Can I get into junior (entry-level) character artist?

Min-Jun · Dec 2010

[FONT=&#48148]Hello fellow artists. Im a beginner character artist. Recently I applied several game companies for junior character artist job. I couldnt receive an answer to my letter. My family live in the Washington. Because I don't want to move to other state, Most of the time I sent my portfolio to game companies in WA area. [/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]I would like to hear your advice. Here are my questions.[/FONT]

1. [FONT=&#48148]Can I get into Junior (entry-level) Character Artist position with my art skills[/FONT]

2. [FONT=&#48148]If not which skills I have to improve more, and why?[/FONT]

3. [FONT=&#48148]This is going to be my first game artist job, am I looking at the wrong position?[/FONT]

4. [FONT=&#48148]Although I went to local college for Animation & Game Design Program, 90% of my art skill by self-taught. 2D skills took 2 year and 3D skills took 1 year. I hear there is Futurepoly in WA area. Should I take some class at Futurepoly or keep doing self-taught?[/FONT]

5. [FONT=&#48148]Do you have any advice for beginner character artist?[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]Thank you for reading my questions. Your advice will really help me out![/FONT]

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

[FONT=바탕]Thank you for all you guys advice[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Here are my 2 solutions. I would like to hear what you guys think. Which solution do you recommend?[/FONT]

[FONT=바탕]Solution 1[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Retouch all my old model, textures, and drawing[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-make poses all my old 3d characters[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-create 3d environment using popular games concept[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Make new anatomy and figure drawings[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Create new portfolio site[/FONT]

[FONT=바탕]Solution 2[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Create my new original concept art for character, weapon, vehicle, and (small size) environment[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Create new models, textures on the basis on my new original concept art.[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Make pose my new a character with weapon and vehicle on the environment[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Make new anatomy and figure drawings[/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]-Create new portfolio site[/FONT]

[FONT=바탕]Your advice is extremely valuable! [/FONT]
[FONT=바탕]Feel free to tell me[/FONT]

samgriffiths · Dec 2010

Work aside for a moment, that site is horrible, ditch it ASAP.

Your work is ok, your 2D is better then you're 3d. I do believe you're employable.

I think you need to demonstrate intelligent use of specular with another model. It doesn't look like any of your models have specular.

FunkaDelicDass · Dec 2010

Are you expecting a company in WA to pay for your move to the US? In today's economic climate, I don't see many American companies importing overseas talent for even Senior positions. So your current location could be an automatic disqualifier.

You might be aiming too high for junior character artist. If you're willing to work on props/enviros, you may have a better chance.

Echoing the previous statement about the portfolio: drop the flash interface.

Taylor Hood · Dec 2010

Where is his site?

Jeremy Lindstrom · Dec 2010

yes dump the site as soon as possible it's terrible..

http://www.wix.com/taehyunkim/art <--it was in his post.

Character artist positions are like the 'rock star' position competition is very steep to get in, you might be able to get a junior position doing something else and work into the character position though.

Target_Renegade · Dec 2010

I think your sculpting skills are good based on a few pieces on the first page. It would be good if you could show some great texturing work. The site is annoying in the sense that you need to scroll around and the user doesn't know where to go. A few of the traditional drawings could be cut out, 18 - 20.

The site isn't user friendly, you could probably get a load of images that catch the eye on the first page and have a straight click to see each of the breakdowns. The scrolling business is too strenuous.

Cojax · Dec 2010

In all my four years of working for AAA game studios. I have only seen one entree level character art position. It is extremely rare to find an entry level position for character artists. Character art is becoming more and more outsourced every year, and most studio's around the world mostly have only senior character art talent on staff. This is what I see in AAA games world. Smaller independent developers might be different. My advise. If you aren't an amazing character art prodigy with zero experience (which you aren't, don't worry most people in this line of work aren't prodigies) then I would suggest focusing on environment art (props, modeling, textureing, setdressing etc.). Work as an environment artist first, get some experience, continue to practice character art and move on up the ladder to character art one day. You are also further killing your chances of landing a job by only applying to studios in one area. People working in this industry rarely ever stay at one place for very long. You have to apply everywhere. Best of luck.

Ged · Dec 2010

Yeah I have not seen many character art positions available, they seem incredibly rare and a "junior" character artist role seems almost mythical these days. I think as a beginner in the games industry any experience is good, so junior anything( artist of any kind, interface designer, QA etc etc) would be excellent considering the state of business these days. Work on your overall skills as an artist if art is the direction you are heading in and strive to be the best not just good enough for a low end job, because people are probably more likely to hire someone who has enthusiasm and drive even if they have only reached the lowest requirements so far. I like your zbrush work, as said above materials need some more definition.

Min-Jun · Dec 2010

[FONT=&#48148]Samegriffiths: This is my first web-site. I just used www.wix.com web site. Im trying to change my site to http://Carbonmade.com . Can you recommend good web-site for game artist? [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Do you mean specular map? I just started t[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]o learn texture skills last months. I have to study more. Thank you for your help.[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]FunkaDelicDass: Sorry for my English is poor. I have been living in WA area for a long time. If possible, I want to work in WA area.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Do you think I need to create 3D environment Art for my portfolio before I apply for job?[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Thank you for your time![/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]Taylor Hood: Here is my site www.wix.com/taehyunkim/art[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]Jeremy Lindstrom: What position do I have to applying for? (Modeling artist, 3D environment, concept art, Texturing artist, or art intern) Thank you for your words[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]Target_Renegade: Thank, I will edit them all! Thank you again![/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Cojax: I will make some environment art for my portfolio. It sound like my first job is going be environment artist. Thank you for sharing your experience.[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]Ged: you are right! I couldnt found junior character artist position in WA at all. I hope I can find one! Thank you.[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]This is really awesome! Thank you everyone. Every single word is will be a great help to me![/FONT]

bounchfx · Dec 2010

after a glance: for sculpting, sure. for texturing... you need a little more practice. for unwrapping.. ack! try improving your unwrap skills, look at examples of people on this site, try to get them packed and use every bit of texture space you have available.

and as others have said, try to get a cleaner, friendlier website.
It might be easier for you to get into the industry as a prop or environment artist, but you have a great start so far for a character position.

pretty solid stuff though dude, keep at it!

Jungsik · Dec 2010

hello fellow Korean, if I'm not mistaken

I've asked some professionals about this topic since I'm also aiming to be a character artist,
They told me this, and please anyone correct me if I'm wrong. They simply told me to have REALLY REALLY REALLY good models (LOL). If I'm not mistaken most junior character artist will start off as a prop artist and work their way up, and I've also heard that Its really hard to get hired as a junior character artists these day. Some really nice props would really help you, and i mean really good ones, and it also never hurts to have drawings of character concept and your understanding of anatomy in general, in traditional style drawings. They do appeal

Good Luck ^_^

edit: also this is entirely my opinion but I think some of your traditional art is hurting your work

haiddasalami · Dec 2010

Jungsik wrote: »

hello fellow Korean, if I'm not mistaken

I've asked some professionals about this topic since I'm also aiming to be a character artist,
They told me this, and please anyone correct me if I'm wrong. They simply told me to have REALLY REALLY REALLY good models (LOL). If I'm not mistaken most junior character artist will start off as a prop artist and work their way up, and I've also heard that Its really hard to get hired as a junior character artists these day. Some really nice props would really help you, and i mean really good ones, and it also never hurts to have drawings of character concept and your understanding of anatomy in general, in traditional style drawings. They do appeal Good Luck ^_^

edit: also this is entirely my opinion but I think some of your traditional art is hurting your work

You just need a strong portfolio haha...:poly124: Hows the red?

haikai · Dec 2010

I see you took the ArenaNet art test a while back. To be perfectly honest, my company didn't hire anyone for that intern character art position (at least not doing the stuff that was advertised), so don't feel too bad that you didn't get a response.

Character art positions of any kind are rare as most have mentioned. Luckily for you there are many game companies in this area, but I think if you want experience then you should be prepared to move if necessary. Or be willing to take on other modeling related jobs such as prop/environment work. One success story we have here is an artist getting hired out of school as an environment art intern even though he wanted to work making creatures. Once he got here he learned a lot quickly making environments, and was able to show off his character modeling skills to the rest of us. He's now a full-time Creature artist.

Looking at your work, the biggest hole you have in your skills is texturing. Your textures mostly seem to be limited to flat color fills with maybe a material overlay. There's a lot more that you need to put into this. Not only the diffuse, but also specular control as someone mentioned earlier.

Also, you should really consider mirroring your UVs where possible. Especially for an MMO game like Guild Wars, we simply do not have the luxury of giving unique texture space to every single thing on a character. Also, split your UVs up where it makes sense to and pack them in there to maximize the potential texture resolution. There is no reason why you should be striving to keep a single, continuous UV island in most games. There are exceptions, of course, but showing that you can unwrap and texture effectively for general purposes will help you a lot more.

I would cut out a lot of your drawings. They're not bad, but most are not special enough to show off. I recommend making some new drawings and really try to demonstrate an understanding of proportion, line, and shading.

On the bright side, you show a lot of potential. Your sculpting and modeling work is generally pretty good. With a little more anatomy work and refinement of forms you're almost production ready from that side, I think. Just remember that in most places, you'll be expected to be able to carry a model through to completion so you should be working on texturing as well.

I don't mind your web site, although I do prefer plain, non-flash sites. I would like to see larger and clearer images of your characters on there.

Jungsik · Dec 2010

haiddasalami wrote: »

You just need a strong portfolio haha...:poly124: Hows the red?

troll alert! go back to your modeling please and stop stalking : P

sprunghunt · Dec 2010

Jungsik wrote: »

If I'm not mistaken most junior character artist will start off as a prop artist and work their way up, and I've also heard that Its really hard to get hired as a junior character artists these day.

A good route for someone who wants to be a character artist, but may not have the refined modeling skills, is to try to get hired as an animator.

There's a lot of demand for animators. And the character artists will be working with the animators a lot. So if you can understand the needs of the animators it can help you be a better character artist. At the very least doing a bit of animation will help you out.

Also with animation/character skills you can always move into the film industry if you need to.

Jungsik · Dec 2010

sprunghunt wrote: »

A good route for someone who wants to be a character artist, but may not have the refined modeling skills, is to try to get hired as an animator.

There's a lot of demand for animators. And the character artists will be working with the animators a lot. So if you can understand the needs of the animators it can help you be a better character artist. At the very least doing a bit of animation will help you out.

Also with animation/character skills you can always move into the film industry if you need to.

: ) thank you for that, I do have an interest in animation as well!

Bigjohn · Dec 2010

I don't know how practical that is. Character animation is quite a substantially different skill-set than character creation. You'll have to essentially work double-time on both animation and creation.

If you go the environment-art route, at least the stuff you're making directly translates into character work. Metal is still metal, wood is still wood, you still sculpt, unwrap, texture, etc.

Min-Jun · Dec 2010

[FONT=&#48148]Boucnchfx:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]I will improve my texturing. Yeah, Im thinking about other position for my first job.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Jungsik:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Thank you for sharing the information, and I will recreate my traditional art.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Haikai:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]You are right I took the ArenaNet art test. At that time, I didnt know how to texturing. I only sent my ZBrush sculpt for the ArenaNet test. [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] I only just started to learn texturing on the last months. I have hard time to understand texturing. I need more practice. I will keep push harder. I will retouch the textures and UV. I love to do drawing. Because learning 3D skills, I didnt draw anything for 1 year. I would love to make some new drawings. Thank you for your advice and point out.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Sprunghunt:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Thank you for your opinion.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Bigjohn:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Thank you for your advice.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Again sorry for my poor English.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]With all you guys advice, I think I figure out what to do [/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Lets get start! [/FONT]

Ruz · Dec 2010

some odd comments in this thread, your work is well on the way to be being very good. just keep trying and you will get there man.

Min-Jun · Dec 2010

[FONT=&#48148]Ruz:[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]Thank you for your kind words[/FONT]

Target_Renegade · Dec 2010

The first sculpt on your site is really good, but then the textures don't seem finished. They look like flat blocks of colour. This could be the most awesome piece, you just need to texture it properly. After the great sculpt, there isn't a fully complete lower poly/real time/completely textured piece, which is a shame.

Mark Dygert · Dec 2010

This is going to be blunt and probably boarderline rude, I don't have time to make this all flowery, sorry.

We where recently in the market for a local character artist, I don't remember seeing your portfolio... The job was posted here, on CGTalk, GameArtistians, it even went out in the GA Dom War newsletter. It's an employers market. The portfolios that we got where in 3 categories, totally unrelated and unprepared (25%), Jr/intern level (25%) and Sr level (50%). I was surprised by the caliber of talent that was applying from all over, a good chunk out of it was out of the area so we passed but there was enough local talent available that we didn't have trouble filling the spot.

Stacking your portfolio up against the portfolios we went over, there is quite a way you have to go before you can compete with them. That's not to say you can't get there, but its going to take some work.

We only have one character artist in the entire company and that person needs to be at the Sr or near Sr level. That holds true for a lot of places there just aren't that many Jr Character artists positions out there. Typically people work their way up into those positions.

We as a company just don't have the time to take someone under our wing, train them and hope that as time goes on their skills will refine and improve. There is room for growth but they need to be able to deliver a few days after starting.

The artist need to have strong 2D drawing skills and excellent anatomy and even costume design. The anatomy needs to be real world not hulking muscle heads or sexy kittens. It doesn't hurt to see those things but there should be proof that normal humans or humans with slightly exaggerated proportions could efortlessly be created.

The artist needs to demonstrate joint construction and edge flow. They also need to be at the nearly expert level for facial creation with an slant for facial animation. I don't see too many examples of the face in your portfolio and there are a few models with poor joint looping.

With so much talent floating around looking for work and so many students and independent learners out looking for work also its a tough market. You not only need to be ready to hit the ground running.

sprunghunt · Dec 2010

Bigjohn wrote: »

I don't know how practical that is. Character animation is quite a substantially different skill-set than character creation. You'll have to essentially work double-time on both animation and creation.

If you go the environment-art route, at least the stuff you're making directly translates into character work. Metal is still metal, wood is still wood, you still sculpt, unwrap, texture, etc.

They might seem like different skill sets but it has more to do with the way studios work.

If you become an environment artist you'll almost never have to talk to the character artists. But an animator will be talking with the character artists all the time. They'll be in the same department (characters) and will be asking for revisions to the rig or the shape of the characters many times during the project.

As vig says many studios use facial animation. Any morphs are usually modeled by the character artists. So that's a kind animation crossover.

In my experience it's much easier to change positions within the same department. I have worked with a few animator/character people. More than I know of ones who've come from the environment department.

I personally have done all three jobs so it's not really impossible either way.

kingcobra · Dec 2010

my man. you got some good stuff there.

Take these guys advise and keep working on your art.. 2d and 3d. and do not wait around these companies to call you.it will take some time. if you want this bad enough you will find time to work on your art, at the same time make money doing whatever.

do not rush it.

Jungsik · Dec 2010

Hey Minjun I just recently went to your website, and I guess its WIP, but I like the layout so far : )

Min-Jun · Dec 2010

[FONT=&#48148]Mark Dygert: It Sound like the competition of character artist position is very tough. Ill practice harder from now on!!! Thanks for the helpful information and your advice.[/FONT]

Mingcobra: Thanks man.

Jungsik: Thanks. You are right its wip. This is my new site http://minjun.carbonmade.com/

[FONT=&#48148]I think art community sites are really helpful for self-taught student! I mean I can get so much valuable feedback and advice. I will post my new personal project on the Polycount.
[/FONT]

samgriffiths · Dec 2010

I would recommend buying your own hosting, it can cost as low as 10 GBP for a year . Making your own site is also very good way to show how serious you are.

Jungsik · Dec 2010

: ) Polycount is the best there is MUHAHAHHHAA

Can I get into junior (entry-level) character artist?

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