Concept Artist Journey grey area and uncertainty...
Hello, I'm Brandon .
i wanted to see if anyone could offer a solution to this weird grey area of my concept art journey I'm in.
so many many years(6/7) of dedication and training have gone into my concept skill building. Enough so that reaching out to various studios has allowed me such feedback as either great work, awesome work, keep up the great work.! Some follow me on IG, some say they hire only hire senior artists But many either have no project work, or anything available for me to join in on or be a part off.
I've been reaching out directly to studios , inquiring. I've made many many connections on LinkedIn with Art directors,recruiters, seniors artists,and sent them direct inquiries and messages about open positions or feedback about my portfolio and often my work itself is not the problem but just a matter of no available positions or what I assume is lack of experience.
As of this year I have managed to be a part of a few indie gigs, and passion projects but nothing too too major. I CAN add this to my resume but it really hasn't been much, like doing one or two illustrations per project , etc.I feel with my work being at least industry acceptable then why is it so hard to actually land something.
I do apply like normal to most jobs, on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, indeed, sometimes directly on site. But all my efforts feel in vain. Social media growth is so slow, I really don't like being on it that much but damn why can't it just something have taken up so far, something with solidarity and certainty.
Like something is still missing or something.idk what to do. ?
I may sell my art but I more or less want a full time job doing this. Any other artists in this weird grey area, I lose motivation cause I keep at it but I get burned out.
Replies
Jobs in studios are mostly by word of mouth. So with that in mind, it's useful to get out there and make contacts. Go to industry events, go to Meetups, connect with people on LinkedIn, ArtStation, etc.
Looking at the portfolio in your sig, nice work. Your resume says you have skill with vehicles, characters and props, but I don't see any examples of this in the portfolio?
It's often a hard sell to hire just an environments concept person. The environments on your site also weight heavily towards greeble style. Seems to me it would help to show more subjects... more nature shots, rustic manmade sets, medieval castle, Viking village, "primitive" huts, etc.
I remember we compiled some advice here awhile back, might help you. http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/PortfolioContents#Concept_Artist
I get that it's frustrating some times. Hell, I've been there too, even with 20+ years of experience it still feels like I'm not worthy whenever I'm out of work. Just human nature I guess.
Make sure you're re-assessing your skills, and comparing with the best, try to be honest about weaknesses, then tackle them methodically.
Hey Eric thanks for replying. So I have definitely strived to include variety( locale/type of environment )in my portfolio, which was also feedback I had received before this updated site. I can totally do that, I figured most would tell me if they figured that was a major area I was lacking in.
definitely "greeble" heavy for scifi, mainly . It's an aesthetic I've seen before but I like it, idk how well defined I need to make those particular pieces as that is the aesthetic for some of them I but I understand what you mean.
in terms of connections I've made a lot mainly through LinkedIn , and have had direct communication with individuals in the industry and have received the feedback like I mentioned.
I feel like starting artists received mixed messages. Find a focus and get good at that but then when you apply for jobs some of them are a more general concept artist one. So you get both saying find a focus, others saying offer variety and be more general.
so I decided to mainly focus on environments, I may remove that aspect on my resume as I CAN do them but again my portfolio doesn't showcase that, true. So I most likely need to edit that, or add a few of those to my site so it isn't inaccurate.
The reason why starting artists get mixed messages is because its all opinions and experiences - there's no right path. Generally speaking, the level of specialization is dependent on how big the studio is. Also, hiring juniors is a risk for a company. Even if you have the skills, you might be terrible to work with, or can't meet deadlines (not saying you are, this is just the thought process). But you need someone to give you that shot so you can prove you're a valuable asset. Catch-22, for sure...
IMO, your portfolio is missing "concept" work. I see finished cinematic shots, but no breakdowns or closeups. The quality of your work is good, but I'd be pretty stumped as a 3D artist if you handed my any of those images. Just taking that first image as an example, I'd need closeup shots and info about decorative elements, texturing details etc.
This is the work of a concept artist I've worked with: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/w6Q83L
I also wanted to add, and this is in NO way, shape or form meant to flex or anything but I've received direct feedback people such as James paick*, who follows me on IG now (that was awesome) terraform studios and a few other studios on IG who have liked my work but no jobs available or well terraform only hires senior designers for example.
I just wanted to convey that people with that kind of experience and industry affiliation ,who have pretty much got me to my current level are now essentially saying my practice has paid dividends, atleast to get myself toindustry standards I would say.
Hi Benjamin, that's a very glaring point I definitely have missed or not considered when creating my recent site. I forgot to include the breakdowns, orthos, closeups, thumbnails I meant to have it show all the completed works. As a lot of artists like you said (opinions) have said show your top 5, your best 6, so and so , etc.
I totally forgot to actually include the actual concept,concept aspect, damn. It's obvious now that you point it out and I'm being serious. Cause I understand that stuff ACTUALLY matters often times more than the final material. Great to point out , her work looks amazing and is definitely what is missing from mines.
I would say that the work on your website is partly playing against you, simply because it seems to be mostly hybrid-ish 3d work. And while it might be seen as a trendy thing to do (and is indeed a real thing in some contexts, especially for previz), this also sends the message that you might be unsure about your own sketching skills, and might not be able to fill the seat if the AD is looking for someone who can spit out ideas fast using just a lasso tool or a sharpie pen.
FWIW I would say that your best work is probably the one with the red figure in front of the otherworldly ruins landscape - partly because it looks like it could have been done very quickly, yet still looks good.
Also ... Wix, really ?
lol yes..Wix, i know smh.., but i can definitely buy my own url now, i was saving up for sometime but that is something i need to do as well. Will look alot more official.
All great points you made Pior, and true it is a combination of a few things 3d being a very common workflow for myself, i have gotten pretty damn fast at it, but like you said employers wouldn't know or assume that necessarily, But i will be adding looser and more of the things mentioned on there, sketches, ideation stuff, thumbnails, production paintings, just more 'concept' concept stuff.
ok noted i will be aiming to add more content that give employers that i can generate ideas rather than just final concepts. So more work to be done but off in the right direction. Thanks my fellow creators, you've all offered and given great advice i will use and be accounting for now.
Also I think worth keeping in mind,
Other than sketching on the back a napkin or a spare sheet of 100gsm cartridge paper, there's it would seem an increasing number of industry artists adopting kitbashing to rapidly visualize fully fleshed 3d environment concepts:
https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/dNvlq/environment-concept-art-japanese-stilt-city
Side Note:
Likewise, after years modeling HS stuff this worflow in my opinion, would suit as a kind of test exercise basically transition piece, I can see myself really sinking the teeth into sometime in the near future.
yeah similar I was into a lot of scifi stuff for a while too, Kitbashing is super convenient , something I started doing too. Blender has the asset manager add on , which comes in super handy when you don't feel like modeling or ya know can use for a future or similar project.
I saw that Kevin had that blender tutorial, probably has some neat stuff in there that I never thought to do but could be something to buy sometime in the near future.