Laid off and no replies from applications
quad damage
Hi everyone,
Long story short, I was laid off, and haven't received my last three paychecks, but the boss promises he's working on it, but never gives any specifics, and it's been a month and a half since he found out our funding was discontinued (can't give any specifics).
In the meantime, I'm looking for work, and I've sent out quite a few applications to every reputable (usually) studio I can find in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
I've been doing that for about a month now, (and seriously doing it for 3 weeks) and have received maybe 2 replies, both being canned responses about not being quite the right fit for their given positions. Not just game companies either, despite my immense preference for game art. I realize these things can take time, but I can't help but feel like they're all looking at my portfolio, muttering "this guy sucks" under their breath, and closing the window. Maybe that's a dramatization, maybe it isn't, haha.
Where I worked, I was the only in-house environment and prop artist for a UE4 game that was released a few months back, and I did some props for another game the company took over; so I have two shipped titles from the job. I assumed job searching would be easier, with that under my belt.
I'm working on some new stuff for my portfolio, but considering my lack of funds, I was hoping to find something as soon as possible, but the lack of replies is absolutely disheartening. Do I just have to wait longer, and keep applying to new places, or is it some problem with my work?
Any tips on dealing with the lack of confidence that comes with a lack of replies? Or if anyone knows about openings in Los Angeles/Santa Monica, where I could apply? Or some tips about why I may not be getting any replies?
You can view my work at Joopson.com
Thanks.
Long story short, I was laid off, and haven't received my last three paychecks, but the boss promises he's working on it, but never gives any specifics, and it's been a month and a half since he found out our funding was discontinued (can't give any specifics).
In the meantime, I'm looking for work, and I've sent out quite a few applications to every reputable (usually) studio I can find in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
I've been doing that for about a month now, (and seriously doing it for 3 weeks) and have received maybe 2 replies, both being canned responses about not being quite the right fit for their given positions. Not just game companies either, despite my immense preference for game art. I realize these things can take time, but I can't help but feel like they're all looking at my portfolio, muttering "this guy sucks" under their breath, and closing the window. Maybe that's a dramatization, maybe it isn't, haha.
Where I worked, I was the only in-house environment and prop artist for a UE4 game that was released a few months back, and I did some props for another game the company took over; so I have two shipped titles from the job. I assumed job searching would be easier, with that under my belt.
I'm working on some new stuff for my portfolio, but considering my lack of funds, I was hoping to find something as soon as possible, but the lack of replies is absolutely disheartening. Do I just have to wait longer, and keep applying to new places, or is it some problem with my work?
Any tips on dealing with the lack of confidence that comes with a lack of replies? Or if anyone knows about openings in Los Angeles/Santa Monica, where I could apply? Or some tips about why I may not be getting any replies?
You can view my work at Joopson.com
Thanks.
Replies
It's a game of determination, numbers, time, and creativity. Basically the more you put in to it, the more you will get to it. You will be rejected, you need to move past that. Just keep grinding. Do your homework on the companies you are applying. You need to sell yourself.
Don't know what level of jobs you are applying for, but personally, you web page is really generic and bland. As an artist I would think it would help to spend some time there, if you mention it on your resume or something I would really attack that. I would guess being a professional artist is like a lot of things, but mostly it's about grabbing someone's attention. The other would be showing you can work on the kind of projects they have. So if you don't have the big projects under your belt you will need to sell yourself with other work.
http://gameartportfoliowall.com/
You mentioned looking for more than just game art, so really look into simulation (serious games) jobs, architectural rendering, oil and gas 3d, etc.
Scrap 'impression' and 'older work' (the later more because the title indicates you don't think it represents your current skills), and kill the white background, at the very least. This look about 10x better imo:
I would either use dark color as website background or brighten up the renders.
I made some changes based on everyone's recommendations. I darkened the background, changed the title image at the top to be a little less complicated, reordered my work, and got rid of the "older work", and instead replaced it with "Props" (I did some freelance a while back, so I'll have a need for that section as I start being allowed to show my work from that).
Tomorrow I'll be changing some more stuff, so if there is any more feedback in that regard, I'd appreciate it.
Any comments on what specific pieces I should remove entirely, going forward? I have a hard time picking out my own best and worst work, so that could be very helpful.
Thanks again, Blasoid, PolyHertz, The Mad Artist, and cgBrad. Polycount is the best.
The revolver looks like its unfinished texturewise , take a look at other weapons done here in polycount, it is a solid model, but boring texture. I would also reduce the number of shots of the gun , right now you have arund 6 , i think one image with the gun sideview and fpv is enough to showcase it.
The Axe looks cool texture wise, the lightning is letting it down tho , it gives this weird orangy feeling to it that kinda washes out the prop , again , only one image is needed for it, not 4 or 5.
The skyrim mod ones are kinda letting the other pieces down , i would get rid of it.
ALONE IN THE DARK :
the starter image is the gun, i think you should start of with the nicely lit enviro you have after it, right now the gun is in a drk background with half wireframe that doesnt showcase the texture nor the model properly.
KITCHEN
My favorite piece from your folio . Clean, nicely lit and with a great mood , i would focus on making more scenes like those as it stands out from the crowd.
The about page is in my personal opinion ( im not recruiter ) but is something that should go , recruiters care about art , and if they want to know more about you they will either set a phone interview or talk to you via email , its just anoter section on the website that is filling space.
Now , go make new art , right now you show you can do more complex stuff that you have posted so try to make something cool that stands out from the crowd.
Good luck !
Connect with recruiters. A lot to choose from social media or get recommendations from your network.
First sign of trouble at employment, get recruiters working for you :thumbup:
Get rid of these from 'Alone in the Dark':
http://joopson.com/assets/brazier.jpg
http://joopson.com/assets/goomaterial.jpg
http://joopson.com/assets/bottles.jpg
Maybe these too:
http://joopson.com/assets/pews.jpg (boring)
http://joopson.com/assets/medpacks.jpg (boring)
http://joopson.com/assets/ammo.jpg (materials, especially on cartridge boxes, is flat)
Also, I like the ray gun, but feel like it could use just a small amount of glow around the yellow discs so they don't look so much like something on a toy.
Oh a little advice for your folio, you should add on the front page what is professional and personal work, so recruiters immediately see that you have professional experience. The Alone in the Dark env could be a fan art after all, they don't know that from first glance.
And if you already feel bad after some weeks, imagine how you'll feel after 2 years ^^. Just keep it up, it's not you in particular, the whole industry is like this. Do something "wow" as Slosh said and it should help.
Or buy some assets on a store, make a nice scene with a nice lighting, get featured and bam ! everybody's gonna want to hire you.
As far as getting a job, keep applying, keep improving your portfolio. There are a few superstars that can rest on their laurels, but most of us have to keep sharpening our blades between battles.
Good Luck
As a general rule stay away from pieces involving religious symbolism, or specifically anything that could be perceived as directly insulting a major religions Deity. That doll nailed to a cross could potentially lose you work opportunities all by itself depending on who sees it.
I also concur with Slosh and Texelion. But I believe that in order to produce some of those "wow" pieces, you really have to take a step back and concentrate on doing what it is that you want to do. Try to find your own voice, even if it's subtle. Most current and aspiring artists in this industry seem to perpetuate this trend of "I gotta do what this person does" or "I gotta do what this company asks." While it's good to be as marketable as possible, I think there's also a danger in it -- you never get to entirely commit to art and its essence as it pertains to you. So up until now you've done props that were specifically required for the titles you worked on; now try to do some work that you desire to do. Try to even steer away from props and do some level design, architecture, even characters if you have the innate talent. Give your site a facelift (preferably a look completely opposite of the way it is now) and don't get rid of your weakest/oldest pieces yet, just put them in an old work section.
From my experience, the best way to deal with a lack of replies is to make contact with your employers directly. (First of all, try to get out more and live life; not necessarily party like a rockstar, but try not to let yourself become completely miserable. I've been there, and other than your closest friend or spouse which knows you, appreciates you, but probably can't help, nobody else will give a damn). So stay positive and try to make contact with your employers, either by meeting them in person or calling them directly.
My situation's been different than yours, but probably not entirely different... I've graduated a couple of years back and found myself unable to get a job in game art. I didn't have any connections and my work wasn't good enough to begin with. After about a year and a half I gave up on that and went back to architectural visualization (what I went to school for originally). There were some attempts to get back into game art, but with the amount of time lost in the first place, the amount of time I know will take me to get stellar, and life moving at its own pace I decided to rely on what I can do best for now. I live on the east coast near a lot of architecture firms. So I just started to go to them in person and offer my service. Some turned me down, some I never heard back from, but others started to employ me for their projects. I now have a couple that really like my work and are offering me contracts. Anyway, I don't know if this is something that you can apply on the west coast where you live, but it might be worth a try. The bottom line is, almost nobody will hire you if you send online applications even if you're a decent artist but you're a no-name. If your work is decent, you have higher chances in person once they meet you. Good luck!
That's interesting!!
Anyone else see that sort of thing happening?
If that's hard to believe just check the credits of shipped aaa releases.
Yup. I have definitely seen it, especially in the last year or so. A few yearly release franchises like to have "Outsource Managers" and then outsource the large load of work to other countries where they mass produce the content. The managers will then take these pieces and optimize, clean up, etc. Whatever they need to do to get the content to baseline standards for use. You then have hero props, level specific assets, etc built by senior staff in house.
Not all studios are like this, but IMO a big reason why prop/env positions have gone down in number somewhat recently. I am in no way pointing fingers, as its a viable business decision to save money on their end, it just makes landing that job so much more difficult.
...pay your dues in a China satellite studio then come back home as a highly recruited manager.:thumbup:
In my experience, what happens is that they post a job even though they already have someone in mind, and might have done a first interview. They only go to people who respond to the job post if the first person doesn't work out, or if another similar position opens later.
This is definitely true quite a bit sadly, as studios will do internal hiring rounds first (usually), ask if people have referrals second, then quite quickly after that they will post online. So by the time a post pops up online, they will usually already have a batch of applicants at the top of the stack. This is where networking and not burning bridges is KEY. By networking, I mean just making friends/acquaintances as very rarely (if at all) do I hear about someone looking through a stack of business cards to then contact a person they randomly met at a convention 6 months prior.