Getting Into The Industry doc for Character Artists
polycounter lvl 9
Hey all! I
created this brief PDF overview of things to consider when trying to
join entertainment industries as a character artist or remain
competitive in them. I find myself often in discussions about this topic
over the years, so I thought this summary may help. Figured I would share here too. It's a free
resource on my Gumroad site here!
Hope it's useful!
John
Replies
I have noticed, that in many studios, a lot of the character work is split between many artists of varying skillsets in a character team.
In that sense there are junior "character artists" as internal roles focusing on character props/clothing etc who are tossed about during production between teams.
They may never touch a head or do hair or any other body part.
Perhaps in time they will have the opportunity to do a full character once they are sufficiently skilled at it, if that is their intention.
One of my tasks in the past was retopologizing/retouching body scans and then posing them afterwards for cinematics.
So I was a labelled as a character artist for what they needed at the time.
This may be one way to approach becoming a dedicated character artist if the opportunity arises.
However portfolio wise the article is on point as to what is necessary for a specialized role.
I did have a question though about portfolio content.
A few studios I want to work at do production for various licenses, and this work varies in style and scope.
For example they do stylized characters for app games and realistic characters (look dev) for video game cinematics, however when advertising the role their requirements seem to be for a general character artist with no specific style requirement.
In this case is it best practice for me to have both realistic and stylized characters in my portfolio, or should I count on the studio to accommodate me with one style (that I'm strong at) so I can better the other style while on the job.
When I apply I send some work samples for the intended role, so there's no confusion in what I'm applying for.
Either way I intend to add realistic character work from a freelance standpoint so I can demonstrate a variety of styles.
Your early points about the character work split is similar to the idea of larger studios needing character artists for very specific work, like vfx houses such as Framestore or even larger game studios with outsourcing.
Related to your portfolio question, if a studio is looking for a style range in their character artists because of the studio projects, it makes sense to show your range...if you are passionate about that variety. Like I mention in the doc, learn what you are most excited about and tailor towards that. Don't force yourself into certain styles..most studios can immediately tell where your strengths are.
John
I wanted to ask, more about pipelines, though that is a key element.
VFX fellows seem to want different things than say low poly game fellows or console fellows.
Some fellows seem to care about sculpts,
I have interviewed with and worked with dudes who weren't one's of drapes or sculpts ; they were primarily concerned about the final product which was a low poly.
I tried to be a vfx fellow with the high poly for awhile, it got me one position, but nothing occurred after.
I tried being a low poly fellow instead and things occurred. So I am skeptical of the high poly that was being shown in that one
I am not sure if it's as simple as you put it fellow, there are many different factors to be considered
As I mentioned in the introduction in the document, it is an overview and will differ based on industry, studio, and individual. A document like that can easily be 50 pages long. Look at Vertex from Ryan Hawkins..that's a giant, amazing resource with 3 volumes with people from various disciplines providing awesome industry insight on specific workflows in their industry. In the end, you still need to decide what you enjoy most, what you are best at, and that hopefully those 2 things align well and will be attractive to potential employers.
So if you enjoy doing low poly work in games and have found success in it as well, then that's awesome. As I mentioned in the beginning of the document comparing character artists working in games vs cinematics vs large vfx houses, the need for specific work, and therefore types of pipelines, will vary based on the studio business model. If you compare the business model of a company against what you can really offer that company, evaluating your potential success may be a bit easier.
John