So what is the final thought?
polycounter lvl 7
In last couple of months i saw a lot of YT videos and discussions all over the internet about AI stuff and its hard to land a job as 3d character artist. So what is there a final thought on that topic?
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The current political shit-show in the U.S. has created a lot of uncertainty for business leaders, so they have pulled back on spending, and laid off staff (which are often the largest monthly expense for a business).
There are still positions being hired, just a lot less of them, so the competition is fierce and the hiring pool is full of experienced people.
Then on top of this, AI is seen as a quick solution for entry-level tasks. It's actually not... it can do some things quickly, which is attractive to business ledgers, but it's not a sustainable solution because you can't get experienced developers without replenishing your incoming talent pool.
So overall it's just a shitty situation, and it most directly impacts the entry-level hires, and recent university graduates.
Regarding AI, I'm starting to see some companies ask for knowledge of AI tools for 3D modelling like Meshy or Rodin, so I guess that's more stuff to learn on top of many other software that you need to use.
It's very rough
AI has also given me so much on a personal level too; it's a bonding experience to shit on AI together with my coworkers and friends, and I send instagram AI slop reels to people for funsies. Not to mention the countless hours of content creators reporting on the next big AI lolcow moment that I put on as background noise for when I work or when I'm tidying the house.
So I actually really like AI. Does it influence hiring? I don't think it really does. Management just kinda sucks atm lol
The profession is dead and anyone who's in learning should shift to greener pastures. And by greener pastures I mean trades that are not optional. Healthcare. Food production. Drug Trafficking.
Creativity can't make a living, never could, never will.
if you can be automated out of a job you weren't bringing any independent value - which is a you problem.
Everyone says so at first. Every single one of you.
But even so, how many hi-end artsy unique seniors are out there and how many such positions are offered? Let's be real, most 3D jobs don't require any creative skill. It's all about delivering technically sound assets on time.
Assimilating a particular artstyle is a matter of one evening for future AIs, no point in hiring a person when you can just train a model on his portfolio. All the rest will become nothing more then just glorified topology janitors.
AI will not and cannot replace that. It simply does not and by design cannot have the holistic vision to drive a team towards the complex ever-shifting goal that is finishing a game. Which then requires human creatives to adapt and shift their outputs.
If you’re churning out a ton of widgets that are pretty much the same as last year’s widgets, with minor changes, then… sure.
I think you need to stop drinking the hype juice that all the tech bruhs are dishing out, and get some experience under your belt.
Lots of layoffs unfortunately and as a result, lots of people out there looking for new jobs.
I suppose you could look beyond your specific field - outside of character art, outside of games.
Obviously, portfolio plays a key role. Where is yours? Perhaps add a link to your profile. I would continue to do personal projects to try out things, apply/ show learnings from professional work that you maybe aren't allowed to show.
What you are describing is an Art-directors job. How many paid art-directors positions are out there? how many folks wanted to just have a comfy IT job without much management? Do the math. Corpos don't need that many visionaires, those seats are already occupied by their kids.
And yeah, I got 10 years of experience big and small, and used to make my own MVP a year ago. Never again. I'm basically all-knowing skillwise now but I'm not dellusional about AIs thinking capabilities. Current models still kinda lame at coding logic, but they are getting there. Proplexity solves problems better then all human managers I've met and I see no barriers to it doing art-direction based on prompt.