Toughest art tests you've done/conducted?

Snowfly

I was brought on-site to do an art test that covered perspective, rendering, anatomy, and concepting. Ended up working on it for 10 hours and filling 30+ sheets of paper (more, including scratch). My hand was a withered claw at the end of it all.

Afterwards over dinner with the company's creative director, I asked if art tests like that were the norm in the games industry and he said, he really had no idea.

So I'm curious, what kinds of art tests have you worked on, and which have been the toughest?

FunkaDelicDass

Was this for a concept artist job? It's not uncommon to have the concept guys draw something on site, but it's usually something quick, no longer than an hour. So I guess you had it rough...

I haven't had many bad ones. I actually did a test while I was employed within a company to upgrade my job to an animator. I had to model, texture and rig a character based off concept art they gave. Then animate a walk, run, attack, and idle. I was allowed to work on it on company time though, as it was right after we had shipped a game and most people were out on vacation. Guess that's the norm for most animator jobs though.

Snowfly

Yeah, it was for a concept art/illustration position. I can understand their art test is a great way to filter through the candidates, but I hope it doesn't reflect on their average work day.

The upgrade to animator test you did sounds almost fun, especially considering the situation at that time. Although you'd have to be pretty well rounded to get it done. Did you also get to work at your own pace, or was there a deadline?

FunkaDelicDass

Yeah, it was actually pretty fun. They gave a week to do it, Mon - Fri. That specific company really desired well rounded animators because they doubled as the character artists/riggers on the team as well.

danr

we used to bring interviewees in to the office for a whole day and set them a series of varied tasks, at a PC, surrounded by people on their normal working day, and being constantly insulted. There was a basic speed task, an applied creativity task, another one i can't remember, and all topped off with a thorough psych grilling from our mental creative director. Most people commented that it was ... weird. It didn't last very long unfortunately, due to the effort it took from everyone involved - only one to do when you're well out of crunch ...

Chunkey did that test, and also had to contend with an injured dog in the office too, if i remember.

Rick Stirling

Codemasters - it was stupid.

Drawing, maths, spatial awarness, colour blindness.

And after the 3 hours of testing I got the interview, and 15 minutes into the interview I had decided that I had no interest in working there (the job they had invited me for didn't actaully exist). Had I had the interview first I'd saved myself 3 hours of testing.

Snowfly

I heard in Japan they have you tap a sequence of LEDs with a stylus.

Sa74n

i thought in japan you have to have 2 highest level chars in lineage to get a job in games?

danr

rick - ah, the famous Codies IQ test ... hahaha ... "are you intelligent enough to work here?" "Yes. Therefore i won't"

firestarter

Bill them at an hourly rate! Most unusual, never done an art test and never will personally, the request itself highlights a lack of professionalism, mainly the point is "If I say jump... how high will he go?", seeing as interviews should be a mutual handshake, this rings the alarm bells. I can`t imagine anyone, actively wanting to work in that kind of atmosphere.
Nice of him to buy you dinner but I suspect that: "I asked if art tests like that were the norm in the games industry and he said, he really had no idea." answers your question admirably. All too often Art/Creative Directors have zero background and/or interest in games, these kind need to be shown the door, as the result is a much weaker product regardless of the directors artistic merit.
Sorry, mini rant-a-thon :P

Edit: What I said about directors reads overly harsh, I`m sure many adapt well, without background or interest in games.

Mark Dygert

I think firestarter said it perfectly, except for the bill them hourly part. I think an offsite test is perfectly acceptable, such as give a person a week to bang out a small part of a level, a character mesh, maybe a texture. I personally think it shows lack of trust if they want your art test done on-site. What if one party has a custom UI set up that the other is not farmilar with? Do they honestly work in such a rushed enviroment? If so what is wrong with management they feel the need to push everyone so hard or can't realisticly schedule? All that will do is burn people out and turn them away. Once the word gets out a place is a mill, the turn over rate is crazy and the management expects too much in too short of a time, good people stop applying.

I've been to 3 industry interviews (all three enviro art) and was offered, and turned down the jobs at 2 of them, the third I accepted. In all three cases I wasn't asked to do an art test.

nitzmoff

Years ago I did a level design test for Iron Lore. Had me build a NWN nights mod and write an essay about Dungeon Siege vs. Diablo on top of all the usual stuff. Thought I did a bang up job and the considerate chaps never even responded to me.

I think at the point that you actually are doing something specific for a company, something that was requested, you should get at least a response.

Another funny one was hearing back from Stormfront Studios exactly one year after submitting my stuff. By then I had already done a year at a company and was looking to go somewhere else oddly enough. Didn't give them the time of day though, but I might in a year or so

Lee3dee

I had 2 art tests given to me on the same day. 1 for EA Mythic and the other for nFusion Interactive. The Mythic test was fairly simple, create an environment for an MMO game using their style and specs. The nfusion test was very challenging because I had to create a scene based on a picture using Unreal 2004 and to the specs of Unreal Engine 3.

Both were due in a 2 weeks. The nfusion test took me about 9 days to complete and the remaining 5 days I worked on the Mythic test. I was going to ask Mythic for more time, but how do you say "im working on another test at the moment, can it get more time" lol.

Anyways, submitted both tests on time and you can guess which one offered me a job

ChaosEidolon

Ah, very helpful thread. I'll looking for work in the near future and im new to this whole art test thing.
Is two weeks pretty standard for the deadline?

Jeff Parrott

I've had two that were not difficult, just a lot to ask of someone. I understand they want to test you. But being asked to make a city block or ancient ruins with unlimited poly and texture limits is just a bit much. That being said these were two of the best console game companies in the industry so I understand their need to be meticulous in picking people.

That being said though my last job and my current job both had great art tests. I got them both done in the span of five days and got both offers from them both.

Daz

[ QUOTE ]
Codemasters - it was stupid.

Drawing, maths, spatial awarness, colour blindness.

And after the 3 hours of testing I got the interview, and 15 minutes into the interview I had decided that I had no interest in working there (the job they had invited me for didn't actaully exist). Had I had the interview first I'd saved myself 3 hours of testing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol, that was my EXACT same experience Rick. I guess its now infamous. I couldn't believe that test. In a room with a timer and 4 other candidates in silence. It was like sitting school exams again. Assinine.