Difficulties landing first job
polycounter lvl 6
Hello PC,
I'm a character artist from Spain and these last months I've been looking everywhere for a job without any success. At this point I think I've basically sent offers to at least 30 studios and I haven't gotten almost any reply apart from some automattic responses. Some of those studios are big ones like Ubisoft or THQNordic that have offices here in Spain too, but I've also sent applications to some middle sized ones or indies, most of them actively looking for a character artist, and as I say I can almost count with the fingers of a hand the amount of responses I've gotten. Since I've almost run out of options here in my country I've started sending emails to some other studios mostly from England with the same result.
Some of the reasons I could maybe think of for most places to not even bother with me is that even if there's a decent number of videogame studios here in Spain most of them are in the other side of the country from where I live, so I would have to relocate. I also have like 0 connections, so I'm basically a nobody with only some freelance experience applying for jobs at the other side of the ocean, but I just don't see a lot of alternatives apart from moving to Madrid or Barcelona where 90% of these jobs are and hoping for someone to notice me then. It could also be my portfolio, so I'll let you judge: https://www.artstation.com/ruflse
Do I have surrealistic expectations? Should I keep working on my portfolio? Is it my creepy face? I understand that big companies are probably looking for people with more professional experience, but I've applied everywhere, from big to small studios, and I only get silence. What should I do? :^(
Thanks!
I'm a character artist from Spain and these last months I've been looking everywhere for a job without any success. At this point I think I've basically sent offers to at least 30 studios and I haven't gotten almost any reply apart from some automattic responses. Some of those studios are big ones like Ubisoft or THQNordic that have offices here in Spain too, but I've also sent applications to some middle sized ones or indies, most of them actively looking for a character artist, and as I say I can almost count with the fingers of a hand the amount of responses I've gotten. Since I've almost run out of options here in my country I've started sending emails to some other studios mostly from England with the same result.
Some of the reasons I could maybe think of for most places to not even bother with me is that even if there's a decent number of videogame studios here in Spain most of them are in the other side of the country from where I live, so I would have to relocate. I also have like 0 connections, so I'm basically a nobody with only some freelance experience applying for jobs at the other side of the ocean, but I just don't see a lot of alternatives apart from moving to Madrid or Barcelona where 90% of these jobs are and hoping for someone to notice me then. It could also be my portfolio, so I'll let you judge: https://www.artstation.com/ruflse
Do I have surrealistic expectations? Should I keep working on my portfolio? Is it my creepy face? I understand that big companies are probably looking for people with more professional experience, but I've applied everywhere, from big to small studios, and I only get silence. What should I do? :^(
Thanks!
Replies
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Thanks for the tips, I'll keep them in mind
There are some arch-viz studios but they want an architeture degree...
I have been applying for jobs around EU for 2 years and i never landed a full time job. I only got an art test last year from Ubisoft Sofia that i didn't pass for some reason so i would say try applying to eastern EU countries because maybe it's easier to get noticed.
At the moment i'm freelancing alongside my full time job and i'm doing quiete well lately but the famous "full time job in a game company" it's still a mirage.
Also keep in mind that finding the first job abroad is very very difficult. You are competing against 300 or more applicants for only 1 artist position and they will pick the one with most experience, better works and also with connections inside the company.
I did some research and i noticed that the artists that usually get their first job abroad fall into one of these categories:
1) They went viral with 1 or more artworks for unkown reasons so they got a lot of exposure and because of that they got a job somewhere. I said "unkown reasons" because while it's true that some artists gain exposure because they are very good, most of the time the artworks are just "good" ( like other 10k artists out there ) and they got tons of views for other reasons
2) They attended a prestigious university ( $$$ ) with connections inside the companies and their works is good ( not very good, not the best but neither bad )
3) They are top tier artists. One of those 1 out of 10k.
4) They known someone important inside the company so they "skipped" the line and went straight to the interview.
5) They are specialized in something that is hard to find but needed. Ex. Technical Art ( although companies usually want experience )
Yeah I can't imagine looking for these kinds of jobs in places like Italy or Greece where the videogame industry is almost non existant
Ironically you could look for some companies about architectural design or environment art here in Spain, there is a decent amount of offers about that right now https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?geoId=105646813&keywords=3d%20environment&location=Espa%C3%B1a
So let's start with the job search and a look at the perspective from the studios. They want to know that you can deliver their style. While I am not following the stylized art style closely, I can't say that when I look at your portfolio I immediately know what game you would like to work on. On recruiters/studio side I am not looking for a portfolio with 20 works that have flaws that I jump to my eye by just looking at the thumbnail. Give me 1-2 really strong pieces that show me that you are as close to my game as it gets. I don't care about other art styles that you might have in your portfolio, if you don't convince me that you can do what I need in the first place.
The other thing is - there are so many applicants, I need to cut down the number of maybies to a managable list out of probably more than a hundred applications while I actually also have a lot of other stuff to do in my regular job. So I won't be looking for reasons to keep candidates in the list, but rather to cut them - and any reason I can come up with, any doubt that they instill in me (and yes, having stuff in your portfolio that isn't up to par is a reason as it shows that the candidate doesn't see quality), will get them cut. Only if I lack candidates I might look begrudgingly at those again - but that isn't a problem for most studios.
Now considering this it becomes a bit clearer what your portfolio has to look like. You have the time that it takes to glance at 1-2 models to peak the recruiters interest. This means you should pick a studio that you actually want to work for and the specific game you want to work on and create a portfolio piece that pushes you to your limits when it comes to quality. Find a concept from that game that didn't make it into the actual game or a professional's fan art concept of it and do it as game ready model that proves your eye for quality and technical knowledge. Don't do a 1:1 reproduction of a character from the game - it will just make it apperent that you ain't as good as their whole team (look at Nathan Drake from Uncharted 4 - they had several specialists working on individual parts of the character, how do you want to beat that?) The reviewers will always remember the game version and compare it to it even if not on purpose.
If you have 1-2 models that show me you understand what it takes to work on my game, I'll be satisfied. If I have additional questions, I will give you an art test that will challenge you in these areas.
Ok, so that's about portfolios, but there is also the business reality part. Having your portfolio properly up there is just doing your due dilligence. The other side of the issue is that you need to get noticed. On the one hand you need to stick out from a lot of candidates, but also be employable - meaning now technicalities like visa being in your way. Since visa's have legal requirements its not up for discussion.
HR departments are also a hurdle more than anything else. Like mentioned before recruiters are looking for reasons to cut people from the list and the lack of experience is a big reason for it. Its a formality and artists working at the studio don't give a crap about it, but keep in mind recruiters most often don't have artistic backgrounds and just go with the easiest thing. I personally had a very hard time even getting a response from studios going through HRs, while actual lead artist gave me good feedback. Also I couldn't even get an interview with my current studio going through HR, but my lead actually hired me based on my portfolio and a test assignment.
To maximize your chances its important to understand the industry and see where you have the best chances of getting a foot in the door. Like you mentioned it in eastern Europe it might be easier, but only to some degree. The reasons being that on the one hand they pay less than in western Europe (different costs of living), so they have a harder time to attract people from UK, Skandinavia, France, Germany,... which reduces their pool of candidates, but on the other hand they actually have better conditions to attract people from eastern European countries that are not in the EU. Here in Poland you have a lot of Russians, Ukrians, Belrussians,... people that would still earn less in their home countries, but have the skill set required and some cultural familiarity.
Also keeping an eye for outsourcing studios is a good idea, since they are easier to get in than the big name studios and you get the big projects in your resumee. For example people think they need to work at Ubisoft to work on Ubisoft games, but the truth is all big studios use a lot of outsourcing partners to get their stuff done. It also has its perks to work in outsource.
I understand the frustration of trying to break into the industry. Ironically tomorrow it is going to be 2 years that I decided to give up, just to get my first interview with an AAA-studio an hour later. It's though to get in, but it always come down to the same things on the candidates side and then it also requires luck to get noticed. Just make sure that you are ready to shine when you get the chance.
Thanks for the detailed reply
For example I have an application with a AAA company thats 2 1/2 years old and still going strong on smart recruiters.
It prevents me from reapplying with my most recent work, so incompetance and lack of professionalism in the industry is pretty commonplace given how many of these companies operate.
But of course keep working on your skill set and portfolio and broaden your scope to include other areas which require 3D art like VFX, Animation, Medical, Defense, Board games, print media etc.
This also allows me to know if they've looked at my message and then I just go from there.
Need the interest to be mutual, both parties taking some effort atleast in that early stage of recruitment.
My application with Rockstar Games on their website is now approaching its 4 year anniversary, lol not like I'm interested since I moved to another province.