Help me about my career

Goku

Hello.

Sorry for my bad english  

I'm 3d generalist, but I'm not on high level in anything. Actually, I am far from high level.

Now I want to learn and be advance in just one thing. My goal is to work as a freelancer on big projects.

So, my question is: What is the best part of CG to learn so I can work as a freelancer on big projects? And which part of CG offers the most jobs for freelancers? Now and in the future, give me your opinions?

Characters? Renders? Props? Environment? Hard Surface? Concept art? Something else?

And please, avoid answers like "Choose what you like the most". It's pretty much the same to me, I like all of that equaly, so I want to work on something that will bring me the most jobs and the most money as a freelancer.

Thanks.

Eric Chadwick

First thing to do is to share your artwork. People will not be able to give good advice without some context. Make a thread in 3D Showcase and seek critique.

What exactly do you mean by a "big project"? You may be creating an unrealistic goal. It is good to have big goals, but it is also important to be realistic with yourself. On a big project, you will have a smaller role.

Freelancing is a difficult career path for inexperienced artists. You will have much better results if you start at a company... some place where you can work with other artists face-to-face, and learn how the whole game development process works, from start to finish. This will help you understand how to be a good freelancer, because your clients will often be companies that work like this.

Freelancing as a generalist is more difficult than as a specialist. Companies usually seek specialists. And you will be competing for jobs with specialists, who will usually be better at those tasks than a generalist.

If you want to be a generalist, then seek work at a small company with few (or no) artists. You will be forced to do it all, and learn a lot in the process.

We have many good resources here:
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Game_Industry
and here:
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance

Goku

Here are my works:
http://miroslavsimic.weebly.com/
I will work on upgrading my skills for a year full time. But I'm not sure in which direction I should go?  I want to work as a freelancer specialist.

Eric Chadwick

For freelancing, there is a lot of work to be done making environment props, but there are also quite a few character art freelancers. Look at our Freelance Work section to get some ideas.

I started as a generalist, I did many different kinds of CG art at a small company. Later I moved into Environment because I love it the most.

It is difficult to give advice about this. There are many paths to choose. But if you work hard and show talent, you can fit into almost any art role.

RyanB

Tech artists are always in demand.  

Goku

RyanB said:

Tech artists are always in demand.  

Freelance tech artists?

Also, I would like to hear more opinions about this, so don't be shy to comment

sprunghunt

Goku said:

RyanB said:

Tech artists are always in demand.  

Freelance tech artists?

Also, I would like to hear more opinions about this, so don't be shy to comment

From my experience on a really big game project it's pretty rare to outsource anything to an individual. Companies who have groups of freelancers will be used if the assets aren't being made in house.

rohMizuno

if your goal is to work on big projects as a freelancer your should definitely specialize. But at the same time is a lot easier to start as a freelancer if you are generalist, as small studios or teams will not want to hire many artists for their projects, but instead will look for a guy who can help them on the whole process.
My advice is what Eric already mentioned, try to find a job at a studio, at least for a wile, the bigger the studio the better so you can have a good look and feel  what a real production looks like, that way when you go freelance you will be a lot more confident on what to do and what jobs to look for.
Internet is great for information, but nothing is better that actually experience it.