Salary of a 3d artist?
I want to go to school to become a 3d artist, and I really do have a passion to become one (prop/environmental to be specific) but I was wondering what kind of money you'd make as one. I'm not going to let a salary necessarily affect my decision of whether I want to do this for a living or not, but I'm just curious.
What kind of money do you make when you start out vs when you are doing it for a long time?
Thanks!
What kind of money do you make when you start out vs when you are doing it for a long time?
Thanks!
Replies
http://www.animationarena.com/video-game-salary.html
http://gamedeveloper.texterity.com/gamedeveloper/fall2011cg#pg25
it really depends on the level of the artist, the location, the studio, and other factors, but i think you'll get a decent gist from the survey
What exactly is the "official" job title for a 3d modeler/artist/sculptor/texture artist?
Let me define some variables so that I can get a good answer:
Say that you were an artist for a big video game development company, and your job was to model, sculpt, and texture characters, environments, and props. Also assume that you have had at least 3-6 yrs of experience and you're basically under the art director, making models, characters, environments and props for a game.
Would a salary of around 65k/year sound reasonable?
Depends on where you live, depends on how big of a studio you work at, depends on how good/important you are.
Your exact "official" job title will be different at every different studio too.
Bottom line...your not going to get a hard answer.
Okay, lets talk job security. Just in general, do devs get laid of very often?
I know that there are also brutal hours involved when deadlines near, but I don't mind that. What are some things I should know if I want to get a job doing this?
I can't speak for lay off's but I can tell you a few things that might help while your at school.
Have a portfolio ready when you finish school. You would be surprised how many don't have one by the end, don't be one of them.
During summer breaks try your best to get a few weeks here and there working in a studio for experience. When I did this it felt like I was the only one doing it.
Basically just try to go the extra mile at every chance. You need to stand out from the crowd for all the right reasons.
cheers!
I know people who work on low end browser games and I know people who work on AAA games. Neither of them have to starve, but neither get very rich either (as in "plastic surgeon rich"
Well that's a fucking shame, because there is a ton.
You could definitely start here though:
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryGameIndustry#Salary_Research
Add to that h1bvisa.com and glassdoor.com to find actual salary information.
2:my estimate in the usa a starting job getting you around 35/45k, after a few years 60-80k depending on a lot of factors.
3: titles are studio specific but usualy follow a theme, character artists make characters, environment artists make environments .
4: rarely, especialy at a large studio would one person do characters, and environments. but the 65k salary seems reasonable, perhaps even a bit low for the 6 year mark.
5: job security, some studios are more secure than others, but in general this is a very unstable industry, i'm at my 4th job in 4 different states in like 9 years. devs get laid off all the time, and studios close without warning all the time.
6: saying you don't mind the brutal hours is stupid. the reason game company's can push insane hours on people is because of kids fresh out of school who think its some glorious job working in games that they will work 80 hours a week. and you may think now that you dont mind, but in 10-20 years when you got a wife and kids and they wonder why you are never home. you will change your mind about that.
It also depends on where you live. I think its ok money for now. I don't go hungry, i can maintain my family and we have extra to take trips and get anything that we need and pay our loans.
That's probably a bit high.
About £30,000.
Anyway, it's one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions.
Seriously though, yeah, it really depends on where you live, country and area. So the question should be a bit more focused.
If you are asking that sort of info just as an extra knowledge, but you have decided to deal with games industry anyways, why would you need so precise data?
The summary of all this is :
it pays not bad, definitely better than casual so-so jobs. Yes, there is a risk of layoffs, but to me its like in any other profession unless u occupy a govenment provided job:P
In any case there is a big turnover of ppl inside this industry, so even if u get laid off at some point its easier to find a new job.
It can offet you a good quality of life for sure. Maybe not right at your fist job when u have no experience, but with time it will get higher and higher.
In any case it seems like the least stressfull job in CG in general, because for example in movie/SFX field most ppl work on a temporary contract basis while in videogames most of studio positions are permanent.
Though its a highly competitive field. So while it does can provide with satisfactory salary, more important question that should probably be with you all the time is how do get better than someone esle to get better chances to actually get to the salarry you so much want to know details about.
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That also depends. In the US a lot of game companies do a lot of contract work.
A huge chunk goes to taxes, so you will prob get what? Like 27k after that/medical/dental. Half of that then for rent so then your down too 13.5k (depends on where you live). Then half of that for bills and food, possibly more if you have things like student loans, car payments, baby mamas.
So at the end of the year your make a profit of 6.75k if you dont have a lot of bills and this dosnt include any frivolous spending. Obviously a rough estimate but its good to think about these things haha
This run down is so depressingly true, why are we all allowing this abuse and not just Game Artist, ANYONE... :poly127:
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/980/game_developer_salary_survey_.php
dear god no
Because it's in the wiki link I provided.
please keep all trolling here, ty
This is a career choice, and a universally enjoyed one. Wanting to know that you're being well-compensated seems justified.
That's very low. I would want it to go up a lot after a year.
My first job was £19k and that was nearly 7 years ago. Also, it was in Wales, so my costs of living were pretty low.
>facepalm< seriously, you don't want to switch. Grab a beer and think this argument over carefully
Massachusetts tends to drive conservatives a little crazy - maybe it's time to move south?
hahaha i'm not willing to go back on my statement... give us a couple of years. in 08 china lowered their corporate tax rate from 33% - 25% while we went to 35% from 39%... it may not be perfect but they're starting to get it. and i also see changes to rates happening faster over their than here.
@JUSTIN, what in the hell did you just call me?!
It makes for good shock argument to compare with commie china, but if you know how the place is run it ain't funny. This place is just so far behind the west. Lots of money and some skyscraper don't make a modern country.
seriously, I rather pay more tax for having uncensored in internet, no institutionalized discrimination, freedom of speech, having courts that can actually sentence you not guilty at all, no arbitrary justice, where you can own property (In china you can not buy property, you lease it for 75 years from the govt), being able to live in any city I want and enjoy all its services or just going to a doctor of my choice (I'm not even mentioning that there's no privacy at all during doctor visit - get used to 4 or 5 chinese starting at you and the doc while they discuss your issues
Chinese economy is like the traffic here - people's lives don't count and the government feels like a games of thrones episode sometimes.
I really like it here in China, but only because I'm not Chinese. The experience for locals often sucks pretty damn badly. If I learned one thing here, it's that I value the freedoms of my home country much more than I did before coming here. Little bit higher tax is a small price to pay.
sorry, when I was in MA I knew some conservative guys that were driven crazy about living in "Taxachusetts".
luckily I'm not a corporation so my taxes are pretty low. Most American's fall in the 15% range after factoring in exemptions. All in all, I take home about 80% of may paycheck - no big deal.