Just wondered what the difference in roles would be between a Junior and Senior 3D artist at a game studio in terms of work on each project and what would be expected skill wise for a junior.
You'll probably end up doing the same tasks as a senior artist, unless you can't handle the same types of stuff they can. A good portfolio would probably get you a Junior (entry level) position. Tack on 5 years of experience and some brains, and you should have a senior position. And you'd probably actually make enough money to survive this winter.
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A good portfolio, it is right to assume the portfolio for a junior wouldnt have to be to the same standard as a senior artist?
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I read this as; "can I get a job with a crappy portfolio? I don't want to take the time to learn on my own and I want out of my parents basement NOW!"
Yes, but not a job you would want to work at for very long.
Quality places hire quality not on the promise of quality after much investment on the companies part. I don't know too many places that pass over junior artists with a good portfolio to go with someone who has a worse portfolio but promises to become better? It's best to show up knocking on their door with the skills they require than it is to show and ask to be trained.
Senior Artist usually means you work on the high-profile assets, you may have some management duties (teach Juniors, help with schedules, art-direct team, etc.), and you tend to research new techniques/software for use by you and the team. Similar to Art Director role.
Junior Artist usually means capable production artist, just with limited experience. You get a number of similar assets to plow through, usually with clearly-defined designs/expectations (provided by Sr).
well, as far as I have seen, a junior artist is entry level, then right around 2 years experience you can drop the junior and just be an "artist" "Production artist" "Environment Artist" "Character Artist" or plain old "3d artist" Then at around 4+ years you can begin to look for jobs that have Senior in the title.
Not at all Vig, for a start I own my own place and secondly I absolutely would put the time in, otherwise id choose an easier profession or stick with web design! anyway ...
What I meant was, say in web design for example. If you were going for a junior role, your work wouldnt be expected to be on the same par as someone doing it for 8 years. So therefore you wouldnt have the same responsibility as a senior, you would do all the basic production (creating banners, labels/headers, page layouts) where as the senior guy would actually design the site from scratch, come up with branding, concepts etc. In most disciplines people with more experience are expected to be better at their skill/craft that those with less experience and thats usually reflected in responsibility and task set within the role (and salary of course!) and I wondered how that compared with 3D.
Similar to what ghost_rider said, in my experience the title's of Junior and Senior don't refer to art talent, but level of work experience.
When a company wants to hire a Senior Artist they want someone that has PROVEN several times that they can get the job done.
As far as separation of tasks between Senior and Junior artist, in my experience, it really depends of the company you work at. Some companies give the important assets to the Senior Artist, and some to simply the more talented artists.
Monster is spot on from the companies I've worked at.
It really depends on the companies. I have a little over a year of exp and I was Senior Envir Artist at my previous job. It just happened that I was the only person they had that knew the engine they used and I used that as a bargaining chip.
Oddly enough now, the title really doesn't matter to me. I think it's because I was a Senior Artist before having one year of exp I've realized that the title has nothing to do with job happiness.
I'm now an Envir Artist and do the same job as the Senior Artist. But the Senior Artist has 4+ years of exp on me. To be honest also it really doesn't bother me.
I think it more comes down to the question of WHY?. A Junior artist just might be as good artistically as a senior artist, but the senior artist knows why things work and why things don't work. Senior artists are the ones with the answers. Why is this shader not working properly? What can I do to rig all our characters more efficiently. These are the types of answers that come with experience.
Or it could just go by age. Anyone over 30 automatically becomes a senior artist, anyone under 24 is a junior artist.
the biggest difference between junior and senior artists I've found is technical knowledge. I've seen some amazingly talented artists in both positions, but more often than not, the senior artist was the one that was a talented artist AND could answer just about any question about the software/engine being worked with. It's often the senior's job to help out others on the team, teach them how to use the tools and produce artwork in the company's style/pipeline. The junior artist tends to be the one asking more questions and/or just working on the assets he's given.
Junior artists make art and generally only have to do what they're asked to do.
Senior artists actively seek out problems and try to solve them. They help train the juniors and they help develop art tools.
Replies
A good portfolio, it is right to assume the portfolio for a junior wouldnt have to be to the same standard as a senior artist?
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I read this as;
"can I get a job with a crappy portfolio? I don't want to take the time to learn on my own and I want out of my parents basement NOW!"
Yes, but not a job you would want to work at for very long.
Quality places hire quality not on the promise of quality after much investment on the companies part. I don't know too many places that pass over junior artists with a good portfolio to go with someone who has a worse portfolio but promises to become better? It's best to show up knocking on their door with the skills they require than it is to show and ask to be trained.
Junior Artist usually means capable production artist, just with limited experience. You get a number of similar assets to plow through, usually with clearly-defined designs/expectations (provided by Sr).
What I meant was, say in web design for example. If you were going for a junior role, your work wouldnt be expected to be on the same par as someone doing it for 8 years. So therefore you wouldnt have the same responsibility as a senior, you would do all the basic production (creating banners, labels/headers, page layouts) where as the senior guy would actually design the site from scratch, come up with branding, concepts etc. In most disciplines people with more experience are expected to be better at their skill/craft that those with less experience and thats usually reflected in responsibility and task set within the role (and salary of course!) and I wondered how that compared with 3D.
Cheers,
Justin
When a company wants to hire a Senior Artist they want someone that has PROVEN several times that they can get the job done.
As far as separation of tasks between Senior and Junior artist, in my experience, it really depends of the company you work at. Some companies give the important assets to the Senior Artist, and some to simply the more talented artists.
It really depends on the companies. I have a little over a year of exp and I was Senior Envir Artist at my previous job. It just happened that I was the only person they had that knew the engine they used and I used that as a bargaining chip.
Oddly enough now, the title really doesn't matter to me. I think it's because I was a Senior Artist before having one year of exp I've realized that the title has nothing to do with job happiness.
I'm now an Envir Artist and do the same job as the Senior Artist. But the Senior Artist has 4+ years of exp on me. To be honest also it really doesn't bother me.
Or it could just go by age. Anyone over 30 automatically becomes a senior artist, anyone under 24 is a junior artist.
and of course, there are always exceptions
attending meetings
mentoring junior artists
communicating with other teams
setting an example
writing docs
Senior artists actively seek out problems and try to solve them. They help train the juniors and they help develop art tools.