eh I said more stupid things in my day, just keep your mouth shut you made a mistake learn from it, apply no more then 2 weeks after applying, dont expect to hear back so fast from BIG wig' companies like Id, epic,blizzard unless you know alot of people there or have the talent to back you up there (be honest with yourself the people that apply there and know they can work there usually know there skill set)
But dont take it as a stone to not apply just take it as a understanding if you dont hear anything. Hell I would consider it a honor if the guys at epic laughed at my stuff some times anyway (atleast means there looking!)
i don't think the whole "start on cell phone game art and move into a character artist position on a next gen project" career path really exists, its totally different skillsets that don't really transfer over, if thats what you want to do then you should probably either do more of that in spare time or try to get a job doing that anywhere, your first job is most likely not going to be your dream job, but you have to realize its your skillset thats going to be the most important thing, not the company you work for, i doubt wow GMs ever get promoted to character artists just by the virtue of working for blizzard.
I agree. Unless he's looking for something that pays the bills (and possibly an inside track on possible openings) while he grinds away in his spare time (on a totally unrelated skill set), the skill and work he produces on the mobile games can't be traded for a character job, outside of mobile. Unfortunately he's faced with reality of paying the bills until he has the skills.
Working mobile games and working pc/console games i agree are two very different jobs with different skillsets. But it will teach me to work with a team, take criticism, work with a budget, work within a given time frame, and produce selling art, as well as give me several published titles under my belt and the years of experience required to be able to apply for that 3d character artist position that i desire, as well as giving me the money to get a place to stay and afford the kind of computer i can use to build up my skills with next gen assets, which i currently dont really have (the pc i mean)
Sounds like a plan. Just don't feel intimidated. It's not like you have to go to the ends of the earth. Just pace yourself reasonably. Definitely hit up ID again once you get some more stuff up and keep at it, you never know. Just don't make it the ONLY company you will work for.
Your textures are way too big for mobile games, dude.
Check out the portfolio linekd earlier and search out more mobile work. Your modeling and texturing is good but you don't seem to understand the technical concerns.
Learn to make more efficient UV maps and paint with less pixels and you'll have a job, (just not necessarily at iD.)
Yea i've gathered that after all the discussion. I'll be working on a few more low spec characters, this time with a much lower res texture, and lower target polycount, see how many i can pop out in a weeks time after i get finished with my orc's texture.
Maybe you can start by spell checking your 'about me' page? And not using frames on your site? And providing a pdf and doc version of your resume? All things that should be standard for anyone looking for a job, games or not.
Your textures are way too big for mobile games, dude.
Not necessarily. Given how close the enemys appear to get in that game and how little else is in the world, I think you could get away with a 256 texture, although you'd want to use it a bit more efficiently and it'd need to be LODed in game.
The job ad is for DS, IPhone and the new NGage as well as a couple of other mobile phone formats, so they're dealing with hardware that has a little bit of power (relatively speaking).
Even if 256 is a "manageable size" the UV layout and the reuse of texture space is a must. Even at 256 some pretty big advantages could be gained. I'm also not sure why the inner robe, which is mostly covered is larger then the outer which is much higher detail? I'm not sure about the pixel density but I'm sure more could be done to make game ready.
Maybe you can start by spell checking your 'about me' page? And not using frames on your site? And providing a pdf and doc version of your resume? All things that should be standard for anyone looking for a job, games or not.
I think the site design is a bit awkward, though still simple and easy to navigate. But Rob, sorry if this is a naive question, but why not use frames? And if you are submitting your resume in an email to the company, why is it essential to have a version on your site?
I never had trouble getting replies with the absence of an on-site resume.
Yea, i'm just going to end up redoing that character i think, or really heavily modifying it, then re-unwrapping it to get a better resolution out of it and make it use more texture space
Do you think i might have a better chance applying to be a beta tester, then moving on to art from there?
dude I would stick yo art your texturing is awesome! but im not a low-poly man myself i would apply to gameloft if i were you. also maybe start doing some high-poly character models dont give up your got alot of potential!!!
hmm, yea i might try gameloft. I'm just going to really work on my texture and low poly skills. I'd do more high poly stuff, but i have an integrated gpu, and an agp 8X motherboard, so i cant render realtime shaders at all anymore.
hmm, yea i might try gameloft. I'm just going to really work on my texture and low poly skills. I'd do more high poly stuff, but i have an integrated gpu, and an agp 8X motherboard, so i cant render realtime shaders at all anymore.
dude get a job and save up! i work 6 days a week 8 hour days so i could buy my new computer and other art packages and trianing videos, if you dont buy a new computer you wont really grow as an artist! i had that problem as soon as i got my new comp i pumped out thigs 10x faster and better looking!
I know, but i live in the wrong part of the state, there just isnt any work available here, i'm tired of sitting around, so i strived to build a portfolio website, and i know i'm not the best at making websites, and found a job i qualified for at Id software and applied. If i get it, i'll be able to afford these things, and i'll have a great job at an even greater company.
I quite liked your webpage when it loaded and the work on it, I though you took a lot of unfair criticism and dealt with it in a very positive way but it's really weird the way you capitalise the first letter of a sentence when its an i but not when you are talking about yourself.
from the look of it, youv learned how to take criticism pretty well (polycount rape), and ur art is good, just need to get the tech restrictions down i guess and do some more art pieces.
And yes, Kenneth Fejer is a good standard to aim for so learn from his stuff. Depending on the style you're going for all you need is a tiny square of colour (skin, trousers, sweater for example), smush the uvs in that tiny square, leaving you with lots of space for face, details etc.
*edit*
If you're going to have rollovers on your website, make sure they pre-load.
Yea, i'm just going to end up redoing that character i think, or really heavily modifying it, then re-unwrapping it to get a better resolution out of it and make it use more texture space
If you're going to redo it, a good place to start would be creating a new UV layout on a second UV channel then transfer/render the first UV channel to the second. That will take what you have done and put it on a new UV layout. Be sure to put any overlapping pieces off the grid exactly 1 unit over, that way they'll tile but not be included in the transfer/render.
I can write up a super quick mini tutorial if you're a 3dsmax or Maya user. Let me know if you decide to go that route and if you need that kind of help
Frankie: many people whose first language is one other than English find that capitalising 'I' has no use and looks very cocky. Those that are religious might think so even more, as the only case in which you/I/his/him or whatever are capitalised in the few languages that I know a little bit of (that aren't English) is when it's referring to God (or Jesus).
Also, a lowercase i looks so much nicer in the context of a sentence. I typed it in lowercase for a long time, out of principle, but then it was hard to suddenly switch to uppercase 'I' for official letters and such, so I just gave up typing it in lowercase.
I think its pretty safe to say if you see a lowercase i and it comes from a native English speaker/writer they're just too lazy to push shift... But I guess they could try to pawn their laziness off as humility ha!
Thanks for the tutorial, it will probably help out quite a bit. as for the whole not capitalizing i when its in mid sentence and not the first letter, its just easier, and i feel like a douche when i always capitalize it lol.
RE writing stuff: it makes more sense to consider how communication is interpreted by the reader, rather than how you feel writing it :P. small i comes off informal and conversational, so I wouldn't use it in any important correspondance
Anyway, kudos for not flipping out at the criticism (many have taken a more perilous and derailing path ) Good looking work on your site, keep producing it and you shouldnt have too much to worry about
Thats a great article to keep bookmarked for when that interview finally comes. At this point, i'd love to get interviewed, but with my current skillset that wont happen i'm sure. I need to start creating some next gen assets along with my low poly stuff if i'm going to ever land a job working in the game industry as an artist. Need a better damn computer! lol
I've sent my portfolio off now to a couple other companies, gameloft among them. I'm not holding onto too much hope just yet. I might try to get more current/next gen assets done then see if i can find places in seattle to apply with. Then move on from there if i manage to get one anyways.
Replies
But dont take it as a stone to not apply just take it as a understanding if you dont hear anything. Hell I would consider it a honor if the guys at epic laughed at my stuff some times anyway
Check out the portfolio linekd earlier and search out more mobile work. Your modeling and texturing is good but you don't seem to understand the technical concerns.
Learn to make more efficient UV maps and paint with less pixels and you'll have a job, (just not necessarily at iD.)
The job ad is for DS, IPhone and the new NGage as well as a couple of other mobile phone formats, so they're dealing with hardware that has a little bit of power (relatively speaking).
I think the site design is a bit awkward, though still simple and easy to navigate. But Rob, sorry if this is a naive question, but why not use frames? And if you are submitting your resume in an email to the company, why is it essential to have a version on your site?
I never had trouble getting replies with the absence of an on-site resume.
I applied to epic awhile ago for a texture artist position they replied to me the next day :O pretty fast :poly142:
Do you think i might have a better chance applying to be a beta tester, then moving on to art from there?
dude I would stick yo art your texturing is awesome! but im not a low-poly man myself i would apply to gameloft if i were you. also maybe start doing some high-poly character models
dude get a job and save up! i work 6 days a week 8 hour days so i could buy my new computer and other art packages and trianing videos, if you dont buy a new computer you wont really grow as an artist! i had that problem as soon as i got my new comp i pumped out thigs 10x faster and better looking!
Not that im any better at it
http://gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=global&query=Mobile
And yes, Kenneth Fejer is a good standard to aim for so learn from his stuff. Depending on the style you're going for all you need is a tiny square of colour (skin, trousers, sweater for example), smush the uvs in that tiny square, leaving you with lots of space for face, details etc.
*edit*
If you're going to have rollovers on your website, make sure they pre-load.
I can write up a super quick mini tutorial if you're a 3dsmax or Maya user. Let me know if you decide to go that route and if you need that kind of help
whoo whee
Also, a lowercase i looks so much nicer in the context of a sentence. I typed it in lowercase for a long time, out of principle, but then it was hard to suddenly switch to uppercase 'I' for official letters and such, so I just gave up typing it in lowercase.
For anyone interested in the transfer UV's mini-tut I wrote it up here:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=878996#post878996
In the near future I'll do up a more through tutorial with pics and what not...
Anyway, kudos for not flipping out at the criticism (many have taken a more perilous and derailing path
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21424
indecom.. imo you should start at some smaler company to get some experience first.. you´re on a good path but still on the way...
I read that and took notes!
Any tips pre-interview, ala application process?