Carrer seems to be hitting a brick wall.

Spiralface · Apr 2011

Hello Polycounters,

So I don't know about many others here, but lately I've felt like I'm being tugged around a little bit and I'm starting to just get overall frustrated with my job searching.

The studio that I had been steadily employed at for many years has pretty much closed up shop and I've been looking for work, and finding the hunt super frustrating.

I've been a character / general artist for the past 4 years, and while I take my reels to GDC and get positive reviews of it there, and have at least been in the running for a few positions, I'm finding that I send my stuff away to studios high and low and only seem to get art tests or interviews when I can actually sit down and talk to someone.

I don't know if its all the nebulous websites, just my own work slipping after working so long in the "get it done yesterday" section of the cg world, but I'm seriously down to the wire and starting to look for work elsewhere since I don't seem to be getting anywhere in searching for even temp positions anywhere in the industry.

Have any of you guys been there? What kind of work did you transfer over while in between projects? My last position I got right out of college, so I'm thinking of what other feilds I can apply my experience twards just to keep a roof over my head. I'm still trying to remain positive about landing a position within the industry, as I know that I'm fully capable of doing the work, but for right now I seriously need to find some kind of work.

Any stories of encouragement or even feedback on my portfolio or anything would be helpful.

*edit* I don't know why but my sig with my weblink seems to only work when it feels like it, so incase it isn't showing my website is here if you want to critique my work:

www.spiralface.com

bounchfx · Apr 2011

You're clearly talented. I wouldn't give up just yet. Perhaps focus on a new bad-ass portfolio piece to show off, and just keep applying places. However, I would say networking is as important as other areas of job searching. It sounds like you've done the whole GDC thing, but just keep at it and I'm sure you'll find something sooner rather than later. Good Luck!

skylebones · Apr 2011

Just curious, but how long have you been looking? When I got laid off a couple years ago it took me a little over a year before I landed a new studio gig. During that time I did lots of freelance to pay bills, but mostly I redid my portfolio over and over. You have a great portfolio, but it certainly needs some trimming. You have some amazing stuff at the top of the 3D list, and some ok stuff near the bottom. It can be hard to trim stuff, but I'd get rid of the ok stuff and leave only the amazing stuff. Show em your strengths. It's better to have 3-4 totally awesome pieces than 10 + ok pieces. Focused quality over quantity. Also, get rid of the 2d art all together. It's not bad stuff by any means, but not nearly as good as your top quality 3d art and I feel it weakens your portfolio. Plus if your going for a 3d character position that's what you should have. When I send out my portfolio I get rid of all characters and sketches because I work as an environment artist. Show them I'm focused on that and mean serious bidness.

You have great work man! Hang in there, you'll land something again. It's tough out there.

Spiralface · Apr 2011

Thanks for the kind words guys.

@skylebones

I've been out of work for about 3 or 4 months now.

I've been landing a test here or there for things like marketing positions doing almost unrelated to where my real skill sets are. But I'm under the financial gun and If I have to do photo shoot roto work to pay the bills, I would rather be doing that then working at a best buy.

Every now and then something pans out from those things, so I have to keep on trying. But even freelance work is really tough for me to land.

I apply to some remote work but since I live in the SF bay area, its really tough for me to compete with rates from other artists out of the country, or even on the other side of it. Cost of living is just so much here. I'm willing to re-locate for work positions, but I don't want to just blindly move to a place where I don't have a job lined up.

I've been trolling these boards and game artisan boards for freelance work. Is there any other sores that you guys use to land freelance gigs?

Yeah, I'm working on the new kick ass pieces for the reel. Want to get into counsil work, and defiantly want to trim down my work to only the best counsel quality level pieces, but I'm hesitant to really put down even some of the things like the "mobile" and "facebook" game work I've done, because around the SF bay area, there is a large amount of developers that do that, and those particular outlets like those pieces.

@ Hboybowen

I agree with what you have to say, but I don't really think I'm in a position to really do that. At this point, I'm just trying to keep a roof over my head, and I don't have the capital to really invest in any kind of venture. That, and sadly, I don't know many people in the development community that have the skills to bring a game together. I've worked freelance for a single Art outsourcing house my entire career up to this point, so I really only know artists. I would love to go back to school at some point, learn some coding and work on my own game, but since I'm barely out the gate in my career, my immediate goal for the moment is to stabilize my finances, and get to a point where I'm not worried about making rent each month.

Tom Ellis · Apr 2011

Well, I wish I had some good advice for you, but all I can say is, if you're having trouble finding work right now, I would not like to be a Character Artist looking for a job.

Your work looks great to me, all the best with finding something.

nick2730 · Apr 2011

Similar boat, graduated school and have been unable to find a job in industry. Im teaching 3ds max at a college and doing freelance arch viz stuff.

Tom Ellis · Apr 2011

Just a thought, have you tried any freelance for non-game stuff? TV ads and the like? I was reading in last months 3DWorld mag that 3D for commercials and illustration is a pretty strong industry right now and one that a lot of film/games/architectural people have been exploring recently.

Judging by most of the crap I see on ads here in the UK for insurance companies and such using terrible half assed characters/animations, they don't set the bar very high.

cholden · Apr 2011

3-4 months? Your sabbatical is just getting warmed up, buddy.

aesir · Apr 2011

cholden wrote: »

3-4 months? Your sabbatical is just getting warmed up, buddy.

Yea, that's what I was thinking... I mean, plenty of companies don't even seem to get back to you for over a month...

skylebones · Apr 2011

Yeah, 3-4 months isn't much at all compared to what most people are facing. It took 3-4 months for me to land the gig I have now. That's from the first interview to start date. (Though my company is notorious for taking forever.)

Spiralface wrote: »

Yeah, I'm working on the new kick ass pieces for the reel. Want to get into counsil work, and defiantly want to trim down my work to only the best counsel quality level pieces, but I'm hesitant to really put down even some of the things like the "mobile" and "facebook" game work I've done, because around the SF bay area, there is a large amount of developers that do that, and those particular outlets like those pieces.

maybe consider making a separate page for mobile/social artwork that you only send to those companies. I tried to make my portfolio specific to the company I'm applying each time.

With freelance I got most of my work through contact made during my time in the industry. I also found a specific niche online that really helped. At the time Unity was just becoming popular. So I made a lot of artwork in the Unity game engine and posted it to Unity specific forums, I added a lot of Unity specific developers to twitter, and I made Unity specific tutorials. Within no time I was getting freelance contracts from small Unity teams needing artwork. And when I landed a full-time gig it was with a studio that was switching to unity for their online games and needed someone that knew it well. Worked out perfectly!

Saman · Apr 2011

My first impression is that your website doesn't look very attractive and that your work probably won't either. When I look more carefully I see that your work is good and that I just got a bad impression of it before viewing it. If I were you I would redo the website. Presentation is a very important part of showing your work and there is a risk that recruiters might close down the page before even looking at your work properly.
Here is what you could do; Increase the thumbnails so you can see more of the pictures in them. Change the green color into something else. The design itself doesn't have to be very advanced, less is more. Gather some references and see how other people with cool websites have done it.
My first employer told me that getting employed most times is a matter of timing. That might just be your problem right now. I say redo your website and keep trying. Good luck!

chrisradsby · Apr 2011

I think the website is fine, your top 3d stuff is really cool

Though I can't say that I like the Dance-characters, the poses look awkward to me, too many directions. (might just be me though). I like pretty much everthing except them.

Don't worry man the jobs will come

In most cases it's about timing and networking.

Ruz · Apr 2011

TBh I think some of the work is not that great. The realistic characters seeem to let it down. the more cartoony stuiff is ok, but I feel you need to work on your textures more.
I think if you keep on practising , pushing then you will get there.

personally I am looking for quality in the work first and foremost, the website is kind of not that important

CounterSeal · Apr 2011

Hi spiralface,

I notice on your website that you worked on assets for CityVille. Were you working with one of our art vendors? I think I prepped some of your assets into the game =D Anyways, maybe you want to look into social game companies? I can't speak for them, but last I checked, Crowdstar is ramping up for 3D artists, mostly contract, but better than nothing.

Stromberg90 · Apr 2011

I feel sorry for you, but 4 months isn't really that long(In this industry at least) I have been looking for a year now to land my first gig, and it's mostly my own fault for not working hard enough on my portfolio.

So while you are looking for a job try to do some awesome portfolio pieces, since you clearly got skills for it

I am not really a fan of your portfolio style tough seams childish, not always wrong to be childish, I am that myself, but I try to keep my portfolio as clean as possible(Despite using blogspot)

Try and remove some of your older work as well, there is no reason having something there that don't represent you current skill.(Like the dance characters)

I wish you the best of luck in the job hunt, keep us informed

d1ver · Apr 2011

oldie, but goldie

I'm sorry if it's not too compassionate, best of luck buddy.

Target_Renegade · Apr 2011

I think your work is great. Diversify, find something else to do also, at the moment the mobile phone market is expanding immensely, maybe not what you're looking at but getting some programming in will land you a job. Make a small game with a scripting language, unity is great at that. At the moment markets are moving really fast and its the programmers/persons with programming skiils that are landing the jobs.

MM · Apr 2011

redesign your website. it looks very outdated.
remove that face with green spiral, your avatar image.
everything from the color to thumbnail borders and the fonts you used on your site, pretty much looks old style like it was done 10 years ago.
research other artists portfolios and try to come up with a sleek, simple and readable design.

the work can always be improved but when i first clicked on your site I didn't wanna check out the work just because of the first impression i had from the look of the site.
btw, i suggest you take off the 2d art.

Ferg · Apr 2011

Good crits in here already, I'll add a quickie:

Your stylized work is fine, but if your main concern is a paycheck, you should probably crank out a few realistic props. There are more jobs in the low-level realistic enviro artist area, easiest spot to break into a studio IMHO. Knowing how to do realistic/gritty stuff will make you a much more versatile and hireable artist. When I do personal work, it's usually pretty stylized and weird, but almost all of my professional work is realistic in style. Good luck dude!

Spiralface · Apr 2011

@ CounterSeal

yeah, I was at the SF "outside venue." I noticed that much of the launch assets where a lot of the stuff that we handled.

Thanks for the lead on crowd star. I'll defiantly have to check them out. I'm keeping an eye on Zynga as well, but it seems like hiring is slowing down considering you guys are getting ready for your move. The dance characters and the cityville stuff is there just for those smaller indie developers that are looking for that kind of style. I know its not necessarily what a counsel developer looks for, but those pieces for the time being helps wrangle in social and mobile freelance work.

@Skylebonesyeah, given the feedback so far on the work, its looking more and more like I'll have to segment my site to hide the mobile stuff for anyone but mobile / facebook development groups.

You say that you taylor your portfolio to each company, Thats how I used to do it back in school when you actually had to send out physical reels to company's, but how do you manage that these days when they want you to see a website? When its in the area of public domain, It seems like its a bit tougher to swing that.

@Stromberg

bleah... Thanks for the heads up on the copy written stuff, always forget the legal stuff when it comes to updates.

So guys, Just to let you know, I've been working in the industry now for about 4 years. I'm not looking for my first job, I'm looking for my second. Trying to break out of the freelance market where the deadlines tend to not allow you to make spit shined and polished models.

I'll definatly have to re-evaluate my website. I really don't know much about web scripting, so making even that crude site was a bit of a challenge, but I'll definatly look into streamlining it and making the presentation better.

Spiralface · Apr 2011

Super Happy Cow wrote: »

This sounds like a super stupid question, but do you ever call back? : /

I dunno if companies hate that or not, though.

I actually wonder that myself.

If I get to the point where I actually talk to a human being and I don't hear back, I tend to follow up with them every week or so. If they flat out don't respond to my follow up, I usually assume I didn't get the position and move on rather then be bothersome to them. Unless they actually told me that they would give me an interview or an art test, in which case I usually try to prod them till I get a definite answer.

Most big studios nowadays have you send your stuff to the "nebulous" website.

With Sony, I at least got a "at this time you don't fit our needs" e-mail, with everyone else, it just seems like it goes into the ether never to come out again. And in those cases, there isn't anyone to follow up with, so it makes it frustrating.

I know its a fine line between prodding them to consider you for a position your genuinely interested in and being a pain in rear to very busy people, but I am genuinely interested to hear what other people have to say about that because I myself don't know.

okkun · Apr 2011

Super Happy Cow wrote: »

This sounds like a super stupid question, but do you ever call back? : /

I dunno if companies hate that or not, though.

I don't want to encourage this because I don't have time to answer the phone but someone did just call me which lead to me checking out his portfolio.

Not the right fit unfortunately but it got me to take one more look so it's not a bad idea if you can get to the right person. It's all about getting noticed, even a small company like ours gets tons of applications.

Carrer seems to be hitting a brick wall.

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