Attempting to jump back in the industry remotely, what should I focus on?

ReneFisher

Greetings, I'll preface this with a bit of backstory, but the TLDR version is this:
What software/skills would you focus on developing in order to get a remote job/work doing 3D Art right now?

I graduated from school for game dev in 2015, with a focus in environment art/building/props and then life happened a little bit, and I'm back to square one and I feel a bit behind after being out of it for a bit. I'm living in a small town, so i'm limited to remote work opportunities, but still want to give it a shot and put my degree to use. Previously, I struggled landing remote jobs of any real merit or longevity, but am hoping recent events make "remote working"  a bit more feasible to work on more sustainable projects? 

Last time I really worked on a project I used a maya->substancepainter/photoshop->UE4 pipeline so I'm mostly familiar with all of those. I haven't really touched zBrush since 2016 so no doubt a lot has changed on that front, and my skills with that are limited, so I suspect a bit more work in that wouldn't hurt (especially after watching the UE5 demo, wow). I have strong-ish illustration skills as well, and know my way around Photoshop, but my knowledge of procedurally generated stuff and complex material creation is pretty limited and not really all that interesting to me, if it's avoidable. 
I tend to excel in more stylized/handpainted projects than gritty dark photorealistic stuff for that reason. (you can check out my website in my signature if it helps get a better idea)

So my main question is: is it worthwhile to continue environment art projects to try and land a remote gig in that section of the industry? Would I be better off specializing in foliage, weapons/vehicles, characters, of some other corner of the asset creation process? Is Photogrammetry worth looking into instead/in addition? (I'm a photographer in my spare time but know nothing of Photogrammetry and/or the cleanup and scanning process, just see a fair amount of freelance gigs related to it) Any groundbreaking new software I absolutely need to know my way around to get hired?

Or, is it a hopeless cause to try and get consistent work in the game industry remotely, and should I just focus my efforts back on 2D like concept art and illustration? I have only found a few short term "gigs" for 3D since graduating, and the last one really left a bad taste in my mouth with how awful it was (zero  direction, terrible communication, refusal to pay, and the expectation to work absurd hours).
I do enjoy 3D modeling a bit more, and am open to alternative uses of my skills for things like selling on 3D marketplaces, doing architectural renderings, etc.... but in case it's not obvious, I have absolutely no clue on where to focus my efforts. 

Larry

Hey mate i'm by far very amateur as well, but reading your post, if I were in your shoes I would definitely invest time to learn photogrammetry especially if you have professional equipment. I checked your portfolio and the materials seem to be lacking storytelling like cracks dirt etc, and it's pretty visible that you didn't give any love or dedication to that part of the pipeline. So if you dislike sunstance painter/designer you can learn about scanning the materials and making them tileable. Alternatively, honing your skills on hand painted textures will get you a job a lot easier as a huge amount of mobile games are stylized or 2d. As for the remote part, well, others with experience might have more to say

poopipe

Concentrate on modelling and texturing standalone props / characters from other people's concepts. 

Nobody will employ you remotely to do anything that requires the rest of the game as context because it's too difficult to manage the iteration cycle (speaking as somebody who's managed outsourced artwork)

fwiw 
Photogrammetry assets are something you buy from megascans or commission from specialist companies. It's not cost effective to create your own unless you're looking at feeding multiple titles over several years with the assets you build.  I wouldn't see it as a useful skill in terms of getting employed unless you're a ninja at processing the data when it comes in. 
As a business to start up with the intention of selling assets it makes sense -  if that's something that appeals then I don't see why it isn't worth a go.

sacboi

^ Agreed.

Also similarly as poopipe commented, unless 3d scanned content is initially planned from the outset for reuse over a specific duration relevant too end product/project context...probably less effective or indeed efficient use of invested time and effort in terms of a likely potential return. Though vis-à-vis, if developing a solo interactive experience might be of interest? then there are standalone examples of how people are leveraging a photogrammetry pipeline:

Development log - Building a complete car from scans - VR Game dev