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Finding a place in the industry

JeremiahJensen
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JeremiahJensen
Looking for some advice about getting out of Australia and into the industry
Long term, id like to be a character artist, but..

I've heard quite a few people say it is easier to make an entry to the industry as a environment artist versus Character art, I have it mapped out to work as hard as i can to learn the environment art skill set then once i can land a job i can continue to study all the fundamentals of character art and eventually get into that as my work.

is this a common approach, is this a smart approach. I don't really have any issues with environment art as i really just enjoy doing 'art' in general, i also appreciate that its not a easy to do job and it has its masters just like the character art but im simply going off what i have read online and overheard

Thanks guys :)
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  • Fwap
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    Fwap polycounter lvl 13
    Hey man, fellow Australian here.

    I know the question was more directed to job availibilty outside of our country but
    http://www.tsumea.com/ is a good place to check regularly for jobs in AUS and NZ
    I've been seeing a lot of programming jobs lately though.

    As for the Character vs. Environment, i would stay just stick with what works for you, doing characters, unless you desperately want to get your foot in the door ASAP broadening your skills might help but in the time spend working on environments you could spend improving your character art and will go towards landing you a job as a character artist.

    I've heard conflicting stories on this one though, like a jack of all trades (art wise) is what is hot at the moment, i can kinda see where its coming from too if your a freelancer but i tend to stick with Environments regardless.

    and if not already check out http://gdaa.com.au/games-careers-info#career-jobs has companies by state and some jobs, most seem to be out dated thought.

    I kinda rambled on here, so here's hoping some of it was decent information :p
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  • bugo
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    bugo polycounter lvl 17
    I'd say, if you want character, don't do what you don't wanna do. Just build your folio for character and go ahead, it's not hard to find a job if you have a great portfolio. I'm on the same mission... as we all are.
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  • JeremiahJensen
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    JeremiahJensen
    Fwap - Some good advice and helpful links man thanks heaps ! nice to hear from another Aussie :)

    bugo - likewise with fwap man thank you for the advice. you are right, Just need to dump the worries and continue working on improvement in my art !


    time to train ! thanks guys

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9Uwhjlog8"]Montage Song from Team America - YouTube[/ame]
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  • The Flying Monk
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    The Flying Monk polycounter lvl 18
    When I applied for the job I have now, they where advertising both character and environment artist positions. Most of the people who are now environment or generalists applied for the character position.
    So I would say for your portfolio you should just concentrate on what sells you the best. Just keep in mind that you may get tasked with making rocks and crates at some point.

    Also post your portfolio if you have one.
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  • JeremiahJensen
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    JeremiahJensen
    The Flying Monk - Thanks for the advice , im going to push at character art if its what i really want to do, if it takes me a little longer its no huge deal, and im sure the skills can still carry over to environment art if i did change my mind in the future. Im currently in the process of learning everything and building a folio but nothing id like to post yet! thanks :)
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  • Torch
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    Torch interpolator
    Hey there, I posted this for someone else recently since I was going through the same dilemma, feel free to give it a read:

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87508

    I would second what some people have said here, follow your passion as you're going to dedicate a lot more time to making it look good rather than kinda half-assing it because it may get you work more easily. Post your stuff in P&P and Good luck!
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  • JeremiahJensen
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    JeremiahJensen
    Torch - Oh man thank you! it sounds like you where going through the exact same thing as me, even down to the part where you would enjoy doing environment props ect. but i have 2 years of college ahead of me, then after that i can just get a 'normal' job and do the late nights working on my skills,so ill push for character art. thank you for passing your thread on and best of luck also :)
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