the way to go. I then started focusing on characters but after a few years, I had to be honest with myself, my characters were simply "not good enough" and the competition is very fierce for the few jobs available. I've since then restarted building a portfolio geared toward environments but I feel my portfolio is now a mix of different stuff... it's a mess. I still have some old characters there next to some more recent textures, a few props and a single complete environment. I cut a lot of older work which looked quite dated compared to current standards.
Portfolio: https://simontremblay3d.artstation.com/
The industry keeps changing so rapidly, I feel I've been just a tiny bit behind the curve for a while now, it's rather frustrating. Textures/shaders in particular are evolving so much lately. I've spent quite a bit of time learning Substance Designer/Painter, PBR workflows and Unreal engine 4 shaders during my free time while working unrelated jobs. I feel texturing is now clearly my strongest skill but I haven't practiced my modeling as much. I've had two 3d job a few months each. One as an "environment artist". The other as a "tech artist" doing mostly textures in Designer and shaders/FXs in Unreal. Both of those job were offered to me mostly due to the texturing work featured in my portfolio but each time I was let go, for the most part, because my modeling wasn't deemed strong enough.
Most texture artist position I see advertised require 3-5+ years experience and most tech artist positions seem to require 5+ year exp, python, C++, MEL script etc. which I do not know. Entry level positions I find are mostly for modelers or environment artists (which are expected to both model and texture). I've received conflicting advices regarding which skill I should focus on to better my chances of landing (and keeping) that elusive first stable job.
I guess my main questions are:
-Is the trend in the industry going toward separate roles for modeling and texturing or is being equally good at both still pretty much a requirement?
-Is focusing solely on textures/shaders a good idea or does my portfolio "need" to showcase props & complete environments?
-I enjoy and I find I am better in the more technical aspects of 3d such as using Substance designer, UE shaders, blueprints/visual scripting, FXs, World machine etc... but do not have any real coding experience beside some basic html, autoit scripts and a tiny bit of MAXscript. Is it realistic to be aiming for tech artists positions as a junior or should I be trying to get more experience first?
-With photogrammetry becoming big in many studio, am I "wasting my time" focusing on learning Substance Designer and Zbrush texture workflows? Should my efforts be put elsewhere?
-How important is networking for landing that first job? I'm a bit of introvert and really do not attend many "meetups", conferences, networking events etc... I haven't really kept in touch with fellow students, colleagues and teachers I've met either and always feel like I'm "sucking up" when asking about potential jobs. Am I really hurting my chances a lot doing so or should a good portfolio alone be enough?
-Any general advice?
Replies
-Is the trend in the industry going toward separate roles for modeling and texturing or is being equally good at both still pretty much a requirement?
Both I say. Texture artist roles are rare and usually in big/AAA companies which probably hires top talent anyway. A small studio would prefer a generalist because of manpower and budget.
-Is focusing solely on textures/shaders a good idea or does my portfolio "need" to showcase props & complete environments?
I can't remember who, but he mentioned when reviewing portfolios he preferred the texture/shader applied directly onto a prop/environment. Which makes a lot of sense to me as cubes and balls aren't very intuitive unless you are doing a material breakdown.
-I enjoy and I find I am better in the more technical aspects of 3d such as using Substance designer, UE shaders, blueprints/visual scripting, FXs, World machine etc... but do not have any real coding experience beside some basic html, autoit scripts and a tiny bit of MAXscript. Is it realistic to be aiming for tech artists positions as a junior or should I be trying to get more experience first?
Not a tech artist, but I think you definitely need coding knowledge. Tech artist postings can give you an insight to the skills you need.
-With photogrammetry becoming big in many studio, am I "wasting my time" focusing on learning Substance Designer and Zbrush texture workflows in 2016?
In our line of work we have to constantly keep up with new software. It's unavoidable like PBR/MD. For now, I think SD and zbrush is still relevant and you should focus on it. Though if you are into realism it doesn't hurt to dabble in photogrammetry.
-How important is networking for landing that first job? I'm a bit of introvert and really do not attend many "meetups", conferences, networking events etc... I haven't really kept in touch with fellow students, colleagues and teachers I've met either and always feel like I'm "sucking up" when asking about potential jobs. Am I really hurting my chances a lot doing so or should a good portfolio alone be enough?
I totally suck at networking, but right now I'm trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and talk to others. My experience wasn't as scary as I thought! It's OK to put out word that you are actively looking for a job but don't make it dominate your conversation. Just don't sound desperate