Post graduate/Internship question
polycounter lvl 11
Hey guys,
I'm a recent BA graduate trying to get into an MA program. In the mean time, I'm trying to spend my time learning more, building up my resume etc (trying to focus on game Char/Environment art). I'm currently doing an internship at a 3D Visualization company and am now trying to figure out what to do next. The two big choices are these:
1) I was recently offered the chance to do a test week for an internship at a company that does cinematics for companies like Crytek, Epic etc. The twist is that I don't have any contract with them and they want to do the test week first before they do a contract at all. Monthly pay would be 400 Euros in a city where 300 Euros is pretty low for rent. So I'd have spend more than I'd earn each month but it could potentially be my foot in the door for the video games industry.
2) I've really come to love the Dota2 Workshop, made a bunch of friends here on Polycount who do as well, learned a shitton, and was thinking about doing that full time for half a year. I'd be able to live at home so side costs would be minimal. Most of all, I think it'd be the best practice, lots of smaller assets in a limited time frame.
A little it more info: I struggle to finish personal pieces as of right now because whenever I get home from work it's really unstructured. The way I'd go about tackling the Dota 2 Workshop would be to structure it like regular work with deadlines etc and involving the Dota 2 Polycount community to keep me honest.
Personally I see it as a case of having a stronger CV versus a stronger portfolio and obviously this is something that is very hard to call, but I'd just like to hear the opinions of professionals on this before I decide based off incorrect assumptions.
The TL;DR would be "What do you think would be better for a hopeful game Char/Environment artist: Doing an internship in animation and losing money but potentially have an 'in' to the games industry or doing smaller projects for the steam workshop to get practice and a better protfolio and earn a bit of money on the side?"
I'm a recent BA graduate trying to get into an MA program. In the mean time, I'm trying to spend my time learning more, building up my resume etc (trying to focus on game Char/Environment art). I'm currently doing an internship at a 3D Visualization company and am now trying to figure out what to do next. The two big choices are these:
1) I was recently offered the chance to do a test week for an internship at a company that does cinematics for companies like Crytek, Epic etc. The twist is that I don't have any contract with them and they want to do the test week first before they do a contract at all. Monthly pay would be 400 Euros in a city where 300 Euros is pretty low for rent. So I'd have spend more than I'd earn each month but it could potentially be my foot in the door for the video games industry.
2) I've really come to love the Dota2 Workshop, made a bunch of friends here on Polycount who do as well, learned a shitton, and was thinking about doing that full time for half a year. I'd be able to live at home so side costs would be minimal. Most of all, I think it'd be the best practice, lots of smaller assets in a limited time frame.
A little it more info: I struggle to finish personal pieces as of right now because whenever I get home from work it's really unstructured. The way I'd go about tackling the Dota 2 Workshop would be to structure it like regular work with deadlines etc and involving the Dota 2 Polycount community to keep me honest.
Personally I see it as a case of having a stronger CV versus a stronger portfolio and obviously this is something that is very hard to call, but I'd just like to hear the opinions of professionals on this before I decide based off incorrect assumptions.
The TL;DR would be "What do you think would be better for a hopeful game Char/Environment artist: Doing an internship in animation and losing money but potentially have an 'in' to the games industry or doing smaller projects for the steam workshop to get practice and a better protfolio and earn a bit of money on the side?"
Replies
I'm currently doing an internship at a game studio and I recognize the problem you're having with doing personal art after work, but for me it was just a case of choosing a task and making damn sure to follow through with it. Sure, once you get home after work there's not that much time you can actually spend on making personal art, but I find that my weekends can be really productive and once I actually start a project I find spending an hour or two in the evening on weekdays after work pretty easy.
I believe because this company makes AAA game trailers, that they are very well structured and have a good routine when working on projects. All this will help you in future workplaces.
And last: Having such company as reference in your resume is very helpful in job hunts.
My 2 cents.
What really puts me off the internship is how shady it seems, or is it common practice not to have any sort of contract at all until after the test week? I mean, worst case scenario I'll spend the week up there and not get the position which means I'm out 500 bucks and a week's worth of free work while there's zero risk for them... and even if it works out, I'll still be spending more money each month than earning. While I could get financial help from my parents, I really don't want to be a burden to them.
And mikhga, the concern with sticking to deadlines etc while on my own schedule is a very real one, a lot of times when I had some free time (picture me skipping around a flower field) I've managed to not make a whole lot of use of it mostly because it was unstructured. I'm just afraid that unless I put myself in a Do or Die situation, it's going to stay that way.
EDIT: Oh, another thing: I'm doing this all with the hopes of getting into a Masters program this fall. I know this might sound silly, but if I do the internship and then spend 2 years at school, will the internship kind of diminish in value on my CV? Like I said, may sound strange but I can just imagine people only looking at the last gig you did...
Second to your concerns regarding a contract of sorts: It heavily depends in which country the company is. Nevertheless, I have to agree, that this procedure seems not very professional ... maybe some other people, who work at such large companies can help me a little bit out here, because this is a little bit out of my depth.
Personally: Right or wrong set aside, as long as you would get a contract after the 1 week "testing" period, I wouldn't mind this week just because of the good job, that would be coming from that. More than a week: Never! I truly believe you have a real shot at the internship. They can not really use any employee who only works for a week and therefore I think they want to see you fitting in.