What's more important: Working on portfolio or getting hired at any cost?
polycounter lvl 4
I've graduated a while ago but I've never found a job yet, so I'm trying to improve my portfolio now since I was a bit behind I guess, I took some time off for personal reasons and now I feel really behind the industry standards and trying to catch up, (when I graduated PBR workflow and substance painter didn't exist really).
But some of my family members like my brother are desperate to see me unemployed now and say that nobody actually works on their first job, you first serve coffee and make copies and are not paid and then the company will teach you everything and that portfolio doesn't matter, but he works in finance and I keep telling him that it's probably more important to have a good portfolio in this industry than to bullshit the interviewer on how good you are (that's what you do in finance) In my opinion if you bullshit and then can't do anything you will have a bad reputation and get fired straight away... I mean sure you will learn a lot but you can't come and know almost nothing and have nothing in the portfolio it's kinda shooting yourself in the foot, and I don't feel comfortable selling myself on something I can't do...
I've never heard of someone getting in the game industry by making coffees at first.. he says I'm so irrealistic and live in my own world that's not how the world works blablabla that working on my portfolio is a waste of time, I should be applying and calling every studio and harass them. The last part might be true, but without good art is there really a point?
Edit: I also get stressed out on that it's more important to get any job in any studio even unpaid (including serving coffee or doing nothing and watching others work) than not having a job no matter what you're doing (including working on portfolio).
But some of my family members like my brother are desperate to see me unemployed now and say that nobody actually works on their first job, you first serve coffee and make copies and are not paid and then the company will teach you everything and that portfolio doesn't matter, but he works in finance and I keep telling him that it's probably more important to have a good portfolio in this industry than to bullshit the interviewer on how good you are (that's what you do in finance) In my opinion if you bullshit and then can't do anything you will have a bad reputation and get fired straight away... I mean sure you will learn a lot but you can't come and know almost nothing and have nothing in the portfolio it's kinda shooting yourself in the foot, and I don't feel comfortable selling myself on something I can't do...
I've never heard of someone getting in the game industry by making coffees at first.. he says I'm so irrealistic and live in my own world that's not how the world works blablabla that working on my portfolio is a waste of time, I should be applying and calling every studio and harass them. The last part might be true, but without good art is there really a point?
Edit: I also get stressed out on that it's more important to get any job in any studio even unpaid (including serving coffee or doing nothing and watching others work) than not having a job no matter what you're doing (including working on portfolio).
Replies
For me that was mowing greens at a Sammamish, WA golfcourse, and hustling on remote contracts with Camouflaj, etc.
Portfolio is the main priority. Your credits list on games made comes second alongside who you know in the industry and their judgment call on you.
Portfolio definitely matters. You need exceptional skills but also exceptional personal skills as well. The portfolio lands you the interview, your personal skills convince the employer that they NEED you to work for them.
Business is deceptively simply. There's only one thing that matters.
Money.
The better job you do of convincing your employer that you will make them money, the more likely you will get the job. On average on employee needs to make 3x their salary to be worthwhile.
Say your salary is 40K. How can you show your employer you will directly or indirectly make AT LEAST 120k back that year. From an artists perspective it's about showing high quality content that's going to build hype and excitement for their next project, or about showing them you can meet the art directors expectations (who in turn uses you to make back your salary).
This is the crux of it. Now larger companies have different motives, because middle management would rather work with people they like rather than those who make money. Most of the time it's just luck. They'll look at the first 10 resumes of 200. Pick 3 candidates and throw away the rest.
Otherwise I think everyone is on the same page here : Porfolio trumps everything. That's the most single important thing to get an art job. Even if you are a total dick you will get a job somewhere. ( Please don't though hahaha) . So yeah forget about your brother's opinion, it's not his career and his life that's on the line, it's yours. And if you fuck up your porfolio, you fuck up your career.
Find a job with your motivation being $$, then you can focus on your portfolio 100%.
I would recommend modding for games, participating in the occasional polycount modeling contests, or helping out an indie dev team to improve your portfolio. Not only are you building up your portfolio, you can prove that you can work alongside others to produce something worth paying for, and hopefully building connections and discovering friends in the games industry.
Permission to steal this, please ~ haha
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Yeah as most have suggested. If being unemployed is starting to become an issue and you absolutely have to get a gig. I'd say go with a 9-5 (or lesser) that isn't too taxing physically or mentally. For instance like a cashier job. Then when you head back, you have a solid 5-6hours to still perfect your art.
In terms of getting into the industry making coffee and such, haven't heard of that happening. Most employers would rather hire someone who already has a good understanding on the workflow and requries minimal training/supervision.
All the best tho. ~
And is usually key for entry into most potential career paths or senior roles.
It's definitely on the portfolio, but having experience in the work field in-general would definitely help. If it's art-related, it can show that you're familiar with the art production pipeline, even if it's graphic design or web, print, etc. I mean, even in QA, if you do that, and focus on your portfolio on the side, you'll be familiar with the game dev pipeline on that end.
It depends on what you really want. A lot of my peers in game dev want to join the companies who's games they like, but they are not motivated enough to do the work involved.
They simply want to be associated with the companies for the bragging rights and what that might do for their self esteem.
A good many of them want a job that pays more than minimum wage and that's all (for the moment atleast)
If you are truly passionate about game art and art in general, you would keep pushing that portfolio no matter what.
Make sure you look up this wiki,
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/PortfolioContents
Again not a guarantee to getting the job you want, but will give you the notoriety and the credibility for companies to take a chance with you.
I would also recommend taking a live course if you feel you need someone(mentor) on your back and a industry standard portfolio piece at the end with an established industry contact - all also available for free depending on how far you are willing to go.
These courses are not a guarantee or a requirement to getting a job in the industry.
https://www.gameartinstitute.com/store
https://www.uartsy.com/subscribe
Doing these courses is also very dependent on where you currently stand in skill level and portfolio. There is a lot you can learn with regular practice and asking the right questions.
If you're just in it because of the "glamour" of working in game development, there are other ways to get there not involving game art like production/HR/marketing/QA/game testing etc. Again the skills, competitiveness of these positions are a different matter entirely. Can't depend on them to improve your portfolio, that's on you.
It would help if you posted your art and gave us an idea of what part of the game development pipeline you're interested in. (Animation/Modeling-character, environment, props/Level Design.etc) Then you can plan out your approach better and talk to your family about it which might help them understand.
But remember, some families will never understand. They are too thoroughly rooted to their beliefs/popular perception to change.
In all my years in the industry no one has ever brought me a cup of coffee....
Seriously though, the work experience that counts for getting a job as an artist are jobs in which you worked as an artist (And that experience counts for a lot). Studios are looking to hire people that can do the work on day one.
As for trying to bullshit the interview. There likely won't be a serious interview without first passing an art test. Which requires the skills you'd develop making a strong portfolio. Also, at some point the interview will be conducted by the leadership of the art team, who should be a lot harder to fool than someone from HR.
Working a non-related job in a game studio might give you a few networking opportunities, but if you don't have a decent folio to show off when the moment comes that won't matter.
Apologies if someone already touched on these. The thread's kinda long at this point and I read through it fast.