Need Advice
So it's been a year since I've graduated from DePaul in Chicago with a degree in Animation, and I've applied left and right to jobs all over the country and some out of country and still have had no luck. I'm currently working a just above average minium wage job at Best Buy, and am having some serious self esteem issues here. I'm contemplating considering a new career path, though I'm not even sure what I would do this late in the game. I'm 27 and I really need to get out of basement, what can I do?
Replies
Don't give up. If you want it bad enough you'll get it. Just takes time.
I'm rooting for you though!
Post your website with your demo reel of animations up here. Many have said they've got their jobs just by posting here and a random Art Director who lurks here sends them a e-mail because they were interested in their work.
Good luck.
Would be cool to see your work as I couldn't view it either. Good luck and keep going bro
Just keep at it. I'm in the same position you're in. I've been job searching for a year and had to move back in with my parents. It's depressing, it's infuriating, and it's killing me slowly. The game industry has massive barriers to entry, junior positions are rarer than gold, and most internships are unpaid or pay very little. As disgusted as I am with it, I still have no intention of giving up because I can't imagine what else I would want to do with my life.
Work on your portfolio every chance you have, get all of the feedback you can, network, and just hang in there. Eventually you will catch a break.
To Jordan and Torch,
Thanks for taking the time to help, and I forgot that I had that website listed. That site was my original portfolio website which I was paying for and due to a tight budget and wanting more style in my portfolio I switched to wix. Yes I know some computers can't view flash, and it is a minor concern but for now I'm going to keep it as is. So the new website listed is my current portfolio.
Thank you for your advice, it gives me strength to know there are others out there in the same position and who are still striving their hardest to make it in this industry! I just applied to ianimate, I think lately I've been way to focused on modeling, maybe i should find a good site for free models and just work on animation period.
Ya know what I have been neglect in posting to this site, I can't really say what it is I think I'm just not much of a forum person to be honest. Though your right it does take connections and a lot of the ones I've had (disney and blizzard included) haven't panned out for me like I'd hoped. And I think I will try to at least make one post a day to this website. Thanks for the advice. And as noted in previous posts my portfolio has been update and you can check it out whenever you'd like. Good luck to us both!
I just realized that ianimate is $999 per workshop, and it's a lot of money that I don't think I can swing atm. I wish I could, seems like it would be a great experience. The ECGC conference seems do-able though. I will see about going there and improving my networking.
I feel like the biggest thing for you right now is that your pieces all just look like stuff you did at school after learning how to do a specific thing for the first time. Your "Homework First" animation uses basic Windows movie maker transitions, practically recycled animations, and the text transitions seem to have a bit of a Microsoft Paint look to them, especially with that white background.
First you should ask your self what exactly do you want to do and work on that. Do you want to do animation? Then practice making awesome animations, work on walk cycles and other animations that are used in videogames.
If your stuck on animations to try you can look at youtube videos like this as examples.
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Long story short, if you want a job then your goal is to do professional work.
Likewise if you want to do 3d modeling then improve with sculpting and poly modeling. Polycount has tons of good artists with great portfolios to see the sort of quality you should be trying to work towards.
Pieces like that first practice sculpt of that four legged spagetti ball footed monster really don't give a good impression. However that female 3d model does. Show your best work, remember to go for quality over quantity.
Are there any IGDA or other meet ups in your area? Get your ass there, I never had the advantage of living near any gaming hubs when I was trying to get in, you will make great connections and it will keep you motivated.
I just saw an ad on CGSociety for Reel Feedback (Professional Feedback on Your Animation Reel). The have an upcoming free reel review (see link). Not trying to pass on advertising, but I just saw this 10 minutes ago and then read your post. I don't know what they charge. Might be worth a look.
http://www.reelfeedback.com/
That would have been terrific if it was in the chicago land area, thanks for the tip though.
This is in your portfolio:
This is exemplary of the level of modeling work you have in there. Your portfolio is as weak as your worst piece, and you have a lot of really grody pieces in there. Your portfolio should not be every class project, it should not be every mesh you've ever made, it should only be work you're proud of that shows you at your best.
And no one likes flash. Get yourself a blog to present your work, it'll come across better to potential employers believe it or not.
Pick animation, modeling or film making. I watched that nightmare clip and kept thinking what the hell does this have to do with animation and how is this showing off his abilities?
Second find some quality characters or models to animate. Find a class mate who was a character artist and animate there characters, cars etc. Right now Your animations are not strong enough to over shadow the poor quality of models and art that is being shown.
Third, Take the time to see what other animators are doing. Mimick them with their portfolios and see what they have going on. Figure out how they are doing them. Spend your time creating awesome animations, if it were me I would personally throw out 99% of the stuff you have on your site. Find animations in games and movies you dig and do them then take your ideas and do those. It felt like your animations are for choppy and dont flow or feel cool. It is all homework for your classes it feels like. Find cool animations in movies and cartoons etc. Create a creative little short film or something similiar
Fourth, better present your stuff. It looks like some of your pieces you just took a picture of your stuff with a polaroid camera. This poor quality reflects poorly on you when employers and fellow artists look at your self. Have respect with your work and create quality work. It seems like you were on a deadline and just threw things together.
Five, the website! I know you may not have money but come one. Put up a blog if that is the case. Right now having the banner ads on your site once again makes your site feel like you have hastily thrown stuff together.
Everything I did in school was trashed after graduation. I spent hours and hours and hours everyday honing my skills and wanting to learn more and more. You need to have the passion and desire to succeed. IF you dont have that then all your work will show that.
I am not trying to sound like a dick but I have seen so many portfolios that just dont cut it after 70, 80 or 100k were spent on an education when all that was needed was maybe a couple hundred dollars and some dedication, passion, desire and skill to get to a hire-able level,
Keep trying and practicing give yourself a year to create an awesome portfolio. i guarantee you if you are honest with yourself and dedicated and post on this site. You should/could be at a level to get JR position or internship somewhere if not a entry level job. Keep going and dont give up!!
Sometimes too, it's a lot of luck. Knowing people in the industry, and having a portfolio that appeals to the sensibilities of that art/animation team too.
Just keep going at it, but you need to dedicate yourself to doing it and not sulk about the situation.
Your site. It starts on your biography, rather than your work. But you don't even have a reel. You just have 4, rather long, pieces, that you have to go through. The fourth just makes no sense, and if you`re going for animation, it shouldn't be on there. Especially since you swear in it. That isn't professional.... Your T-rex. Its a minute of watching the same walk cycle, with a crap ton of camera shake to feel the viewer of it having more weight than the animation shows. Your second animation, the little dude going through the days of the week. What is that? It makes no sense with those letters popping up. The style of animation is ok if that's what you`re going for. But yes. Like others have said. it all looks very amateur.
Make a blog site, and all it has to have is your contact information with a proper demo reel. That's it. You can add a bio if you want. And you can add your resume. I have both on my site, but I've been meaning to update it and get rid of all of it. But make a proper demo reel, if animation is what you`re going for. That means 1 minute (tops) of only your best work. Keep practicing. Do other work. Do cycles, since games all require a lot of cycles. Devs need to see you can do that sort of stuff.
If you get good enough, you'll find a job. It's that simple. But, you have to stick with it and CONSTANTLY be improving your work. Applying with the same busted portfolio for a year isn't going to get you anywhere. Fix it. Improve upon it. But most of all... don't give up!
Here's a question. How often do you still animate? If you're really serious about getting a job, and taking into account that you do work full time, and probably have a life outside of work, you should animate at least 5-10 hours a WEEK. That's bare minimum though. Obviously the more effort you put into it, the more you`ll get out of it. But yes, you need to continue animating.
Start a new piece. Try just a regular walk cycle and post it up for crits. We will be harsh, but take it and learn from it.
Don't give up. We've all been there. Just keep working and you`ll get there.
Every single piece of work on your website is completely unuseable right now. It takes no more than 5 seconds for me to tell that all those pieces were done through school assignments.
Your website itself is in need of a total revamp and there are some very good threads on here that detail exactly how you should be presenting your artwork and portfolio. I recommend doing a search. Just as a bit of common sense, you NEVER want to include a photo of yourself on your website, ever.... like literaly NOT ever, this is for the same reason you don't say you're a specific religion, race, or are married etc. You just don't do it. In fact don't even have a bio/profile page at all. It should just be your work, experience, contact info, and the job you're trying to get presented in the clearest and fastest way possible.
Your T-rex is a repeating walk-cycle that looks very rigid and has literaly no secondary motion. It's lacking a lot of the 12basic principles of animation, and that's something you should know by heart, because it's all true.
Your Woody voice-over animation, again painfully obvious this was done for school... not trying to be rude, but being truthful so you know why employers are passing you over. This is in addition to the fact that the actual blendshapes and animation on the face don't match the audio.
Your last animation, Lingering Nightmare takes SO long to get started I felt like I was wasting my time. If I was reviewing portfolio's I'd wonder why you uploaded a video of yourself going to bed into your reel. Don't waste time, show people what they want to see...
Which for animation in games is cycles! Yes, that's right take one character and do cycles!
Walk Cycles
Run Cycles
Jumping
Fidgets
Attacks
Standing Up
Sitting Down
Laying Down
Other fun ones like dancing etc.
Here is a fellow's youtube channel who I think graduated out of a Uni not too long ago for animation (scroll towards the bottom). http://www.youtube.com/user/thejazzman9475?ob=0&feature=results_main
Your goal should be to be better than him, since he got hired at an entry level position. Always remember that you must produce work better than or equal to your competition. You should look at a lot of the folks work coming out of Animation Mentor.
Also your artwork is not good, your modeling is bad, your traditional stuff is bad, and none of it is helping you at the moment. Don't concentrate on this if you want to be an animator. DO make a new business card though, but not one that is so ridiculous, I suggest you look up and make them very simple, easy to read, with your name, contact info and portfolio website. Don't include any cheesy vector drawings, because those aren't your strong suites. If you want to do something creative, put a nicely posed character on there like the ones they use in animation mentor.
As a final piece of advice, when I was learning my craft to become a better environment artist I was working on my portfolio outside of school at least 8 hours a day, or the equivalent to a fulltime job. This was in addition to my schoolwork and actually working a job. The benefit however was that in one year I went from having a portfolio that was a pile of junk to getting an entry level position at a studio. It was hard brutal work, but looking back it was clear I made the right choice. Most of my other classmates who continued to play video games instead of work on their folios are now working in unrelated fields, while I make them. Be one of those who makes them.
Again thank you for your advice, as per everyone elses suggestion I will be tearing the old work down, and I'm currently working on a new human walk cycle, I will post here for review and then go from there. I don't really need to be told that it's bad I get it, it's bad what I do need is to know about an easy and Free way of posting this work. Some have suggested blogs, I would love to hear about those.
~Silver
http://www.ginoschrementi.com/
I have picked a role, I'm an animator. The other 2 scenes I left in there just because they looked good. And I'm going to be doing more animations with that character, attacking running jumping falldowns etc.. I don't have a game engine to render them in. And these are rendered from Maya. using 30fps and mental ray, so do elaborate on what you mean on real time.
Unity, UDK are 2 free engines you can use and are fairly popular and well supported.
For instance, the knight has a very fidgety walk, with no weight and the curve of his hip is at the highest when he's extending his feet forward which is quite the opposite of how it actually is when most people walk, giving him a weird jumpy walk (almost like a cartoony sneak move).
Study how people move, study the 12 principles, study people more, read books about it, study people again.
You might also have too few key frames, and rely on spline curves which gives a floaty look. Block it in using stepped animation, get those key frames in on every 8th frame or so, refine that to every 4th frame. Don't go into linear or spline until those poses are dead on.
It sucks to hear, but these are the very lowest basics you NEED to nail.