So....What now? (Need advice)
polycounter lvl 14
Hey guys. I'll try to keep this brief so it doesn't sound like I'm whining. I graduated from a lackluster school. Once I finished I realized that I was nowhere near ready to land a job in this industry. Being pretty bummed out someone directed me to polycount. So I got a few part time jobs and starting trying to absorb all the info here when I wasn't working.
A year later I thought I'd come pretty far from where I was initially so I started applying to studios I liked, and then to every studio I could find with a vacancy. The response was poor. So I figured okay, I'll just keep working and try again when I have better work to show.
So here I am now repeating the process and hoping I get a bite from places that I essentially cold call and apply to. I've read many threads here and listened to podcast and got the impression that if you're portfolio is strong enough you will find a work.
After having 1 response to 40 applications in the past I took that as a sign that I needed to significantly improve so I just kept at my day job (restaurant) and working on my portfolio at night. I've just started this cycle again, but am not really sure what to do if this go around goes as badly as the last. I've been a part of a few independent efforts for a while but nothing significant that I could rely on to pay off bills and student loans.
So, I guess my question is, am I doing this the right way? I really enjoy creating game art and would do it even if I won the lotto, but I am more or less clueless on how to get a real job with it. What I'm doing now doesn't seem to be working so I don't know if I should be doing something else or just keep working at a job I hate so I can work on my portfolio at night. I understand that is pretty common, but I've done it for almost two years now. Do I just keep repeating the cycle of work on portfolio at night - apply - repeat until I one of the places gets back to me?
Well that wasn't short at all and I apologize for the rant, but I am feeling pretty lost. If anyone can offer any kind of guidance I would really appreciate it. I don't really have anywhere else I can go for advice.
http://ulloart.com/
A year later I thought I'd come pretty far from where I was initially so I started applying to studios I liked, and then to every studio I could find with a vacancy. The response was poor. So I figured okay, I'll just keep working and try again when I have better work to show.
So here I am now repeating the process and hoping I get a bite from places that I essentially cold call and apply to. I've read many threads here and listened to podcast and got the impression that if you're portfolio is strong enough you will find a work.
After having 1 response to 40 applications in the past I took that as a sign that I needed to significantly improve so I just kept at my day job (restaurant) and working on my portfolio at night. I've just started this cycle again, but am not really sure what to do if this go around goes as badly as the last. I've been a part of a few independent efforts for a while but nothing significant that I could rely on to pay off bills and student loans.
So, I guess my question is, am I doing this the right way? I really enjoy creating game art and would do it even if I won the lotto, but I am more or less clueless on how to get a real job with it. What I'm doing now doesn't seem to be working so I don't know if I should be doing something else or just keep working at a job I hate so I can work on my portfolio at night. I understand that is pretty common, but I've done it for almost two years now. Do I just keep repeating the cycle of work on portfolio at night - apply - repeat until I one of the places gets back to me?
Well that wasn't short at all and I apologize for the rant, but I am feeling pretty lost. If anyone can offer any kind of guidance I would really appreciate it. I don't really have anywhere else I can go for advice.
http://ulloart.com/
Replies
I live in New York and would move anywhere.
For whatever it's worth your modeling/texture work seems good (I would highly suggest you remove the barbarian at the bottom though...) but your designs are weak, I'd suggest either working off someone else's character designs or try to push the detail/interest in yours a lot further.
At the moment you have a lot of "next gen" work that is about on par design-complexity wise with simplified stylized games.
It's available in his profile. Just click his name and there is a link to the website.
@Lroy: If I were you I wouldn't give up doing whatever it is you're doing right now. Keep doing new stuff and step it up a level each time. You need contacts so I would recommend going to GDC and what not. Keep applying to smaller companies. I'm not sure if you're willing to do intern work but experience is worth a lot, it's also good if it can improve your portfolio. It took me way more than 40 applications until I got my first job and I don't think I'm the only one.
Advice: You may want to consider knocking out some props and applying for 3d generalist positions. They're easier to get good at, and there's more jobs in that area. Like others have said, becoming a character artist isn't easy these days, and your lack of professional experience is definitely hurting you more than the quality of your work. Get a couple titles under your belt as a prop/enviro artist, keep workin on characters in your free time, and you'll be orders of magnitude more hire-able. You could also eventually move into a character position at whatever studio you're at, depending on their staffing situation while you're there.
Or at least, that's what worked for me. Props aren't a bad gig, and you can learn a ton from them since they tend to be made of fewer elements than a character, you can really focus on getting good at wood, or metal, or leather, which will help a ton with your characters. Good luck dude, your work is definitely good enough to be working as a video game artist.
Nifty! Didn't know about that.
I think your work is good LRoy; generic sure, but well produced. I think you'll definitely find something. Don't just be hitting up AAA studios though, send an email to everyone, even those working on my little pony DS shovelware.
But yeah I am in the same situation as you LRoy i'm sure alot of unemployed 3D artist feel the same way. I don't know man just keep working and produce stuff. and have a passion for it. Being a Character artist is hard maybe make some props too like suggested above. ( I need to do the same ). Cheers Mike !
Just keep working on design, anatomy, and strong presentation so you immediately hook a potential employer perusing through your work. If you have a strong passion to work at certain studios, try building characters that would fit their game worlds a la quality and style.
Start identifying what your weaknesses in your skillsets and your knowledge are, and attack those weaknesses. Fundamentals, tool knowledge or fluency, pipeline, workflow, next gen techniques - figure out what you DON'T know and then start plotting out a process to accumulate that knowledge and practice it.
Having looked at your folio your work is good enough to land an entry level position, but as a whole your presentations letting you down. For example "I would highly suggest you remove the barbarian at the bottom though...", I clearly remember this having a great wip thread and wonder why after spending all of that time creating a great character, all you chose to show is one half assed render at the bottom of your folio?
My advice is to take all of the characters on your portfolio, a few weeks of time and polish, re render, screengrab etc.
How i would go about this is
- Setup a single presentation scene which focuses on lighting and showing off your sculpts at their best. Consider mentalray, Vray, a high quality matcap, etc.
- Setup a single scene in your realtime engine of choice (marmoset, udk) focus on lighting and shaders.
- Create a Photoshop template for framing and any other post work.
Now take each of your characters one by one, import, re render, screenshot and Photoshop - show your sculp, lowpoly wireframe, in engine final, flats. Keep it consistent, you have some great character work here, do yourself a favour and give them the last 10% polish that takes them from passover to eye-catching.Keep it up man, and make sure you're applying often, something I've not always done. You never know when opportunities could arise. :thumbup:
Smaller studios, which is where you're most likely to get a junior position, are reluctant to hire someone from out of state, and normally out of driving distance. The reason is because those studios, and those small projects, are usually much shorter than the ~3year production time for a big project. Sometimes they need somebody for as little as 2 months. So what happens is that the art directors and producers feel bad asking someone to move across country when they know the job they're offering is only for a couple of months. People who may be otherwise good get rejected purely based on this. I've seen this happen. A lot. I'm not just saying this out of theory. And honestly, I think it's nice of them to be so considerate.
So there are a couple of ways around that:
1. Move to where the jobs are at. This is obviously less than ideal. But if your situation works with that, then it's worth trying.
2. Don't say anywhere on your resume/website/cover-letter where you're from. If they ask, then you know it's important to them, and you can say that you'll relocate with no problems even if it's just for a couple of months.
3. If you want/need to let them know where you are, say in the cover letter explicitly that you have zero problem moving on your own to anywhere within very short notice.
Of course this is assuming that you are willing to move for your job. If you're not, then this advice is moot.
But honestly, this is more important than you may realize. I didn't realize it myself until my first job where I was picked before someone else just because I was close-by. Then I saw it happen repeatedly, in different studios too, where candidates were disqualified based purely on that. Again, it's real nice of them to be so considerate. But it works against some people.
The reason this came to mind is because I looked at your site and checked out the resume page, and it jumped out at me. I know if we had received your application at my studio you would probably get rejected based on that. Plus, it's a good idea to remove your phone number from an internet page anyways. Everything is done online nowadays.
Why not join a indie team? (a good one) get something on your resume showing you have experience? and giving you more portfolio work.
Pierre Had decent experience working on a few AAA
http://art-machine.com
He had quite a few stellar pieces he was working on through P&P threads.
After a year of unemployment We had to read this thread:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70264
And now a guy as incredibly talented as Pierre became so jaded by the industry completely gave up.
Truth is, its really fucking hard. Sometimes its just dumb luck.
Being great sometimes doesnt even cut it.
;(
I really do miss him posting new 3d pieces here though
I agree with some other people that that little extra polish in you presentations could really help, make them look like they are something from a game you would want to play. It doesn't even have to be anything super complicated, just so long as they complement the character; as some examples the Brink and DOTA2 posters pull this off rather well.
I'm not really in a position where I can afford to just move without a job, but I will take it off my resume if there is even a small chance that is deterring offers.
dpaynter26, nick2730, makecg : Yeah, I suppose a lot of people fall into this grey area of not quite a novice but not a professional. It's just frustrating digging yourself out of what feels like a rut.
JacqueChoi : That's pretty depressing but I can definitely understand how he feels. If a guy much more talented than me was unable to find work that's a pretty bad harbinger (granted he needed a visa).
I know there's not going to be some magical solution other than hard work, but is this really the only way?
I've been working on my portfolio for about 5 years so don't feel so bad about it. I am sure you will get where you want to be.
a few things I can point out on the website that I don't really like (maybe a personal preference ) but I do not like the image borders you have. I think you should go more simple with it. I made a mock up that you can look at
http://makecg.com/preview/preview.html
also I would show the full Zbrush sculpts for every model Like your prison guy for example you only show the feet and half the body. I would like to see the full thing. maybe have it where they click on the image it gets alot larger.
some of your images are cropped too close give them a bit more breathing room. like this one http://ulloart.com/Alien_Turn.jpg the feet is right on the border. looks kind of bad to me.
just some 2 cents not sure if other people covered it already
Took me 3 years if it makes you feel any better...
Don't stop.