What Should I do next ? [Career Guide Plz ]
polycounter lvl 10
Background:
I worked for a company outsourcing game for +2.5 years, and Now since it done there is no other companies/studios working in games in my whole country. And I haven't been able to get any job in the game studio abroad (which I know is VERY hard(wish I was super duper talented or something), but I don't have any options in my country).
Okay, here is the thing:
I've been working/practicing environment art alot Here,
http://www.suchan.com.np
Now should I practice more environment art, be BETTER at it
or
maybe learn character modeling(which I'm VERY weak at)
or
Maybe skill up my game programming skills so maybe I can start something from my country itself ?
What should I improve in to have better chance of getting a job abroad(Anywhere/Somewhere)
[Btw, I'm an Electronic Engineer(2010), by Education. But working in art field for +4 years now, coz thats what I was made for and love doing. But sometimes feel maybe I made a wrong decision when I realize I can't earn as much in this field
]
(I'm still hopeful but being jobless, loses my confidence with every another day)
I worked for a company outsourcing game for +2.5 years, and Now since it done there is no other companies/studios working in games in my whole country. And I haven't been able to get any job in the game studio abroad (which I know is VERY hard(wish I was super duper talented or something), but I don't have any options in my country).
Okay, here is the thing:
I've been working/practicing environment art alot Here,
http://www.suchan.com.np
Now should I practice more environment art, be BETTER at it
or
maybe learn character modeling(which I'm VERY weak at)
or
Maybe skill up my game programming skills so maybe I can start something from my country itself ?
What should I improve in to have better chance of getting a job abroad(Anywhere/Somewhere)
[Btw, I'm an Electronic Engineer(2010), by Education. But working in art field for +4 years now, coz thats what I was made for and love doing. But sometimes feel maybe I made a wrong decision when I realize I can't earn as much in this field
](I'm still hopeful but being jobless, loses my confidence with every another day)
Replies
Looking over your pieces there are two things that come to mind for me.
1. Overall artistic expression
With this I mean that maybe your portfolio needs something that feels more inspiring something a little bit more creative? I feel like you did a great job on the UDK-basement. I remember when you did it, and you nailed the scale and the perspective. It's a really nice basement but it doesn't really tell a story either.
The lighting study is nice but it's also pretty simple in it's execution. Great for practice but maybe you should brought the same study into a more interesting environment?
Batman Arkham Asylum has a really good lighting article somewhere.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/gdc-seeing-light-arkham-asylum/
hmm you can find it over at GDC-vault, if you have access to it. They have some good stuff.
Basically they made most of their textures greyish and colored the environments using lots of colored lights. Making each area feel different and get it's own personality but still keep within the same style of the asylum. Really well done.
2. Basic Art-Principles need to be refined.
Looking over your beauty-shots, I feel like some of the basic art-principles could be improved upon. Especially composition and color-theory. Maybe some more studies could be good? I suggest running over to ctrl+paint and checking out their video-library.
http://ctrlpaint.com/
They have some good stuff regarding the basics, and it's not that I feel like you don't know the basics. It's more like, when you feel unsure if you're progressing or what you can do to progress, improve on the basics.
And
Regarding the money-thing, yes we usually don't earn a ton of money but it's very rewarding working with art for games
Either way I hope I don't sound too harsh! I know you're working really hard and I've seen your work around the forums and you're good with taking feedback and improving. So just keep it up man
I asked because, I keep getting "Can you do character modeling too ? because from your portfolio we dint see any characters", when i apply as an environment artist.
1. I'm constantly improving myself, and still participating in Polycount Noob Chanlenges. Thats helping alot too.
2. You guess it correct, not very Pro at color-theory and art stuff, but I think I'm slowly getting better with CtrlPaint/other tutorials. http://ctrlpaint.com is simple awesome, I've watched most of his videos and used to practice drawing but paused recently. That's what inspired me to do a lighting Study from that movie.
Don't want to be millionaire doing art, hehe just good enough to enjoy life is it goes.
Hope I get a good job soon
From my experience you usually don't get bigger studios asking if you can do other things as well. I say, focus all your energy on what you want to do, become good enough to be able to earn a living from it and then later you can try other things. ^^
I could be wrong given my limited knowledge of the professional industry so if somebody could correct me, that'd be great as I'm currently also not sure what to practice next (currently doing programming.)
If you want a brutal crit your Tank & Car are the best thing in your portfolio. Everything else is mediocre. They are levels above of everything else. :thumbup:
So your strong point is hardsurface. Metal wear & weathering.
The diffuses are abit flat colour wise tho, so work some colour variation into them.
If your going to specialize I would recommend playing to your strengths.
So that doesn't neccessarily mean making only vehicles, but make types of environments that play to your hardsurface strengths.
Your employable so don't give up
I'd stay out of characters if your new to them. They take along time to get employed by compared to environments. Also there's less character jobs to environment jobs just by the fact that projects require great numbers of environment artists to characters.
So, your work is good but there's definitely some room for improvement. Texture dat gun also, having unfinished work on your portfolio usually gives a bad impression.
Since your focus is more about environment art, I'd look into dynamics and post processing effects. Think water, weather effects, cloth simulations, lighting, etc. that you can further enhance environment pieces with.
Also bump that Pirate Island to the top of your portfolio. It's an awesome piece and the color really grabs your eye.
About Work Visa,Thats totally true,dustinbrown ... I did went to consultancy to know about the Immigration(but they had certain low level job list only which I dont want be doing) , Student Visa isn't very helpful as thats not what I'm actually going for + expensive, Work Visa only seems to be the option at the moment(which is hard again).
Honestly, I didn't felt bad when I didn't get response/rejection from America,Europe or Australia. I felt I'm not good when I was not even selected for an Indian Studios(which is country side to ours, I'm from Nepal),or othere asian countries(Singapore).. Hehe
Thanks alot guys, You guys brought some hope inside me, Feeling better and energized.
Going back to Er. job is not what I'd consider for now. I'll keep programming as my hobby rather.. I guess too much to learn and do in the environment art itself, so I'll keep on working on my portfolio, maybe abit more variety and add new things (more impressive arts
Thanks alot guys, You guys have been always so Awesome and helpful.
Cheers (Y)