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I've been designing for years as a hobby, and while I'm pursuing my university's animation major, design has been a great way to work and pay the bills. I had a design job for a year at the local Prudential Real Estate affiliate, but the environment there was volatile and unstable at best, so I decided to move on. I'm working on spreading myself around and getting my resume into people's hands, and I've even taken to going to more professional-looking design firms in person to introduce myself and respectfully offer my services, but I've had minimal bites. I know the design job market is a little iffy now and then, so I just want to make sure my portfolio is as best as it can be. Any comments and advice would be appreciated, and keep in mind, that I may be making some obvious mistakes as I don't have a degree per se. I'm all self taught. My portfolio is here: http://www.mutatedjellyfish.net and my resume (based on the design posted earlier in the thread) can be downloaded right on the front page. The design of the site was kind of hurried as there were a few times at my old job when I was sure I was going to be fired (the upper management decided to take a more hands on approach to the marketing department and it's never pretty when realtors/salesmen and artists mix), so the design is simple because it had to be quick. Simple is more my style, anyway, though. I try to inject my personality into my resume and my portfolio, as I'm tired of working for egos and people putting up facades, so I want to appeal to more like-minded employers. I'm also trying to expand my stuff past boring real estate junk, as well, as I feel that more than anything, that's hurting me the most. Any other feedback and advice is greatly appreciated. https://instagram.com/mutatedjellyfish/
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Jan 28, 2008 09:48
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MuscleMilk posted:What are your guys' opinions on blogspot portfolios? No one I or my friends have talked to about it cares (this includes Pixar, Microsoft Games, SOE, Dreamworks, Blizzard). As long as it's usable, simple, and shows your work well. Unless this is for graphic or web design, in which case, lol.
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Aug 25, 2010 02:15
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Chernabog posted:Check this thread: Yeah, the game dev thread is where you want to post your questions. The short of it is publisher QA is the poo poo pile whereas developer QA does have some growth potential and is a bit better. Game design degrees are mostly laughable, especially as opposed to a real degree like English, art, communications, programming/maths, etc.
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Jun 13, 2011 01:21
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Seconding AM in place of grad school for character animators. I've had some friends that have done it, and it's a good program that is very well respected industry-wide.
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Jul 4, 2011 04:54
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zaepg posted:You seem to have quite an insight on the animation industry, mind telling me where it is right now? I'm starting as a Freshman this fall at SVA in 2D animation (Not 100% positive, will concentrate in 3D if possible). So I'm trying to get a foresee of what to expect in the coming years, or in the future in terms of education and career. I love animation, I love 2D animation, and could spend my whole drat day having a blast doing it, stuff like this I work on independently and for fun, hoping to improve and better my skills with time. Stability will depend on a lot of factors including skill level, ability and desire to move horizontally within a company (generalist versus specialist), the company you work for, and the specific arm of animation you choose (effects versus animated films, 3D versus 2D). If you were a really good animator and you got a job at Dreamworks doing animated films, for example, you'd probably be pretty "stable", but if you were adequate and got a job at Digital Domain doing effects animation, you'd be per-project. In vast general terms, though, if you're looking for a stable 9-5 with benefits that will last 20+ years, film or games will not fulfill that goal. You will have to continue learning, you will have to network, you will have to crunch, and you will get laid off at some point. Those are pretty much constants with a few exceptions.
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Jul 5, 2011 06:46
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Serain posted:I'm thinking of getting into an art school after my finance degree (I'm 21). I would like to go to a tippy-top-flight school (RISD, etc) majoring in probably something like illustration/concept. No offense, but you say you "want to be the best" but you're asking us how little effort you can put into something and still succeed?
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Sep 16, 2011 20:58
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Serain posted:Sure, I want to succeed. But I want to also keep my options open. Putting together an enormous, perfect portfolio takes time, time that would take away from not only my job search but also my ability to complete my course list this year, freelancing, and working part time. I'm not lazy. I almost submitted something four years ago, but I was putting in 3-6 hours a day before deciding against it. I want to do good work, but now more than ever I find myself with less and less time to spend on art. Sorry, but you're not going to get anywhere meaningful with that attitude/situation. Ask any professional artist or look up their school stories and you'll see that they all put in immense time and effort, often at the expense of family, friends, money, jobs, fun stuff, and school. I'm not saying you can't get to a money-making point without becoming a psycho hermit, but if you're so worried about keeping all of the poo poo that's taking up 90% of your time that you aren't willing to focus the majority of your time on the craft, maybe you're just better off keeping your day job and art-making as a hobbyist. If you aren't committed to it, any kind of minimal effort portfolio would just be wasting time and going to school for it would be wasting huge amounts of money because it WILL get hard and you will quit because you have all that other stuff centerstage anyway. mutata fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Sep 19, 2011 |
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Sep 19, 2011 07:09
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That's extremely awesome and surprisingly healthy of you. The best art is self-directed art. I'm excited for you.
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Sep 19, 2011 21:57
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SleeplessInEngland posted:Those tips are great, thanks! The tip about questions was especially useful because fixing an 'art problem' with others is something I've never had to do before. If it mainly comes down to attitude then I should be okay I think! I'm mostly just worrying about whether I'm good enough now. That's all applicable advice, but also, what you are experiencing is completely normal and something we all went through to varying degrees at our first gigs. I remember sitting down at my first internship at Sony Online Entertainment working on Everquest 2. They showed me their work pipeline and then told me to make a cloak for players to wear that they could sell on their in-game store. Then my boss left. I had to make a thing that hundreds to thousands of people needed to want to spend real money on and a huge global corporation was paying me to do it... It was... weird and slightly disturbing. Then I made a cloak and it kind of sucked but that was just that day's project and I moved on and everything was ok. Everything will be ok.
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Oct 6, 2011 14:55
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If you're not constantly working regardless of whether or not it's client work or personal work and regardless of whether or not you're getting paid then you're doing it wrong.
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Oct 16, 2011 11:28
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uglynoodles posted:Stuff You're best bet is to go to this thread here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3415662 Read the OP and repost your questions there. You'll get much more focused and applicable advice in there. There's a wide bank of people who can help you out. Edit: For any and all concept positions, though, you're going to want to become the artist equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. You want as much variation as possible and a large pool of pieces for your portfolio. You'll want to experiment a lot. The briefs you will get in house will be anywhere from a detailed paragraph about the history and personality of a character to a designer coming into your office and going "we need a witch but like if a witch and a cowboy had sex and had a baby." Variety of ideas is vital. Try to think in terms of development: take an idea (seriously, there are so many more things to draw than dinosaurs, as awesome as they are) and do 5 to 10 pages of GOOD thumbnails trying all kinds of different ideas. Then take 1 or 2 and finish them out as final pieces. Show the design process; show that you are thinking and trying and designing every step of the way, and show that you actually go through this process instead of finishing up the first idea that pops into your head. Work digitally and practice working fast. Show your designs to other people in the industry and get critiques. Register for the Polycount.com forum as this is probably the best place to get professionals to look at your stuff. You aren't going to get too much response cold-emailing industry artists, but there are a good number on PC. The more often you can take a project from idea all the way through the development process to thumbnails, design, linework, and finished painting,(and even beyond to 3D model and textured final, more on that later) the better off you'll be. Conceptart.org is a great place to give you perspective and help you gauge where your progress is compared to where you need to be. Do NOT compare your skills to the experts in any way other than to gauge progress, though. Recognize that they have been doing this for literal decades, most of them for 8-12 hours a day every. loving. day. Your casual hobbyist skill isn't going to measure up, but you'll get there. Research some good character designers (which is essentially what you want to be) and buy their books. Barry Reynolds, Frank Frazetta, Silver, etc. Start to analyze every piece of media you ingest, especially video games and especially their characters. Why is or isn't GlaDOS a well-designed character? What is it about Lara Croft that people love so much? What design language do the assassins from the Assassin's Creed games use? Analyze and learn from that stuff. Research and study everything in order to build your visual vocabulary. Start to learn costume (especially theory, ie, what does a costume say about a character and it's personality) and period fashions. Research things you're interested in. Start a reference library of cool images you find. Gather information you can use in your designs. When you start a project, begin by researching what you want to put in there. Maybe you want a Renaissance Italian fashion influence in your AD 3055 spacesuit design. Start to learn 3D. The better you get, the more versatile you'll be, but at the very least you'll start to understand the limitations that arise as a design transfers from concept to 3D, and you'll be able to design for/around those limits. mutata fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Nov 1, 2011 |
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Nov 1, 2011 05:02
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Ah, the commercial arts. Where price of admission somehow convinces us that we're worth nothing. Imagine if retail had such identity crises: "Well, this car is priced at $30,000 on the other dealerships around here, but if I don't sell it for $5000, they might not recommend my dealership to their friends! " Fire these rear end in a top hat "employers". Edit: 
mutata fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Dec 13, 2011 |
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Dec 13, 2011 14:03
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SleeplessInEngland posted:Thank you so much for the insight everyone, you're all completely right and I'm just being stupid staying in this job. I've realised how ridiculous it is to stay here out of fear of never getting hired again. I had a really terrible day today where I found out that one of the few things they've actually taught me is completely wrong and I realised that not only am I being used at this place but that what little I'm being taught isn't even right in the first place. At the end of the day, that's going to impact my career much more than quitting a crap job where I'm not learning anything. Most of us have a poo poo job in our pasts. It actually helps in gaining valuable perspective and making one wiser in the future. Plus, I feel it helps remind us all what the worth of a person is and how little certain people value others and how poo poo it feels to be walked all over. In other words, if you can escape ok and with your character intact, experiences like these can help make things smoother for you and your clients in the future. That's what I got from MY poo poo job, anyway. On a related note: try to never work for realtors either.
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Dec 13, 2011 22:20
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pipes! posted:I'm also a huge proponent of the personal project. There's literally nothing stopping you from thinking up a dream assignment and following through on it, then using it for your portfolio if you think it's up to snuff. Any amount of success I've had so far in my art career is because of this.
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Dec 14, 2011 19:07
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I haven't read this, but I'm seeing it recommended around the Internet, and maybe people here can weigh in: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18...ASIN=1844676862 It's a book titled "Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy" and breaks down the many, many problems with exploitative internships in America these days. Probably a good read for creative types in school trying to break into their industries. There's a difference between an entry-level "gotta-serve-your-time" job or internship and being exploited, and that isn't always clear. At the very least, you should be able to learn to recognize what you're getting yourself into before you choose to dive in, or how to recognize a poisonous situation you find yourself in before too long.
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Dec 27, 2011 07:29
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One of my professors includes a revision limit in his contracts. Something like 2 revisions are covered by the initial quote and every additional revision after that costs x amount of dollars. Just a thought.
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Dec 30, 2011 07:23
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eggyolk posted:My new website is up. Hosted by Deviantart but via my own domain name. Looking for any advice on things to change before promoting it. What's your goal for the website? To get work? What specific type of work? Does the site best assist that goal with the minimum amount of clicks? I'd also be more concerned with load times with your high-res images than plagiarism, but my connection sucks, so I'm not the best to judge that.
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Jan 23, 2012 07:41
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Beat. posted:It could be a megathread. Are you trying to get your work sold at the dollar store or what? Artvendor.com? I would be interested in learning more about making and selling prints, equipment needed, etc. Might be a cool megathread.
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Feb 1, 2012 23:35
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The thing that us newbies always do is assume that the mere fact we have x months of experience is enough to impress. Sure graduating with 6months under your belt is inherently better than no months, but what is really going to count in a negotiation, I think, is what you tangibly did in those 6 months. Its the difference between listing "art skills" on your resume as opposed to listing it and also bringing in some drawings to show off. If your case is "I need more money because I didn't get fired at my internship for a whole six months! " then I'd consider bringing up what you did that made you awesome as an intern.
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Feb 10, 2012 17:39
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In my opinion, your work so far doesn't show that much breadth. You are certainly developing the technical skills, and based on what I'm seeing, you'll pick up digital art in no time, but as far as subject matter, your work is incredibly boring. It looks like a lot of drawing and painting class projects. In other words, your portfolio is well designed and presented, but still looks like a bunch of early student work. That said, if these people are looking for student interns, I would say you have a chance of landing something, sure. On the other hand, if there are students around doing more creative side projects (character designs, story-based pieces, and building portfolios that show a larger range of styles and subjects) and not just still lifes, your portfolio looks less appealing. I'm a 3D artist, primarily, though, and I work in games, so wait for some other illustrators to chime in before putting the gun in your mouth, but that's the way I see it based on what I've seen in the illustration scene. https://instagram.com/mutatedjellyfish/
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Feb 21, 2012 21:27
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Pantothenate posted:Hey, quick question: Personally, I've mostly seen "References available upon request" lines in cover letters and such and that's where it ends. I guess you could present them however you think is appropriate.
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Mar 20, 2012 18:18
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What's your expenses if you take it? You should do a cost/benefit analysis on the situation. If you don't incur huge risk to take the job (relocation, leaving an existing job, etc) then you could always take a leap and try it out and if it bombs, oh well. If there's much risk involved, then go with your gut.
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May 12, 2012 06:53
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Shnooks posted:I'm not entirely sure how my degree in fibers is any more "predatory" than someone elses degree in illustration in this thread. You're the one who said it was dumb. He's saying that art schools are predatory, not you having a degree.
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May 12, 2012 23:56
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It seems like the portfolio one would be so field- or specialty-specific as to require many answers. I could speak to game art, but not really serious graphic design, etc etc.
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May 30, 2012 13:59
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As specific as your wants are, you'd be best served taking that money and buying some training DVDs and getting some good instructional books and self-educating for 2 semesters. It'll be good practice for after school and you have to do that anyway. Not to mention waaaaay less hassle and most likely much cheaper. The other option is a local community college but the quality of instruction and your selection of classes will vary widely.
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Aug 17, 2012 14:03
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It makes me sad when artists write off education that isn't directly tied to their one corner of art making. Art is informed and expanded by experience with the world in general, and a respect for knowledge and learning goes much further to making you a better designer than ~*the art school experience*~. You would be surprised how often my Russian degree comes up in my work through no fault of my own. Just my thoughts.
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Aug 31, 2012 14:51
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kidcoelacanth posted:
And that's fair enough, to be honest. And what you said about lack of effective critiques is applicable to the max. Alls I'm sayin' is, if it were me, I'd be super wary of art schools at this point, particularly with the financial state of things. Art schools' prices are only going up and they're pumping out more and more grads and jobs are fewer and fewer, and all I've heard around these parts is that the quality of them in general is dropping as time goes on. When I look at all of that compared to the broad range of subjects you can be exposed to and pursue at a regular school, and considering if you REALLY want to set yourself apart from all those other artists you have to put in umpteen hours a day of personal project work outside of classes ANYWAY, it's almost a no-brainer to me. mutata fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Aug 31, 2012 |
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Aug 31, 2012 15:35
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I guy I work with teaches classes at the University of Utah in their game design graduate program. He teaches 3D art. On the first day of his first class, he started "Ok, let's take a look at all of your portfolios. Who's first?" No one volunteered. He coaxed them: "Come on, we're all friends here, who has a portfolio to show." No one did. In the entire class of graduate game design students, no one had a portfolio... I guess that's why they're grad students and not employed? My career advice? Don't be like those guys.
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Sep 5, 2012 04:51
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In Game Dev Mag's yearly salary survey, video game professionals with masters degrees make the least amount of money (including drop outs, bachelor's, and higher). It's a relatively informal survey, but it's funny when the new one comes out each year because those masters guys are always at the bottom...
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Sep 17, 2012 09:59
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Esroc posted:Trust me, I know. I hate that I can't finish many of them. But, you know, life gets in the way. I'm in the midst of revisiting my priorities though so I can put more effort into drawing, which is part of the reason why I decided to finally get my portfolio out there in the first place. I used to kind of think this way (the "Yeah, but LIFE" way) until I got an internship with this other guy. He was still in university, was married and had 2 toddler aged kids. His wife worked, and he worked the internship and 2 other jobs on campus. I ended up in a class with him, and he never missed a critique or an assignment. He found whatever he needed in his life to light that fire under his rear end and his face instantly pops into my head everytime I'm all like "hurf, life is hard and stuff".
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Oct 2, 2012 06:28
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Get an AA from a community college to be your "permission slip" to work, then take ~20% of what you would spend on art school tuition and use it to buy training materials/take classes online and just work on projects until you get a job.
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Jan 7, 2013 03:29
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While I'm sympathetic to what you say (I had a similar experience with good professors), art school debt is a ridiculous price to pay for the life lesson of "work is work and only you can do your work". Debt is damage these days. You even make the point that you know one guy who is making good money. How many others are crippled for the next 30 years paying off their loans? THAT'S one good reason that's better than your 15000 reasons to get one's own rear end in shape. 
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Jan 8, 2013 13:39
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kedo posted:This is terrible advice unless you are incredibly self-motivated. All you're going to get with a AA from a community college is training in how to use the creative suite. As someone who reviews resumes constantly I can tell you I have never once seen a hirable candidate with that background because they're simply lovely designers who have obviously never given any thought to theory. Yes, this is my whole point. The work you do gets you a job (that and luck),not your degree. You seemed to think I was recommending getting an AA in design or something. I was thinking just a general education degree to make you a more well-rounded individual. You also seem to think that if you earn a degree, that must mean you've worked enough to get good and learn how to work. In my experience, that is often the opposite of reality. In my opinion it is dangerous to allow yourself to lean on a school program to teach you motivation, and especially with predatory art schools glad to take the money you don't have and chuck you out he other end. I guess it's personal, obviously. I'm one of those weird "no debt is good" people, and so to me "I'm just not motivated" is a crap excuse to run up $100000 of debt in the hopes that you'll get a professor to take responsibility for your future for you. Don't get me wrong, I'm far away from being anti-school or anti-education. I just hate that it's become accepted for kids to destroy themselves financially because they're told that school is absolutely necessary to achieve your dreams of being an artist. The industry is hard as an rear end to get started in and once you do it doesn't pay well for a long time and is pretty unstable. If you can find a good program at an affordable school (which I was lucky enough to fall into), then yes! Do it! You wont regret school! But an art school because you think you need to go to an art school, no matter the cost? Too big of a gamble for me. At the end of the day, I only bring it up because the question-asker kept repeating that money was a huge issue. mutata fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jan 9, 2013 |
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Jan 9, 2013 02:18
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midge posted:I'm primarily a techie/IT professional and my career has mostly followed wires and bleep bloop poo poo. Over the past 2 years I've found myself wanting to be more creative and getting involved in projects where I'm involved in designing for digital signage screens. It's been a slow burn, and I've mostly looked to the internet for basic inspiration regarding layout, type placement, etc. There's actually quite a lot of science in the core principles of visual design. I think a lot of people who subscribe to the "it just feels right" method of design would get a lot of benefit out studying the principles. A book I really like that was recommended to me is Design Basics by Pentak and Lauer. It's a textbook, so feel free to get a used older version. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0495500860
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Jan 10, 2013 02:03
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Renting an on campus locker was my saving grace for drawing classes that required huge drawing boards. I just never took the board home, but even if homework required it, I just would've bought another cheap board for home use.
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Feb 5, 2013 18:14
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What kind of art are you imagining you will be doing commercially? I have no idea what I would hire you for as all of your stuff is very unpolished/unfinished and looks more like sketchbook work. There's nothing here that illustrates that you are capable of taking direction from a client and producing a finished, usable piece of work.
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Feb 23, 2013 17:30
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redjenova posted:...anyone? Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you are essentially asking is whether your graphic design/motion graphics portfolio is a good start for a possible animation/concept art/something-something digital art job in games or film. If this is your question, then the answer is no, it does not. The thing about games and/or film art jobs is this: larger studios are looking for specialization where smaller studios are looking for specialization along with general proficiency at a lot of things. Your portfolio seems to me like a decently solid student's design portfolio, but it is obviously a design portfolio. Looking through your blog at your drawing and such suggests to me that you are not anywhere near where you would need to be for a games or film concept art gig. Maybe at a smaller mobile studio, but definitely not at a bigger developer. You mentioned that you are only starting to learn 3D, so I wouldn't expect you to produce any portfolio-worthy 3D pieces for a couple years unless you are a savant. So I guess my reaction is that your portfolio does not match your ambitions and you aspire to industries that look specifically for finely honed skills in specific areas. You could possibly look into UI (user interface) jobs in the games industry. They handle all of the information feedback of a game from HUDs to menus and the like and work a lot in Flash and Scaleform for setting all of that up. Alternatively, some of your stuff seems like it would be at home in the mobile gaming (iPhone games) arena where art tends to be 2D, cleaner, and more graphical. If you were asking where you should be applying right now with that portfolio, I would suggest 1) design firms, 2) mobile games, or 3) UI for games. For anything else, you have a long way to go towards impressing employers enough to get an interview.
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Mar 1, 2013 05:14
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Before anyone answers that, you ARE looking for a different job right now, RIGHT?!
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Mar 23, 2013 09:50
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Edit: eh, nevermind, not worth it.
mutata fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Mar 24, 2013 |
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Mar 24, 2013 18:19
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It's kind of your call at this point. Yeah, it'd be way more useful to have someone to instruct you or at least to bounce ideas off of, but the reality is you don't. In this way your job is extremely accurate to real life: your options are a) suck it up, buy some books, and make it work or b) leave. 
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Mar 25, 2013 20:35
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