People looking for jobs

[Stonepilot]

I was just wondering and maybe some of the more experience individuals here can help me.

I see allot of people looking for work. wherther its 2d artist or 3d. And looking at their work 10 to 15 percent are good. And I've ran across people that haven't found work in awhile.
My question is what are they doing wrong. I know its broad question. But I'm wordering out of those people that are good ,Is it cause they're just blindly sending their reel to companies and hope someone sees it. Or do they live in other countries and companies are not willing to work out the whole imigration thing. Because they have enough talent in the states.Or is it cause they guy lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Arizona and he just doesn't know how to send his portfolio in. I hear how's there's work in games as well as film. Even though we might be going into a war. Entertainment seems is the only thing making any money at the moment. I know its a broad question. I'm just concern cause I'll be getting out of school soon. I'm fortunate enough to be going to a school where the 90 percent of the teachers are working in their respected fields whether its games of film. So for the most part they're more than willing to point you in the right direction if they see potential. Any advice you can give any of us would be greatly appreciate.

[Erik Asorson]

There are many explanations for this. The first is that the people you consider good may not be as good in the eyes of those who are doing the hiring. If skill is not the issue then there are still a slew of other obstacles in the way of the professional artist finding satisfying, lucrative, and stable employment.

Unlike mainstream professions not every town has jobs for artists, in fact in the majority of cities positions such as concept artist or 3d artist simply do not exist. So in order to work you must be willing to relocate to where the work is. The entertainment industry in the United States is mostly centered in southern California. Also jobs can be found in a handful of other places such as Northern California, Texas, Chicago, New York, Utah, but they are not nearly as plentiful.

Not everyone is willing to drop everything and move across the country every time they need to look for new work. Unfortunately this is the reality of the business. So a lot of people that appear to be "unable to find work" may be perfectly capable of finding work but are waiting for a "good job" before they pack their entire life into a suitcase and start over.

Also consider job satisfaction. If you just want to call yourself "proffesional artist" then there are plenty of hole in the wall companies that are willing to pay you $35kyr and work you 12 hours a day on some budget project that may or may not see the light of day. If that's the kind of work you are seeking you should have no problem. But as your standards get higher so does the difficulty of your search.

I'm in this situation myself right now. I was layed off last September and have since not started another job. I've recieved several offers which I have turned down because I'm not looking for "a job", I'm looking for "a good job". When I find a job somewhere that is where I want to live, pays me what I'm worth, and is creating something I would enjoy working on then I will start working for them, if they will have me. Until then I am happily self-employed.

[Stonepilot]

Thanks for the reply what you said make allof of sense. Sorry about your layoff man. That blows. I got laid off awhile go back and instead of looking for work right away. I decided to go back to school to learn Maya. Which has been a great learning experience. I have to admit it was the wises choice I made it has opened a whole world of possibilities.