Advice for looking for job in gaming industry after big life event?
polycounter lvl 6
I haven't had a job for a long time. Almost 3 years now. I graduated from school at RIT with a degree in 3D Digital Design in 2016. I also studied game design. It's my dream job to be a game designer. My plan was to go into 3D environment art in the gaming industry and breakthrough, eventually, become a game designer. I have made mods for games and made small games in Unity. I have done tons of 3D in Maya/3ds Max/Blender 2.8+. I know both Unity and Unreal Engine. I love creating 3d environment art for games.
When I graduated from college, I was ready to start upgrading my portfolio and search for a job right away. We found out 3 days after my graduation that my dad had stage 4 colon cancer. So I had to hold off the job search and take care of him with my mom. We don't have any family. Just us. It got really bad quickly and for a long time. He died. It was hard to get through it. Not only that. My PC broke from electrical shock (old house with old outlets and no ground that my father would never fix). So I had to sell anything for my new computer on a budget. My mom and I were left with no money. No life insurance. His retirement was taken away from my mom from the government. So my mom will never retire or have any money. Then we had to move out of the house and downsize. I then at that time realized that my dad is a hoarder. He had four storage units (20x10) filled with stuff. Not garbage but just stuff. He also owned his own hair salon business which went out of business after he died because his employees stole all our money and harassed us online at my dad's funeral. So my point is that one thing after another has happened. It took 2 years to move and downsize. I still have a lot of stuff to get rid of. We just sold our old house. I have been selling stuff online. Then my mom got really in bad shape, she needed 24/7 care and I was alone to help her. I had to help her. There was no time to work on my portfolio and get a job in the gaming industry. I had nothing to do. I tried to get a job at retail like bagging groceries, home depot, or anywhere.
Also, I have severe hearing loss. I wear hearing aids. That's a big reason why it's been so hard for me to get a job and now 2020 aborted a lot of jobs. There are only so many jobs I can do that don't evolve hearing. I got so many rejection letters for jobs saying that I'm not capable due to my hearing loss this year which made me so frustrated. I had a job for a short while 2 years ago but I got bullied by my boss for my hearing loss to the point where even HR wouldn't help and I had to quit. I felt really depressed at that time.
So I started working on my portfolio just a few weeks ago after finishing moving and selling the old house. I have Photoshop, Blender 2.9, UE4, and Quixel Suite. I want to get a job as an environment artist in the gaming industry. I'm also almost 29 years old. I'm scared that I won't ever get a job just because of my age or work experience. I have work experience in construction and some 3D work at school and worked for my dad during high school. It's just not 3D related. I know I'm very good at what I do in 3D art and design for games. I have been practicing 3D in whatever free time I had and now I'm working on 3D every day. It just comes to me naturally. I have been doing graphics and 3D since I was in middle school. I remember I did game programming and hacked a sonic game. Then I did Zbrush and Maya in high school. Ton of photoshop as well. Made mods for Unreal tournament.
I talked to my professors from college about this recently, they said that I should still be able to get a job. They always need more artists or designers. I was one of the best students. They also said that I had a big life event. Most people would understand. One of the professors even said when he was my age, he had a big career change for a long time. They told me it's best if I just dedicate all my time possible to work on my portfolio. Have 4-5 pieces and a good resume. Get ArtStation website portfolio which I do have but it's all really old work that I'm not happy with anymore.
https://olliverpetkac.artstation.com/
My plan for 2021 is this:
Work on my portfolio almost every day for 8 hours each day. I'm doing a challenge where I do a remake of an old game environment in UE4 and Quxiel Suite every week. I also want to update one of my old portfolio pieces (pinewood forest). I want to create a whole new environment as well. I'm meeting with a recruiter in a few weeks to have them help me find a job (even a part-time temp job).
Do you guys have any advice for me? I really need a job and I know I can be really good in the gaming industry.
When I graduated from college, I was ready to start upgrading my portfolio and search for a job right away. We found out 3 days after my graduation that my dad had stage 4 colon cancer. So I had to hold off the job search and take care of him with my mom. We don't have any family. Just us. It got really bad quickly and for a long time. He died. It was hard to get through it. Not only that. My PC broke from electrical shock (old house with old outlets and no ground that my father would never fix). So I had to sell anything for my new computer on a budget. My mom and I were left with no money. No life insurance. His retirement was taken away from my mom from the government. So my mom will never retire or have any money. Then we had to move out of the house and downsize. I then at that time realized that my dad is a hoarder. He had four storage units (20x10) filled with stuff. Not garbage but just stuff. He also owned his own hair salon business which went out of business after he died because his employees stole all our money and harassed us online at my dad's funeral. So my point is that one thing after another has happened. It took 2 years to move and downsize. I still have a lot of stuff to get rid of. We just sold our old house. I have been selling stuff online. Then my mom got really in bad shape, she needed 24/7 care and I was alone to help her. I had to help her. There was no time to work on my portfolio and get a job in the gaming industry. I had nothing to do. I tried to get a job at retail like bagging groceries, home depot, or anywhere.
Also, I have severe hearing loss. I wear hearing aids. That's a big reason why it's been so hard for me to get a job and now 2020 aborted a lot of jobs. There are only so many jobs I can do that don't evolve hearing. I got so many rejection letters for jobs saying that I'm not capable due to my hearing loss this year which made me so frustrated. I had a job for a short while 2 years ago but I got bullied by my boss for my hearing loss to the point where even HR wouldn't help and I had to quit. I felt really depressed at that time.
So I started working on my portfolio just a few weeks ago after finishing moving and selling the old house. I have Photoshop, Blender 2.9, UE4, and Quixel Suite. I want to get a job as an environment artist in the gaming industry. I'm also almost 29 years old. I'm scared that I won't ever get a job just because of my age or work experience. I have work experience in construction and some 3D work at school and worked for my dad during high school. It's just not 3D related. I know I'm very good at what I do in 3D art and design for games. I have been practicing 3D in whatever free time I had and now I'm working on 3D every day. It just comes to me naturally. I have been doing graphics and 3D since I was in middle school. I remember I did game programming and hacked a sonic game. Then I did Zbrush and Maya in high school. Ton of photoshop as well. Made mods for Unreal tournament.
I talked to my professors from college about this recently, they said that I should still be able to get a job. They always need more artists or designers. I was one of the best students. They also said that I had a big life event. Most people would understand. One of the professors even said when he was my age, he had a big career change for a long time. They told me it's best if I just dedicate all my time possible to work on my portfolio. Have 4-5 pieces and a good resume. Get ArtStation website portfolio which I do have but it's all really old work that I'm not happy with anymore.
https://olliverpetkac.artstation.com/
My plan for 2021 is this:
Work on my portfolio almost every day for 8 hours each day. I'm doing a challenge where I do a remake of an old game environment in UE4 and Quxiel Suite every week. I also want to update one of my old portfolio pieces (pinewood forest). I want to create a whole new environment as well. I'm meeting with a recruiter in a few weeks to have them help me find a job (even a part-time temp job).
Do you guys have any advice for me? I really need a job and I know I can be really good in the gaming industry.
Replies
I'd only warn that recruiters in our industry only "seem to work" when your portfolio is attractive to the AD. Honestly, almost any judghment call they make on art is useless because they tend to not be working artist themselves, and ESPECIALLY because they're not the hiring manager.
I only say this to emphasize not putting too much hope into them; if anything, make sure you ask them what you can do to help both you and them out so both get something out of you getting hired.
Regarding life logistics, if you need more specific advice about that, there's definitely subreddits like PersonalFinance or PovertyFinance that have good advice regarding low-level cost saving strategies and budget approaches. I have found myself looking through them here and there to gain advice and wisdom about some parts of my own finances, especially in an expensive area like LA.
In finding work, I know what I really valued was a day job that was incredibly strict about 8 hours a day, and being able to leave things completely at work. For me, for just a month and a half in Washington after a botched Microsoft gig, it was a groundskeeping job on a golf course. Woke up, did the work, and left. But I was able to completely leave work and bring my full bore creativity to freelance contracts or learning at home to better my portfolio.
Your professors, I'd imagine, were right about you being their best student, but as a Riot/Treyarch engineer has repeated to me during my undergrad at USC: "Your competition isn't people at your school: it's the internet." Just keep that perspective in mind when you make your art, because the bad ass artists on the internet are the quality bar.
Do you want to be a game designer, or game artist though? Because I have never really seen a designer, outsided of some sparse engineering art from indie designers, do game art.
Regharding the disability, I have to think there's disability advocates that you could reach out to online to get advice about . . . circumventing the discrimination on this front.
I'm fully aware that the internet is my competition. My goal is to create 2 to 4 really good pieces and get an entry-level job as a game artist or environment artist. Just to get into the industry. Break into it. Brian "Panda" Choi said: My heart and passion say game designer. I also love game art and am very good at it though. I have made some small games where I did both the game design and art. I just don't really like doing the programming part. My dream job is honestly more of a game director I guess. I don't know any other way to break into the industry other than being a game artist first and then learn from everyone in the industry. I have bought some amazing courses on making games in Unity/UE4 and I could add them to my portfolio website as well.
There are quite a few game designers who are also an artist or writer. In fact, I think Shigeru Miyamoto was an artist before he was a game designer and created Mario. Hideo Kojima is another. Unless you think I should have my portfolio being game design? I did have an idea of turning my pine forest project (in my artstation) project into a mini story-telling game or puzzle game. Like very simple and minimal. Like just walk, examine, and storytelling.
I feel like my only chance to break into the industry is to get in there as an artist and then go from there.
Yeah, I will be asking about that when I meet with my job recruiters on zoom in few weeks. They specialize in helping people with a disability that have a hard time finding a job due to disability of any kind.
I do enjoy environment art and other game art. However, I do see it as a gateway to becoming a game designer eventually. I just don't see any other way of breaking into the industry. I do have experience in making mods for games and making small games in Unity/UE4. In fact, about 3-4 years ago. I was trying to make an indie game in UE4 that was fairly small, but I never got to finish it cuz of moving and everything else happening in my life. All my friends keep telling me that the game sounded really cool and hope that I will someday get back to it.
Thank you. I could use all the luck for this year to finally have a life and money. I just feel alive when I'm doing anything related to games such as art or design. I've been wanting to be part of the gaming industry since I was 12 years old.
I mean talk about bad luck. At the beginning of 2020, I was sooo close to getting a part-time job as a personal trainer at my gym and then the pandemic hit. Then I didn't feel safe going to public places and I still asked them about the job cuz I need money. They said they're not interested now because it would be too much work to train me with a mask on due to my hearing loss and that really hurt me. I remember when it was February or March of 2020, I was so happy and ready to get a part-time job (I love working out and fitness) making money while I work on my portfolio online and start living life like move into an apartment, start dating, join a public game dev group, etc. The pandemic also made moving and sell the old house much harder.
Hopefully, this year will be a lot better and we can all have some healing from the disaster that is 2020.
You will likely not be able to do both at a medium to triple A studio. Your only reasonably chance to do both is going to be as an independent developer.
You really need to choose either or.
OR, make indie games.
I do know that in a medium to small sized studio the environment artists often get a lot of input into design. If you have varied interests aiming for a smaller studio is probably a good bet since you'll be able to poke your fingers into more pies.
If you think you'll enjoy doing environment art and you can get a job doing it then why not? It's not like you can't change lanes over the course of your career and a couple of dev cycles in any role is a big plus
Brian and Zi0 addressed a lot of other areas and made excellent points. And definitely research and find disability groups and advocates; there are industry groups related to this area as well as not strictly industry-related but helpful resources none-the-less. The recruiter sounds like a good start.
So, presuming you'll want to do environment art and need to be hirable quickly, I'll go over what you currently have up;
So yeah, make sure you at least see a little of what you're going to be having to do and compete with if you continue on this path. Maybe you already are comparing, and its just a matter of updating with new projects, but better safe than sorry. Did notice your other thread at the moment looks a bit more promising regarding my concerns here.
Of the hard surface modeling, Jet has some of the more complex modeling you've done, but also quite a few problems. Would remove that. Make sure you're read up on the how the f do I model this thread; it has solutions to a lot of hurdles I think you might have been encountering. Cobra is something to go on a blog, maybe, not really a portfolio piece. Lab is promising enough that it could probably stay.
Once again, apologies for the bluntness, but your senior thesis project description is accidentally a little revealing, I think. The issue with this project is absolutely not the lack of 4k/8k textures, or FX, or ray tracing. There are a lot of good things in this project, but also quite a few glaring errors and signs that you didn't have a super-refined artistic eye, or maybe that your workflow was a bit busted. If you choose to make a go of updating this, maybe if you made a thread here regarding it people could weigh in while you work...? I only say this because I simultaneously agree that this is your most promising project and it's got a lot of really good aspects, but also that your description of it gave me big huge red flags on how you'd approach updating it and what you'd prioritize. Live feedback from other artists would help mitigate that, I think. I could keep writing about this but I don't really want to do a whole breakdown unless you're actually interested in that; this post is so long already lol
Your strong suit is definitely your general sense for spaces (I can tell you're more of a designer), but in terms of art you may benefit a lot from recreating a really good, small concept faithfully and really considering what kind of workflows and aesthetics pros currently use, or will be using in the future, and why. Breaking down games that look good, and trying to implement the stuff that appeals to you or that gets the kind of look you want or need for the scene.
All of this said! Your plan sounds pretty good. Also just to recap I believe it may be better to have less stuff on your portfolio and kind of start fresh than to have such old stuff or stuff you don't like on there.
I'm keen to see new projects from you, and I really do wish you luck in finding your place within this industry ASAP. I also hope you can find the space to mourn the last few years, if that's not too out of pocket.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind working for a small studio since they often times can have a bigger creative outlet with fewer crunch times. I have read and been told by others in the industry that people oftentimes change lanes in their careers.
Yes, it's naturally dated. I wanted to update it even at the time I created it. It was just a big project and I had other classes. So it wasn't like I had all the time to just focus on the thesis project. It was my first truly modular project. I'm always checking other people's breakdowns of their art projects and seeing how they did. Destiny 2 is a beautiful game!
Should I update the weapon model and create a new one that is "next-gen" with a higher poly model, better uvs, and brand new textures? Same for the monster? I could download a trial of ZBrush and reopen all my files. Originally I wanted the monster to be a part of the Pineview forest project and turn it into a mini-game.
Yes, get rid of the underground tunnel. I also want to turn the lab into a game environment with textures. That could end up being a quick quixel/ue4 project. I just have to download a trial of Maya and Zbrush so I can reopen all my school projects which were done in that software and I can't afford them.
Yeah, I want to redo the plants and vegetation. Maybe just downscale the project, just show the central garden, the room, and the living headquarters. I think updating the textures in higher quality would help. I don't have a very decent pc anymore (it's 5 years old) and don't have a ray-tracing card (GTX 1070). I'm not even sure if it's worth it to upgrade my pc at all since my CPU is pretty slow and a bottleneck and I simply just want to get a job and get a brand new pc when I have money. It's like throwing money into an old car that keeps breaking down.
I will definitely post the Pineview forest project on a thread once I start working on it.
I don't think I would work up my way through art, I would try to get into level design and then game design. Then possibly do indie work. I also just want to be part of the community. I love the gaming industry despite all its flaws such as crunch times (which need to be fixed). I can't think of anything else I'm really passionate about and enjoy doing.
Thank you.
That really helps keep me motivated.
For an Environment Artist or Level Designer. It is a good idea to have props (something you would likely be doing or working with as an Environment Artist), relevant. But characters are a huge undertaking that need a similar amount of learning and time to perfect and also don't have a lot of overlap with Environment work, so if you're splitting your attention to both environments AND ALSO anatomy and rigging and character animation, it's likely you will just... well, slow your progress at improving with environment art, alongside showing to them why you're not a character/creature artist. Even if you can technically get it done, a creature or character that is not the same level as your environments will distract and only serve as an excuse to doubt your work, in the context of a portfolio.
Should I have a portfolio piece that is just props? or create an environment that is has created props?
Yeah, technical art sounds interesting but doesn't sound like something I would enjoy doing...
I think I will just redo the high poly model. It was rushed and last minute from what I remember. It for a final deadline and I had a bunch of classes. I think I just did automatic retypo on it and apply some quick textures. Bam, called it done. I feel that the high poly model could use some work around the handle and grip.
I have a GTX 1070, not 1080. I think you're right. Once I get a job, I will replace my desktop completely. It's just getting old and my cpu is so slow for compiling code/shaders on my pc. It's just a mix of some 8-year-old parts and 4-year-old parts.
I think the biggest holdup for me right now that is really bothering me when I'm working on my project (such as my DM-Tutorial UT map project that I'm currently working on). Blender. Blender is 2.91 is still nowhere as good as Maya/3DS Max and ZBrush. I'm trying to do many things that I can't do easily as I was able to on Maya. Same with ZBrush. In blender, the sculpt is pretty simple and only handles about 3-4 million poly which is actually pretty low while ZBrush handles 40 million. I'm trying to sculpt and it's just frustrating. I wish I still had student version of Maya. I know Maya Indie is $280 for one year and it's the same as the full version of Maya. ZBrush is $160 for 6 months. Maybe I will ask my mom if she can help me with getting these software. I don't want to be taking forever to just create something when it's easier on other software. I don't want my software to limit my creativity. Blender is great and all (a bit overhyped), it's still lacking in many features and ease of use.