Question about character artist recruitment in both quality of work and country of residence

Vamptacus

Hey everyone,

I have a general question about what the topic says and that is what level and quality of work do I need to reach before I'm at a level where I can apply for a character artist position?

https://www.artstation.com/vamptacus

and the other one which is somewhat important to me is the fact that I'm from Iran, now I'm not sure about anything but I hear a lot of negative things from people over here that because of the political situation, companies don't hire from here, honestly, this freaks me out greatly which is why I wanted to know what everyone thinks about this and if it's correct ...

Best wishes and thanks in advance.

slosh

I'm not quite sure about the country being an issue.  As someone looking at lots of folios, I would say that quality is the same regardless of where you are.  You need to compare your work to the best out there in the type of style you are aiming for.  Hard to gauge that without seeing a folio of work though.

Vamptacus

slosh said:

I'm not quite sure about the country being an issue.  As someone looking at lots of folios, I would say that quality is the same regardless of where you are.  You need to compare your work to the best out there in the type of style you are aiming for.  Hard to gauge that without seeing a folio of work though.

Thanks a lot slosh, not sure why but I completely forgot to link my portfolio ( already did ), sorry about that. also, I do check high-quality works but do I have to be at that level before I can apply? I look forward to it because I think joining a team would be very beneficial since you can learn a lot from them.

Taylor Brown

Living in Iran does pose a challenge for remote employers who are based in country's where there are embargos against Iran. Personally, I know my company has had to turn away a handful of outstanding artists because we simply can't legally pay them. Your art is pretty great though so it unfortunately might be a matter of trying to work on a visa to get out of there if this is the career you want. This is a pretty niche problem though.. might be worth reaching out to larger pools of artists on some of the big 3D art discord servers to hear more experiences.

Vamptacus

Taylor Brown said:

Living in Iran does pose a challenge for remote employers who are based in country's where there are embargos against Iran. Personally, I know my company has had to turn away a handful of outstanding artists because we simply can't legally pay them. Your art is pretty great though so it unfortunately might be a matter of trying to work on a visa to get out of there if this is the career you want. This is a pretty niche problem though.. might be worth reaching out to larger pools of artists on some of the big 3D art discord servers to hear more experiences.

Thanks a lot Taylor for your response, though I think you might have misunderstood me, I actually do want to migrate and move to somewhere else the second an opportunity arrives and the way you just explained, it seems that part is actually more reasonable than being a freelancer from here.

jStins

Disclaimer: I'm not a character artist nor have I been in position to hire one, but...

I think your portfolio is great. You should apply with confidence. Be persistent in searching and applying for open positions and I think you'll land something eventually. Good luck!

Vamptacus

jStins said:

Disclaimer: I'm not a character artist nor have I been in position to hire one, but...

I think your portfolio is great. You should apply with confidence. Be persistent in searching and applying for open positions and I think you'll land something eventually. Good luck!

Thank you, it means a lot. I'll probably do that after I finish another work or two to showcase some new stuff I've learned and to further increase the quality of my work, just a couple more months and it should all be set.

jStins

I just revisited your portfolio and if you're going to add to it... It might be good to include a finished male character to demonstrate range. Don't forget to post your progress in the WIP section.

slosh

Your folio work is indeed very good.  I think you are definitely qualified to get work immediately.  I think the only thing stopping you would be VISA stuff.  Not sure about other countries but for the US, you would need a number of things to even qualify: college degree, probably internships of some sort, publications, etc.  It's too bad you would have trouble getting work as a freelancer because of your country though.  Moving for a job does get more complicated.  Still, you have the quality to be hired for sure.  Keep at it and it will happen soon enough!

Vamptacus

slosh said:

Your folio work is indeed very good.  I think you are definitely qualified to get work immediately.  I think the only thing stopping you would be VISA stuff.  Not sure about other countries but for the US, you would need a number of things to even qualify: college degree, probably internships of some sort, publications, etc.  It's too bad you would have trouble getting work as a freelancer because of your country though.  Moving for a job does get more complicated.  Still, you have the quality to be hired for sure.  Keep at it and it will happen soon enough!

Thanks a lot !! that really does give me confidence, I'll definitely apply to various companies in a few months after I learn a bit of unreal and publish a better game art with it.

Zi0

Maybe you could hit up Siamak Roshani and ask him, he is a character artist from Iran that now works in the US so he probably has the anwsers you seek, here is a link to his YT channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BXkbV-TQx0

neilberard

I agree with the other comments, your portfolio looks good. Btw, there is nothing wrong with applying to places now. In my experience, most studios are completely fine with folks sending an application in again after updating their work. It might give you an opportunity to feel out the water a bit and ask questions about relocation, visas etc.

Vamptacus

Zi0 said:

Maybe you could hit up Siamak Roshani and ask him, he is a character artist from Iran that now works in the US so he probably has the anwsers you seek, here is a link to his YT channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BXkbV-TQx0

That's actually a very good idea! thanks. I hope he answers

Vamptacus

neilberard said:

I agree with the other comments, your portfolio looks good. Btw, there is nothing wrong with applying to places now. In my experience, most studios are completely fine with folks sending an application in again after updating their work. It might give you an opportunity to feel out the water a bit and ask questions about relocation, visas etc.

Honestly, I never thought about it like that, in my mind sending applications has a cooldown timer like if I send it to the said company then I can't do it again for a period of like 2 years ...

I'll probably try my luck a bit and see what happens.

neilberard

TBH I've never heard someone go, wait.... this person already applied 6 months ago, wtf?! Rejected! Now, if you are presenting the exact same artwork and haven't done thing to improve your portfolio, that is a different story. I've had friends who years after graduating, still have the same old class work in their portfolio and just update the look of their website thinking good enough.

doomeddane

The competition in the character artist sphere is immensely fierce, and some companies are willing to wait years for the right candidate.

Furthermore mostly all of the open jobs are for senior positions, and those few junior and "regular" character artists jobs there are, almost always require US work promising. 

Vamptacus

doomeddane said:

The competition in the character artist sphere is immensely fierce, and some companies are willing to wait years for the right candidate.

Furthermore mostly all of the open jobs are for senior positions, and those few junior and "regular" character artists jobs there are, almost always require US work promising. 

I'm not sure if this is for US only but I never had any intentions of applying to US, not sure why but I prefer  EU and Asia if possible, as of matter of fact I love Asia so much that I honestly don't care what company it is as long as I can go to JP, KR or China I guess my weeb meter is over 9k ...