So, how did you end up where you are now?

[JERI]

This is really a question for people who are in the industry at the moment.

Just curious at how you came to this decision, what hurdles you went through from school to college (if you did go to an artschool) to eventually getting the job?

[Pixeldragoon]

So this one night, my mom screwed my dad. 9 months later I popped out, and I haven't died yet.

EDIT:

Missed the industry thing, but I didn't want to pass up this sarcasmatunity.

[Helium Macaroni]

Well, I guess I'm in 'the industry' or at least starting out in it. In my limited experience it seems to happen different ways for different people.

In my case, I went to Pratt right out of High School, stumbled my way though until senior year, and then found out that I 'was on the wrong coast' as a teacher put it. After spending a year at home after graduation, I moved to LA, where it seemed the entertainment industry lived, and decided to accumulate more dept by going to Art Center, mainly because I felt as though I could get a more tailored education even if I didn't have aspirations of graduation.. it beat working at Starbucks also. During my second term at ACCD I went to play a game of broomball with some friends, and ended up meeting an editor who was friends with a rather proficient and prolific miniature builder and concept sculptor for the film industry. He was doing an independent movie of his own and was looking for any help he could get. After spending a little while doing some general shop keeping and help around the studio, he was subcontracted by Disney to be executive producer of a particular children’s television show. He brought me on to do illustration for sets, vehicles, props, etc. From there it blossomed into a full time gig where I became the main 2-D guy in his circle and would tackle anything that he needed for his various projects, mainly TV, merchandise, and his own film projects, the main venture which we just wrapped up 2 weeks ago.

There have been some hurdles along the way. Mainly monetary ones. I'm trying to get my economic house in order and it’s difficult for any young person trying to survive on their own. I've met with some resistance at Art Center as well as I've needed to scale back on my class involvement in order to dedicate myself to working. Since Art Center doesn't allow for part-time attendance for more than two terms, I've been left with few other options other than to drop out.

Moving 3000 miles away from family is hard too. I'm not generally fond of LA, and I prefer NYC any day, so there are certain concessions made to be amidst the film industry. There are more hurdles ahead as well I'm sure. I need to keep improving my skills so I can compete in the market. I also need to address the impending repayment of my loans. Also, to be an illustrator for the film industry, you need to be union. So either I need to do enough non-union work to qualify, or be 'brought up' if a non-union show I'm working on goes union.

I think being in 'the industry' takes a lot of talent and luck. I can't really speak for the gaming industry as I'm more on the TV/Film side of things at the moment, but regardless, you need to have the skills. The environment in film seems to me to be a little more luck based at least in terms of that first break. It’s the common understanding that you need experience to get work, but to get experience, you need to get work first. Finding that first opportunity to stick your foot in the door is really important out here. A lot of connections are established by just having friendships in the area. You're always 2 people away from meeting someone who works for the business. It’s pretty darn saturated out here, but its fun that way. I find the politics of the beast really fun to play.

Hopefully that wasn't too long winded.

[DannySketch]

Thanks helium, an interesting read, cheers for taking the time

[Spacemanchuck]

Yeah thanks Helium Mac. This is a great thread, and something I think alot of us out here could use hearing. I'm a student at the Art Institute of Seattle in the animation program, and its been a long hard trip just getting to this point. A fun one but a rough one... Anyways, it's not over and there's alot more to come, so hearing from you guys that have already been there is great.

Also if there has been any experiences that just burned you, and we should avoid, that stuff is good to know too.

[0kelvin]

I guess I'm technically a professional, even though I'm really just starting my career. For a relatively short career, it can be an awfully long story. So if you're not interested in hearing me ramble about my life, just skip to the end. There'll be a moral!


After high school I took a break, and then went into a two year course for Game Art & Design. Anyone who works or knows anything about the game industry knows that art and game design are two radically different jobs, and why they taught them together is beyond me. Because of this approach, the course only did a half decent job teaching either job. Luckily, I was surrounded by a lot of other really passionate students and a few great teachers, so we challenged each other and at the end of it all I got quite a lot out of the course.

After I graduated, I spent five or six months looking for a job. I kept working on my portfolio, but the jobs just weren't there.

Then one day I got a call from my school's career liaison telling me that a new board game company in town was hiring, so I gave them a call, got an interview and was hired to develop a cast of characters for their line of sports themed games.

I worked there for about eight or nine months, until I got back from the San Francisco workshop to find out my last paycheque had bounced and my bank account had negative funds. After another month of lies about when my money was coming, he finally laid everyone off and I went on unemployment.

Jobs were still scarce, and I couldn't even get an interview. A few months later, the board game company called back.

I was feeling pretty desperate, and my former boss promised me that I'd be paid my cheques in advance from now on, so I decided to go back on a temporary basis. A month later, he missed my first cheque. He had a plausible story and a promise of big money in the very near future (but he always had a plausible story and a promise of big money in the very near future) so I decided to just ride out the next two weeks to see if he came up with it. Of course he didn't. I stopped showing up, and went back on unemployment again.

I still couldn't get an interview anywhere, and after a few months my unemployment ran out, so I took a manual labour job in a wood joining factory. After a few months there the work ran dry and I got laid off. I wasn't sad to lose that job.

Then the board game company called me. They told me they had all of my back pay, and asked me to come back yet again. I was in need of money so I told them I'd come back, but only in a contract position, and I'd have to be paid a lot of money in advance. They said they'd discuss it, and would call me back. They didn't call back.

Then in February I finally got my big break! A friend from school, who I'd worked on a bunch of projects with and had kept in close touch with was working as a designer at a mobile game company, and they were looking to hire another artist. He got me an interview, and I've been working there for about three months now!

And then to make the ending of the story even happier, a week or two after starting my new job, the board game company finally called back and said they had all the money they owed me and they wanted me to come back. I told them I wasn't coming back, and got them to send me the cheque. I actually got the money they had owed me for over a year! Nobody was as astounded as I was.

The moral of my story (told you there'd be one) is: Be patient and persistent, it can take a long time to get your break; networking is invaluable; and don't ever work for a company doesn't pay you.



0kelvin

[Zord]

Great stories, 0kelvin and Helium, gives us aspiring artists in school something to look [forward] to. Everyone's got to have their share of success/horror stories I guess.

[JERI]

It's great to hear about the stuff you went through Helium and 0Kelvin, I feel there's much to learn and contemplate about from your stories.

It's great that you're actually getting paid 0Kelvin, I was afraid that you're gonna get totally ripped off by that dodgy board game company.

[Onir]

Helium and 0kelvin thanks so much for your experiences, always nice to hear advice like this. really nice to know that if you really try it'll come at some point :)

[blankslatejoe]

Hrm... I went to a state-funded art school right out of highschool...and found the 3d program to be somewhat small and underrepresentative of the industry. I liked the teachers and the fellow students, it was just that they weren't really teaching what I wanted to learn. I was tempted to drop out entirely.

But I did some research and learned that there was really NO place that was teaching what I wanted to learn--and the closest alternatives were far too expensive.
It seemed most of the people I was seeing getting jobs were self taught and damn good.

So I sat down with my advisor and said, "look, I need to fill up credits to get my degree, I want to do it here, let me take independent studies up the wazoo". I'd proved myself competant in previous classes and the entire department staff trusted me on the matter, so they sort of let me 'create' my own curriculum. I still had to get all the major requirements out of the way, but I also managed to take about 16-20 credits of self-guided courses. I spent the next two semesters teaching myself as much as I could about 3dstudio and Lightwave and the games industry. The forums, and in particular the contests over at CGCHAT.com's realtime section were my teacher.

When I got out I went to the conceptart workshop in austin. I got lot of inspiration there and a lot of encouragement, and that was enough to tell me that I was getting closer. Over the next few months I got a few art tests and interviews and entered more comps...and I was getting EVEn closer... I had a few close calls that I'm glad I missed now, looking back with what I know about those particular companies now.

I was fortunate to be able to move back in with my parents for a few months while I worked on getting a game job. My father wanted me to return to the Gov't Contracting multimedia/design world, which I'd interned a lot in through college and is a pretty hellish industry. I gave myself 8 months to get a game job, then I'd give in. My parents were suprisingly tolerant of that idea.

I switched to vampire mode so that I wouldn't be tempted to go out. I worked all through the night and slept through the day. I was a hermit 7 days a week.

I got a job after about 7 months of that. It was 500 miles away, in a place where I knew no one, but it was at a company that I believed in their game and WANTED to work for them. I've been here over a year now and have been working under some of the very artists I had been studying in those selfguided courses. It's pretty inspiration.

Anyway. that's my story.

[el coro]

god i dont know....

[sone_one]

networking is invaluable


thats so important ... i think its most important (given youve got a certain amount of skill ... but you do not need to be as good if you know a lot of peeps, as youd need to be without knowing anyone).

[MEP]

In relation to networking, my suggestion to those in school is to hang out with other designers and design students as much as physically possible. If there are design-specific clubs, join them. If there's a student IDSA chapter at your school, join it (make it your first priority for extra-curricular activities). Make friends in class. Talk with your professors about anything and everything whenever you can.

If there's a guest speaker or lecturer on campus (and the topic is design related), attend the event and pay attention. Mingle before and afterward. Talk to the guest speaker if at all possible.

Adopt a professional additude and demeanor as soon as possible (now) so when you meet these people, they are left with a good impression of you. And yes, how you dress does count, and how well you speak counts even more -- drop the high school colloquiallisms and learn proper English. If you're grabbing a beer with a guest speaker after the lecture is over (design is informal enough that this happens more often than not), talk however you want, but in the lecture hall, classroom, office or anywhere else even remotely professional, speak proper English even if only to demonstrate that you know how. For non-native speakers, people are generally more forgiving in this regard, but still try to learn to express yourself verbally as well as you do artistically.

When you get into the last half of your education, make yourself some cards with contact info. A tasteful personal card is an artifact of yourself, make it reflect yourself and your design style. Give them something to remember you with.

Meet as many people as you can and make as good an impression on all them as is possible. Good jobs come from people who know you, they rarely (if ever) come from people you randomly send your portfolio to (though jobs to pay the bills in between the truly good jobs can come that way). The best way to improve your odds of getting a great job is to be known favorably by as many people as possible.

Your reputation is your livelihood.

[markwagner]

I saw a monster that my brother drew, I said to myself "That is SO COOL, I wanna do that!" I was in 2nd grade. I started drawing monsters and spaceship and didn't have an art class till I was in 11th grade. I got into a local college and studied fine art and instantly saw that the Illustrators could really draw.

I had another SO COOL moment in the beginning of art school and I was hooked, I was hungry for everything. I found myself at Pratt Institue in Brooklyn in the early 80's in the Illustration department which is now called Art & Design. I had a psychedelic/shamanic experience which changed my art and life.

After I graduated I landed in New Mexico in the middle of nowhere. There I puked up what art school and force feed me and ate all the gems. I connected deeply to the earth, to native ways, and to my art. California and Graduate school called me. In the early 90's I got a masters degree in "Arts and Consciousness" which basically connects art to psychology, mythology, science, symbols, spirit (the sacred), and to life.

I illustrated, showed and sold paintings in galleries for years. As I continued to look around I saw that some of the finest art work in the world was coming out of the Concept Art field, and so here I am. Storytelling, making art, working on movies, drawing and painting, teaching, being a dad, looking for my next gig, networking, unraveling the great mystery.

SO COOL!

~M

[DannySketch]

"i wanna be like you-oo-oo doo we do we doo...."
-has to be read with a certain old school disney character in mind

thanks a ton to you all, very inspirational and educational stuff, again thanks for taking the time

[Helium Macaroni]

I was thinking of this thread today when I was talking with my boss about the industry.

Networking is invaluable. It's amazing just how many contacts can be made by just being open, amiable, and of good personality. Being in LA, there is no shortage of people who know people. You're always within 2 degrees of seperation at least of someone who's working in the industry. During my first two week visit to LA, I met a guy in a bowling alley for christs sake who ended up referring me to his niece who used to work in animatronics for Henson and Disney. Ultimately that connection didn't pan out, but eventually I met my current boss as I said, and I've met dozens of potential contacts during my time here, a couple of them within just the last 3 weeks. Around this town especially its not uncommon to run into a host of animators, art directors, set dressers, PA's, writers, and other artists. Being friendly and not a social introvert are priceless assets. You have no idea how many people get work soley on the fact that they know someone who reffered a job to them. Your name gets around especially if you're good, fast, and friendly. The industry here is both favoritist and nepotistic, but those traits can be positive. If you're the guy or gal that everyone knows, you have a greater chance of getting a job, even if your skills may not be as hefty.

Someone who has the skills, but can't relate personally is all but worthless. Excessive ego, lack of loyalty, impersonable nature, rudeness, and other such characteristics eventually cause people who posses those characteristics to be weeded out. Thats why when you look at the talent that does most of the illustration (for film at least) there's a list of like.. 20 guys.

I was asking my boss today what sets guys like the current crop of film designers and illustrators (some of who he's employed or worked with before) apart from other talented artists. He said that it was thier ability to work with others well, and thier generally good personalities. Skills aren't the only thing that pay the bills in his opinion. True, you can't get anywhere without ability, but sometimes I believe a decent artist that has a good nature, can surpass the pure skill of an exceptional artist who isn't personable. You always need to be able to sell yourself, to be able to explain why you've made certain design choices, and to be a part of a team.

Out here, sometimes it helps just to be caught drawing in public, or to have a carriable version of your portfolio handy. Both of which have gotten me contacts. Its sort of fun after you learn that sometimes half of your chance for success can be determined by simply making a friend.

[egerie]

Helium Macaroni, that's a great post which brought my spirits up again, thanks.

I came to where I am by accident. Or more importantly by doing what I loved doing ; drawing stuff. I started drawing after reading some of the Pini comics, watching Gargoyles and stuff but most importantly watching a show called "Splat!". It was mostly about animation as a whole but with a fair share of 3D animation too. After graduating from Fine Arts, I enlisted in a college to go in 3D anim and the school director advised me to do traditional animation to have good anim basis based on my portfolio review. After that I could take a 3D course to learn the TOOL. After all that, a lot of stress, late bills and hunger, I landed my first contract. It was hard but I did learn SO MUCH, especially how to produce fast but retain high quality. It led to my first job in the TV industry where the other artists were so damn kickass I was really intimidated. The director was extreeeeeeeeeemely demanding but I have never been so much on top of my game since.
The first gig I had went so well they hand picked me back for a second multi-mil project and put me as lead (holy cow!supriseshock!). Being self organised, knowing what a good pipeline is but most importantly keeping a good attitude at work indeed pays off.
When that contract was done I got into the gaming industry, after a THREE HOURS job interview. Being honest and yourself is the way to go. The interviewer in question became a good friend of mine afterwards.
Still in the industry but at a different place. It's true that there are very few degrees of separation between us all ; since I started using linkedIn, I got back in touch with a childhood friend that has been working not too far away from me ;) and was pleasantly suprised we both knew the same people.
I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of what it possible to do. I can't wait to see what's ahead :)