I am kind of panicking. Unpaid internship from AAA
interpolator
Hello guys. Yesterday i found out that my godfather who works at a very large chain with connections to many AAA studios, gave me the opportunity to work next year as an unpaid intern in a AAA studio.The time i will be working there is still not clarified.Great, right?
Well, the problem is that i started learning the art of 3d as a new years resolution, to change my career path. So it's been 7 months? And all of this time i feel i've been doodling around to learn the fundamentals of creating/sculpting/importing to UE. How can i be ready to keep up with a AAA studio right off the bat? Is it too big for me? I will be getting a loan to do this.I believe many good things can come out of this but i am too inexperienced to handle it, i'm trembling in the idea of anyone asking "why did you bring this guy here".....I don't even have a portfolio, or i can barely make a portfolio piece to pass the bar...This is too big to process. I am very very very grateful for that, but i hate to say i don't believe i can handle it, and when the time comes i dont think i will be good enough. Please help ?
Well, the problem is that i started learning the art of 3d as a new years resolution, to change my career path. So it's been 7 months? And all of this time i feel i've been doodling around to learn the fundamentals of creating/sculpting/importing to UE. How can i be ready to keep up with a AAA studio right off the bat? Is it too big for me? I will be getting a loan to do this.I believe many good things can come out of this but i am too inexperienced to handle it, i'm trembling in the idea of anyone asking "why did you bring this guy here".....I don't even have a portfolio, or i can barely make a portfolio piece to pass the bar...This is too big to process. I am very very very grateful for that, but i hate to say i don't believe i can handle it, and when the time comes i dont think i will be good enough. Please help ?
Replies
This is normal, and more questions than not are encouraged. For my case, our intern this summer, I had a great time running him through some Substance Painter particulars, etc.
Hit it, ask a LOT of questions, because this is probably the best learning environment you will ever be in.
If anyone jostles you about being a newb, I pray it's mostly out of good fun.
Thank you, that clarifies alot for me
I had no idea on what is expected of an intern since i am in sales business and it's totally different. Is there anything i can do by myself to prepare better other than keep making 3d stuff? Would a portfolio have an impact or should i wait and make it after my internship there?
Where's your stuff at right now? Do you have an online portfolio at all?
But, you should ask your godfather what exactly this internship entails before you assume it's an art internship even.
An art internship without a portfolio looks bad on the studio: either they don't know, or their hand is being forced.
I will ask for more details,but to tell you the truth i dont know if he pulled the strings or asked for favors, the end result is the same for me. Everyone uses whatever resources they have available. I do not have a portfolio so i will do my best to create a couple of pieces to have to present. I am thinking of some sculpted pillars or marbles, a couple of materials and scene props, as i'm not yet familiar with creating entire scenes and landscapes. Would you be as kind to recomend something that a studio would like to see? I know anything is fine as long as its well made, but i guess some stuff will have more impact than others.
It literally depends on what the studio is working on.
We had our intern fix textures for food props in Bard's Tale IV for a very long time. No hero pieces.
Just make good looking stuff, or well made bad looking stuff. This is your portfolio: you need to peacock.
I would recommend attempting to make a diorama. Even if it's big, you can break it down into smaller chunks, for what is a diorama if not just mulitple prop assets.
I have set some money aside for this case, i knew that it would be easier to land an internship at the begining of this carreer, and internships dont pay full salary. So i have some money that can support me for about a year
@Brian "Panda" Choi
Thanks alot for all the information you provided me. You really turned my negativity into positivity and excitement! I would treat you a beer if we were closeby
use it as an opportunity to gather information, learn and make some friends in the industry
It should be somewhat useful to you (or tremendously useful, if you get lucky). Until it starts, just keep learning stuff and practicing. I don't see any need to panic.
@pior
I suppose i can do that, but i wanted to ask people for opinions to have a more solid resolve before i start spouting silly sentences in the company i'll work for
Also, if the studio is based in Paris, you should know that unpaid internships above 2 month are illegal in France, so you should ask about the duration and location first.
I have already given a resume of any experience and degrees i have as well as the 3d programs i can use, but no portfolio yet. I've learned in the past couple of years that you need to push some things even when you are not ready, in order to move forward. This is definatelly very stressful, but i have nothing to lose by diving deeper. If at some point they ask me about a portfolio, i hope i have something ready that passes the bar. That is a reason why i made this thread mostly, because i paniced since i have no portfolio to show.
I'll add my 2 cents for what its worth. My studio has offered both unpaid and paid internships and they have been very helpful for the selected few we've taken on. Here is the big picture that many who don't run a studio are unaware of.
There are some very talented juniors out there but their talent stops short at doing their own portfolio work and not working on a team production cycle. Communication (or lack of) is the biggest issue as many have difficulty showing wip progress, speed, asking questions and basically not being an introvert. What most interns quickly realize, and why considering one is a good idea, is that your work (ie: UV layout) is not for you to texture but to be handed off to a texture artist, who will be coming back to you for changes because of issues that dont work well on a particular bake. Same is true with high poly modeling and retopologizing assets. Each department, or stage, requires special skills in a production workflow that honestly is NOT taught in most schools. This is really where you will find out if you have what it takes or not to play with the AAA boys. Some will be supportive, others not so much. Bottom line, I dont care how much work you have created by yourself. Unless you have worked on several "real world" production cycles, you are just a junior in my eyes and possibly even an unpaid intern until you learn the daily workflow and are a viable asset to a team, not a hindrance.
A lot of game developers here in Toronto graduate from game development schools that have their curriculum designed around a real world production cycle, with many students working with local studio's for course credit.
Would this count towards them being considered for a position above junior level if their portfolio matches the requirements of the studio?
I had this thought when looking through the finalists for the Ubisoft Nxt showcase. There were a variety of skill levels among them with some being exceptional, but at the end every winner regardless of their experience was selected as a junior apprentice for entry level pay, when some of them were clearly far more skilled than some of the current hires at the studio.
For example, if an artist could single handed make an entire biome which is the work of several artists, would they be given that opportunity sooner than later or do they have to reduce their ability to the level of others on the team initially to stay in the company?
In my experience having an exceptional skill and knowledge has helped within a smaller studio because of which I was able to take on the work on several artists when the studio began losing its regulars (10 - 15 year veterans). I'm curious how this applies in a larger AAA studio.
Makes me wonder if supply and demand in this case allows a studio to undercut even the very best artists, or rather whether being exceptional really makes a world of a difference when the pipeline at a AAA game studio is extremely rigid. For instance you are a skilled environment artist but the entirety of your job is making very specific rocks.
I think it really comes down to what you think you're worth and how you negotiate that worth.
But yes several studios hire graduates for probationary periods that may pay next to nothing. Many of these studios are supported by government grants.
And what's worse most of the graduates look forward to this, atleast in Ontario.
I wonder if there is a way you could delay doing the internship until you have more of a portfolio and are clear on what you are looking to learn and gain from the experience?
I assume you know where you will be working. Look at some of their recent work and try get good at one thing, whether it be enviroment art, material creation, organic modelling, hard surface modelling. If you can just do 1 thing well it will put you above the rest.