How should I start my career in the game industry?
polycounter lvl 6
Hi everyone,
I was wondering where I should branch out in my portfolio in order to line it up with entry-level game industry standards... Would you have any tips??
this is my portfolio: https://rafaelarnaud.myportfolio.com/
I really don't want to waste time working on something that will be of no use in this career.
I was wondering where I should branch out in my portfolio in order to line it up with entry-level game industry standards... Would you have any tips??
this is my portfolio: https://rafaelarnaud.myportfolio.com/
I really don't want to waste time working on something that will be of no use in this career.
Replies
I wanted to fill a Character Artist position.
The non-relevant art can be moved to another portfolio website.
If I were a HR guy looking to hire, I'd be annoyed to have to press any buttons to see your best work. The best work should be the first thing anyone sees when they click on your portfolio link, and you really only need 3-4 if you're starting out. Brian's portfolio is a stellar example, and is pretty much what exactly you want to aim for. http://jadeeyepanda.com/
I also recommend listening to this podcast, a lot of great tips from great artists, including Brian Choi himself
makes a lot of sense. I was wondering what kind of AAA content would be best to show. I was thinking, HiPoly, than a retopoed version, and an IDE preview. What do you think?
I see a lot of student portfolios loaded with just greyscale sculpts and character bust studies and they are wondering why they can't get a job. Just keep pumping out new work and build your audience on artstation and you should start to get some attention to your work when you start to get your skills to an industry standard level
From your portfolio its quite apparent that you are versatile in doing a number of different things. (I particularly liked your AR resume, though I would make a standard one to send to employers)
In my opinion you may enjoying working in an indie capacity rather than AAA. In my experience in an smaller indie company there is often more room to be versatile than a AAA industry role.
Not that specialising would be an an issue for you, just make sure that that is what you want and are passionate about.
Also getting into a character position is harder overall for reasons other than a not having a good portfolio, most times for full time on site positions its simply a matter of vacancies not being available for the role, your location and hiring preferences of which there are many.
Many AAA companies run character art teams, so there are possibilities of a junior 3D prop artist becoming a "character artist" having joined the character team internally. In many cases it might be easier to land that role first depending on vacancies and networking.
All this has to do with getting a job, becoming a good character artist doesn't necessarily require you to get a game industry job.
I would recommend a course from say game art institute to get you up to speed, though similar teaching material is available across the internet for free.
Where are you currently located? (This is an important factor in determining how forthcoming the industry is to hiring you for a entry level position vs freelance contract work.)
I also really hate how I can't right click on any of the photos on your website to save them or find the URL to link them. That means that I'd probably have to find the actual jpgs or pngs in your website code using a console which is annoying. Sometimes employers like to save a few pictures from a candidate to put in your profile so they don't have to go to your portfolio site again. Don't make it more difficult for them to do this. This is one of the reasons why so many people suggest using artstation, because the presentation is just so much easier all around (and it's free!). Also as others are saying, keep your projects to just what is in the thumbnail. I don't want to click on a thumbnail for what I think is just one project and see a ton of other projects too. It's a bit chaotic.
Game companies are still pretty scarce where I live, so I was hoping to move to a place where I could find a more welcoming market
I don't really have a style of preference, I'd more likely shape my works based on the project needsm, although I could say a more cartoonish style is more frequent in my gallery. What do you think would be best to get into the industry?
Do you think, based on what you see, I should go for a specific style?
I'm working on an artstation portfolio, and based on what others said I'm creating AAA style full body models in all stages to maybe score a job in a game company.
It makes sense that the website is a bit too crowded with projects... I'll clean it up and use three or four. Do you think it's nice to include concept art?? I was wondering because @Brian "Panda" Choi said I should only use pieces that speak character art.
Put in the stuff you want to spend your working hours making.
or in another way, "Do you want to be making 3D weapons 40 hours+ a week?"
IF you characters has weapons, concepts, etc. involved, add those in.
RafArnaud wrote:
Hey, @sacboi!
I don't really have a style of preference, I'd more likely shape my works based on the project needsm, although I could say a more cartoonish style is more frequent in my gallery. What do you think would be best to get into the industry?
Do you think, based on what you see, I should go for a specific style?
Well based upon what I see, I'd also suggest developing your 2D skillset further perhaps leveraging a stylised approach (i.e. Blizzard...etc), that's if an option that might appeal to you too begin with?!
...because although a highly competitive field however I think this particular pathway IMO maybe your specific ticket in.