The Trap of Entitlement
polycounter lvl 12
Yo guys,
just thought I would make a post giving my thoughts on something I find a lot of artists just getting into game dev and I think there a lot of people entering into the industry who complain that no one is giving them a job.
I have personally been through it and from my experience and time in the game I've noticed something, a lot of people think that a few months or a few years of practicing art gives them the chops to enter the industry and I don't really think that is the case. I'm a big believer in thinking that the industry will let you in as a professional when it thinks you're ready.
So I want to try and give some value not just speak down on students that aspire to be next big thing in games. The number one piece of advice is to keep working on your portfolio even after you get a job, stay loyal to the process.
Secondly: If you make good work, but still no one is biting try and find a mod team that you can contribute to, some of the best artists that I'm seeing coming out of the gate from school started on mods and they know a lot of the best practices. so don't be shy to volunteer your time to cool project when you are learning as I believe the friendships you form from that can really take you to your dream job.
Lastly:
Just email every studio that you can with your work until someone bites and don't stop, you could be one email away from landing the dream job on an IP that all your friend's dream of working on.
The Takeaway:
Remember no one owes you anything, find something to aspire to and fall in love with the process of working towards that goal as its marathon, not a sprint.
just thought I would make a post giving my thoughts on something I find a lot of artists just getting into game dev and I think there a lot of people entering into the industry who complain that no one is giving them a job.
I have personally been through it and from my experience and time in the game I've noticed something, a lot of people think that a few months or a few years of practicing art gives them the chops to enter the industry and I don't really think that is the case. I'm a big believer in thinking that the industry will let you in as a professional when it thinks you're ready.
So I want to try and give some value not just speak down on students that aspire to be next big thing in games. The number one piece of advice is to keep working on your portfolio even after you get a job, stay loyal to the process.
Secondly: If you make good work, but still no one is biting try and find a mod team that you can contribute to, some of the best artists that I'm seeing coming out of the gate from school started on mods and they know a lot of the best practices. so don't be shy to volunteer your time to cool project when you are learning as I believe the friendships you form from that can really take you to your dream job.
Lastly:
Just email every studio that you can with your work until someone bites and don't stop, you could be one email away from landing the dream job on an IP that all your friend's dream of working on.
The Takeaway:
Remember no one owes you anything, find something to aspire to and fall in love with the process of working towards that goal as its marathon, not a sprint.
Replies
I see so many unfocused porfolios and no wonder they have a hard time getting a job. A seni realistic crate, a hand painted wow style chest, a random character mixed in that looks not quite right.....
reverse engineer where you want to be in a year and focus 100% on that.
Want to work on call of duty? Then a few photoreal pieces of scifi and say ww2 or vietnam style enviros/characters/whatever you want to be.
Want to work at naughty dog? I would do a super impressive ruins covered in foliage and some cool post apoc last of us style scenes etc.
Blizzard? Spend your time nailing their art styles.
Too many people are doing the shotgun approach and applying everywhere when their protfolio doesnt align with the studio direction.
Context is king, and focusing on doing a few thing really well instead of having a jack of all trades mish mosh of a portfolio will really help.
You need to ve able to hokd your work up next to screens from the latest aaa games and there should be no major quality difference.
Start with a goal and work backwards. Focus on aiming your laser at 2-3 studios with a style you like that all work well together as a whole in terms of art style and even if you dont get in there, other stuidos you were unware of that are looking to fill spots with similar projects will come biting.
Finally, get eyeballs on your work by finding a way to hack culture, pick some nostalgic subject matter that resonates in nerd/pop culture and do something around that, and chances are if its done really well and you handle the social media side of things well it could end up featured on kotaku or ign....think that would get you some job leads?!. Ex: crank out a super amazing version of the bike from akira, re-imagine some scene from ff7 etc. Look at upcoming movies that are getting a ton of buzz and do a fan art or something.
Definitely, Agree with this 100% appreciate this extra important addition to this post, I really hope students read this as I think personally its what a lot of them need to read and understand going into this industry.
I believe understanding how to get people to look at your work and people to see your stuff is essential. I starting to believe as new platforms for artists are appearing like Artstation. Artists are becoming more like brands.
Not too many people don't know Josh Lynch or Brian sum are, as they have established a brand and a specialty in this field. That is also why you need to protect your brand and treat everything you do and say as if it's on the record and remember if you don't shit will haunt you for your career and employers will look at this stuff.
Make no mistake, artstation is a social media platform that just happens to be niched down to artists.