Struggling 3D Artist in Japan
Hey guys! This will be a bit of a long post, and I thank you for anyone taking the time to read this..!
Background on career shift:
・Back in 2018, I couldn't find any fulfillment with my current role as a DevOps at a financial institution, so I took a leap in my career to leave my job, and pursue the things I've been having interest, which is pursuing Japanese Linguistics and study 3D Animation.
・Fast forward to 2022, finished my Japanese Linguistics Class and was able to pass the JLPT N2, and was very fortunate to finally land a 3D Artist job at a very small studio in Tokyo Japan.
2022 to 2025
・I was able to land a job as a 3D Artist, but it was my first time in a professional environment, and I had NO senior 3D Artists to work with. I was alone, not sure if what I'm doing on the job was right, but I was still able to produce results here and there.
・Being alone definitely took a toll on me, as I had no senior figure to look up to and follow, especially on a completely new career line. I tried talking to my boss on hiring a senior 3D Artist, but they already planned that I should be the senior in the company, and that I should lead future 3D Artists in the company..
・A year and a half later the company decided to hire graduates. It wasn't a good experience personally, as I'm still limited to what I only know, and what the company projects usually handles. I tried my best to guide them step-by-step, and never leave questions unanswered. But at the end of the day, I'm still limited to what I only know.
・Company budget was very strict. I was only able to use free software on my job, which was Blender, GIMP, and Unity for game development. Looking at the industry, Maya, 3DSMax, Photoshop, Substance Painter, ZBrush, Marmoset Toolbar, and all other stuff were the industry standard tools. From that on, I knew I was screwed if I kept relying on free software.
・I tried to save money and bought myself Substance Painter atleast, and tried to play with it personally, but never got a chance to use it professionally.
・All the projects that I was a part of in the company, to be quite honest, is NOT portfolio-worthy, but I had fun. I thought that, if the company's sales are stable, maybe it isn't bad to look on to stay working here in the long-term, since I still had a lot of fun, even though I know what I created was crap. Never knew that being lenient would cost me a lot..
・Fast forward to Nov 2025, the company was in a hundreds million yen in debt, and we were all terminated, with 3-months worth of salary not yet being paid to us. We also still haven't received our Severance Pay, + unused Paid leaves convertible to cash.
Conclusion
・The big mistake I made was, I remained lenient, thinking that the company will continue to grow, but I was wrong. I should have still pursued to look for opportunities to grow my skillset. During the 5 months that I was unemployed, the most common job rejection reason that I kept receiving was that I don't have enough skill to be in their production, as well as limited knowledge to industry-standard tools. Limited knowledge in Maya was most of the time, instant rejection from the companies I applied for.
・Now, to stabilize my finances here in Japan, I took Network Engineer job, starting in May 7th. I've been thinking to stay on this job for 1 year, and during that 1 year, prepare my portfolio and still try to search for jobs here.
What to do
・I still love doing 3D as a career. I had a lot of fun on my previous company, even though I know that what I was producing was crap(I still don't get why they approve those..). I would like insights on where should I go next to have my foot again in the field..!
・I asked ChatGPT, and it recommended me to try going ArchViz or ProductVisualization, based on my portfolio.
I would love to hear your insights on what I should do next...! And thank you for reading!
Portfolio links:
・caelsent.artstation.com
・https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wwfFiCgoLSS697op2_INn2UlzjoySQAOQpkxVbUjAHg/edit?usp=sharing (This portfolio also contains all the projects I was involved in my company, as well as personal projects not published in my artstation)
Also, if there are any 3D Artists here currently working in Japan, I would love to connect!
Background on career shift:
・Back in 2018, I couldn't find any fulfillment with my current role as a DevOps at a financial institution, so I took a leap in my career to leave my job, and pursue the things I've been having interest, which is pursuing Japanese Linguistics and study 3D Animation.
・Fast forward to 2022, finished my Japanese Linguistics Class and was able to pass the JLPT N2, and was very fortunate to finally land a 3D Artist job at a very small studio in Tokyo Japan.
2022 to 2025
・I was able to land a job as a 3D Artist, but it was my first time in a professional environment, and I had NO senior 3D Artists to work with. I was alone, not sure if what I'm doing on the job was right, but I was still able to produce results here and there.
・Being alone definitely took a toll on me, as I had no senior figure to look up to and follow, especially on a completely new career line. I tried talking to my boss on hiring a senior 3D Artist, but they already planned that I should be the senior in the company, and that I should lead future 3D Artists in the company..
・A year and a half later the company decided to hire graduates. It wasn't a good experience personally, as I'm still limited to what I only know, and what the company projects usually handles. I tried my best to guide them step-by-step, and never leave questions unanswered. But at the end of the day, I'm still limited to what I only know.
・Company budget was very strict. I was only able to use free software on my job, which was Blender, GIMP, and Unity for game development. Looking at the industry, Maya, 3DSMax, Photoshop, Substance Painter, ZBrush, Marmoset Toolbar, and all other stuff were the industry standard tools. From that on, I knew I was screwed if I kept relying on free software.
・I tried to save money and bought myself Substance Painter atleast, and tried to play with it personally, but never got a chance to use it professionally.
・All the projects that I was a part of in the company, to be quite honest, is NOT portfolio-worthy, but I had fun. I thought that, if the company's sales are stable, maybe it isn't bad to look on to stay working here in the long-term, since I still had a lot of fun, even though I know what I created was crap. Never knew that being lenient would cost me a lot..
・Fast forward to Nov 2025, the company was in a hundreds million yen in debt, and we were all terminated, with 3-months worth of salary not yet being paid to us. We also still haven't received our Severance Pay, + unused Paid leaves convertible to cash.
Conclusion
・The big mistake I made was, I remained lenient, thinking that the company will continue to grow, but I was wrong. I should have still pursued to look for opportunities to grow my skillset. During the 5 months that I was unemployed, the most common job rejection reason that I kept receiving was that I don't have enough skill to be in their production, as well as limited knowledge to industry-standard tools. Limited knowledge in Maya was most of the time, instant rejection from the companies I applied for.
・Now, to stabilize my finances here in Japan, I took Network Engineer job, starting in May 7th. I've been thinking to stay on this job for 1 year, and during that 1 year, prepare my portfolio and still try to search for jobs here.
What to do
・I still love doing 3D as a career. I had a lot of fun on my previous company, even though I know that what I was producing was crap(I still don't get why they approve those..). I would like insights on where should I go next to have my foot again in the field..!
・I asked ChatGPT, and it recommended me to try going ArchViz or ProductVisualization, based on my portfolio.
I would love to hear your insights on what I should do next...! And thank you for reading!
Portfolio links:
・caelsent.artstation.com
・https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wwfFiCgoLSS697op2_INn2UlzjoySQAOQpkxVbUjAHg/edit?usp=sharing (This portfolio also contains all the projects I was involved in my company, as well as personal projects not published in my artstation)
Also, if there are any 3D Artists here currently working in Japan, I would love to connect!
Replies
Dev-ops (assuming I'm understanding your duties correctly) is not a million miles away from the less arty end of being a TA - there are certainly transferrable skills/processes (i know this because I've spent the last year running what it essentially a dev-ops project).
Good TAs are really, really hard to find
Do with this information what you will.
Last I checked Novedge had one of the cheapest listings for a Zbrush license (I'm not sure if this is the case anymore, I don't see a perpetual license listed, would want to double-check), you can also buy a used license from others on their forums
https://novedge.com/collections/maxon/products/buy-zbrush-subscription
https://www.maxon.net/en/resellers
If you don't want to use Zbrush, I've heard Blender has become really good with their highpoly sculpting tools.
The industry is still in a bad spot, 2022 was around the time when it was easiest to hire people. But yeah in boom or bust, I don't think 'learning on the job' is a thing we can afford to do; perhaps with some skills such as social or managerial, or tips and tricks along the way, but the skill level you have to be at to get a chance at all is so high especially since most companies with the money (AAA) have established relationships with outsourcing studios that gobble up all the work anyway. It's a hard ask for an employer to hire a japanese freelancer when one can hire 3-5 people in Delhi for the same cost. Understanding the highpoly to lowpoly workflow, cloth simulation and texturing in substance is a baseline requirement.
Personally I think working outside of the games industry is the better option. I've spent 10 years of my life working minimum wage or near it with basically no raises or benefits of any kind (except for my time at GGG) and need to live in Malaysia to have any competitive edge. Hold a day job unrelated to games, and work on games in your free time. Basically, if you want to be a 3d artist, you are looking forward to a lifetime of poverty unless you're insanely talented, and even that is based on who you know and luck.