Job Search Advice and Making Contacts

barnesy · Jul 2012

Hey all,

Please don't view this as another thread of a student moaning about how difficult life is. (I went through that stage a couple of months ago lol)

It is more of a discussion on job searching and the best ways of making contacts.

I have read countless articles about how to "break into the games industry" and I have been following the 3Ps, Practice, Persistence and Positivity. It isn't really getting me anywhere though: poly122:

The problem with these articles is they are fairly vague and say things like, "make new contacts through digital forums". I have been using Polycount for years and I am not one of those people that just expect to receive feedback without giving back to the community. I regularly offer feedback and it hasn't really got me any 'contacts'.

Everyone that I know who has freelance work etc has managed to get it through a contact/close friend in their home town etc, but I live in Cornwall and there is barely any game designers here :poly142:

Agencies have contacted me but annoyingly enough the projects have been put on hold, so it never really gets me anywhere which is frustrating.

I have been considering sending messages to developers on moddb and LinkedIn with regards to possible freelance work, but I am not sure that will go down very well.

I was wondering if you guys could offer me some 'real' advise as to how I could go about landing my 1st job as 3d artist, making real contacts; or even share any stories of adversity you faced when trying to break into the games industry?

Thanks!

barnesy · Jul 2012

Wrong section ( too many tabs open xD ), can someone remove this please?

Ladytron · Jul 2012

Hmm... Interesting thread. I hope you get a lot of replies!

Steppenwolf · Jul 2012

Can you show us a link to your portfolio? All the contacts in the world will not land you a job if your portfolio isn't up to par. I would say it's also the quality of your portfolio that will interest strangers and possible future employers to network with you and stay in contact.
From my experience when your portfolio is good enough and you show yourself and your work on places like this the people will actualy come to you and want to add you to their LinkedIn, ask if you're available for a job and so on.

Beyond that what you can do in the meantime is to work on some mods or indie games. Even if its not paid you will make contacts and get practical experience.

Mark Dygert · Jul 2012

Don't think of your portfolio as a finished product. You need to keep producing new art and constantly flush out the old stuff with new.

If the fish aren't biting, it's time to try some new bait.

Good luck!

Eric Chadwick · Jul 2012

I think the number one thing you could improve in your portfolio is the lighting. Your lighting is very bland, which is killing your models. Take a look at the models in the Showcase section for some examples, also check the Model Presentation page on the wiki for workflow ideas.

Steppenwolf · Jul 2012

Just had a look at your portfolio. Eric is right about the lighting. I think what perhaps also makes it a lot harder for you is that you seem to focus on characters. While your stuff isn't bad it's also a fact that the bar for character artists is quite a bit higher then for environment artists. You have to be among the very best wheras for an environment artist it might be enough to be just pretty decent to land a junior position. Looking at the "Pimping and Previews" thread it should be clear that there is a lot of competition when it comes to characters.

If i was in your shoes i would focus on environment art for a while so you get more of that on your portfolio and then hopefully you will be more lucky on your job search. Your sculpting seems pretty solid. I think you could pump out some nice props with ease. Nothing stops you from still doing characters and improving your skills in that regard btw. But maybe that's something that realisticaly has to wait a few more years to pursue it professionaly.

AlecMoody · Jul 2012

In the last chapter of the briefcase prop tutorial I did for 3dmotive I talked about viewport captures and lighting.

http://www.3dmotive.com/training/3ds-max/asset-workflow-series-the-briefcase-part-2/?follow=true

Hazardous · Jul 2012

Mark Dygert wrote: »

Don't think of your portfolio as a finished product. You need to keep producing new art and constantly flush out the old stuff with new.

If the fish aren't biting, it's time to try some new bait.

Good luck!

This man ^^^^^

Keep pumping out the new work, finish one piece straight into the next.

Remove the thoughts about getting a job and just keep pumping the work out into the world.

I like how Mark called it a 'finished product'.

I think a lot of artists (especially young ones) get to that point where they are like ' okay its done ' time to get a job now. Without realising that polycount and other digital forums contain your future or potential work mates.

If noone is biting, heres how i like to think of it:

1) My work isnt inspiring enough.
2) I'm not prolific enough.
3) I'm not investing enough time into selling myself.

You'll notice I dont even think of things like 'oh the studios arent hiring' or anything thats not within my own power to control or fix, because despite things of that nature being valid some of the time - I believe those kinds of reasons simply a cop-out to appease my ego, when 99% of the time, the cold hard truth is, I'm not good enough to be wanted yet.

You CAN control your level of output, and you CAN control what you're outputting, so focus on these.

Be prolific man - You're potential workmates are watching, they want to be inspired.

Crank out work so those same people are like. "Shit! its this guy again...! this stuff is pretty cool!"

Learn as much as possible along the way - dont worry if your gains arent significant every single time.

Remember that most game artists teams want new members to be like minded, and when youre in their face with your work all the time, and its popping up on all the forums, maybe the occasional front page here and there, things will 100% without fail, start to work for you.

Good Luck man!

Avanthera · Jul 2012

*Cough* http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102783 *Cough*

Mark Dygert · Jul 2012

I think a lot of artists (especially young ones) get to that point where they are like ' okay its done ' time to get a job now. Without realising that polycount and other digital forums contain your future or potential work mates.

I agree and here is why...

We had a animation intern (paid 3mo contract) who was wrapping up his last year at school, his portfolio wasn't all that hot but he could easily do what we needed him to do. About a year after he left school (2 years since he worked for us) we had an opening and he applied with the same portfolio.

I was a little shocked that he didn't do anything after leaving school, especially because we had talked about his portfolio, what it lacked and what he should work on next to improve.

I felt like we owed him an explanation as to why we would not be considering him (and a nudge in the right direction), so I sent him an email, pretty much going over what we talked about 2 years prior.

He said he understood and laid it all on the school, which shocked me again, it's his portfolio he should own it. He thought the school should have provided projects that would fill out his portfolio and that if the school thought it was good enough to pass, it was good enough to land him a job...

Here we are 4 years after he first interned with us and his reel hasn't changed. The only thing that has changed on his site are his resume (part time jobs) and the links to his classmates/buddies (quasi-unprofessional use your blog or facebook to socialize). Some of them have landed jobs and their careers have taken off, but others are just as stalled out and jobless as he is. The difference being that they kept working, they kept flushing out the old stuff. Their old stuff didn't look too much different than his but they kept working.

ivanzu · Jul 2012

Your renders are really noisy and pixelated I cant see any details because of that.

BluPanda · Jul 2012

Yes contacts can help you out, but the most reliable way to get a job is to just keep making stuff. I know plenty of people who have got the job through contacts and such, and polycount is great but that's not how it works for everyone, definitely not how its worked for me. Just keep doing the best work you can.

Just keep doing what you love and eventually... you will get paid for it. Maybe not as soon as you expected or in the way you expected. Eventually things will work out if you keep at it.

Make studios feel crazy for NOT hiring you!

Quack! · Jul 2012

Start working on a mod / hobby project that looks like it has good management. There are tons of people that are in the industry or 'close' that work on mods / hobby projects.

2 years ago I read a news story about a hobby project for remaking Duke Nukem using UDK. On a whim I used my underwhelming portfolio to send to them and say "Hey I'll work for free, I need portfolio work anyway."

Since then I have made dozens of contacts that are now in the industry or have been. I regularly talk with like minded people that not only help me improve, they motivate me. Duke Nukem: Reloaded was snuffed out by Gearbox, but we then were able to transition into a paid project for a different company. So through the free hobby project, I now have tons of contacts, and have advanced as a 3D artist drastically.

I am not saying your hobby projects will get you paid, they probably won't, but they will keep you moving forward, and if you pick the right one that looks established and well managed it will do wonders for your career.

Job Search Advice and Making Contacts

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