Anyone ever work full time AND do contract work?

ebagg

Is it possible to work full time as a game artist at one company, and do contracts for others? For those who have, describe what it was like, what legal contracts may have been signed, what hours were like, was it worth it, was the contract company understanding of your full time hours, etc etc.

Josh_Singh

Yes, It's possible, and Yes you will not have a life. I know from experience dude. Just don't bite off more than you can chew.

Thegodzero

agreed, if you have too much free time and its ok to do at your work then go for it. I tried it while i was waiting for my gf to move over here and it was do able because i had nothing to do other than work.

So if you have a life outside of work then dont do it, if you dont then try it out see if it works for you.

Joshua Stubbles

I'm doing it right now, actually.
I work 8hrs at IGT, then I come home and do a little contract work for 5000ft. Basically I gave a minimal amount of work I could put in over a 2 week period (I said 24hrs, or 2hrs a night). 2 Hours per night isn't that bad I think, but there are times where you just want to be lazy, right? Same here. So if I don't do work 1-2 nights of the week, I put in those hours on Saturday or Sunday.

As for contract clauses, they're pretty easy to interpret. You basically just can't talk about/use something from one company to the other.

Is it worth it? I think so. My full time job right now is scripting, of all things. It's basically programming. MIND NUMBING work. So being able to come home and do some artwork really eases the nerves. And it's some extra cash to boot!

Just keep in mind, make sure you save at LEAST %25 of each paycheck for taxes at the end of the year. They don't tax your money when you're a contractor. So at the end of the year you have to pay in all all of that money you earned. If you didn't save, you'll be screwed.

rawkstar

yeah i did that... i did that plus personal art work while i was crunching on my full time job (12 hour days) and well.. it sucked ASSS don't do it, unless you HAVE an extra say 4-6 hours a day you want to spend modeling

Marcus Dublin

If you decide to take it on make sure to stock up on Red bull and coffee, they work great together for that extra buzz to keep you going through the night. Tell your love ones and friends that you'll see them in a few months and forget making any plans on the weekends! Seriously though Josh is right, don't take on more than you can handle at any given time and make sure you work out a realistic schedule with your contractor or else you'll find yourself over promising and under delivering! If it's a small gig that's not overly demanding two to three hours a night during the week and an additional 6 or so hours on the weekend should suffice.


Marcus Dublin
Artist - Kaos Studios

poopinmymouth

I did it for a while, it's not horrible in short stints. Just realize that your entire existence will be 3d, eat, and sleep (sometimes).

AstroZombie

I've had a hard time trying to motivate myself to do contract work after working 8+ hours a day. If I am going to do 3d in my free time I would rather it was something that I wanted to do for myself, rather than trying to meet what a client wants.

Ryno

You can do it. But if you are well paid at your regular job, why would you want to?

I'm getting to the point where it just isn't worth the extra money. My time is more valuable.

Joshua Stubbles

As I said, don't over promise. Just say you can work like 2hrs a night, tops. Then you can work 8hrs on weekends. I still have time to myself, and time to play games/relax.

sinistergfx

Unless you -really- need/want the money, save that time for yourself; you've got to do things for yourself sometime.

I like to work on personal projects and learn new things.