It took me two years to get my first job as a 3D game artist. How did I push through and land first studio job?
I’m going to be honest. I definitely had some deep lows in those two years, often feeling that I wasn’t good enough. I had all the matching feelings of being depressed and feeling lost in life.
Let me tell you: feeling lost might be the best place to be in! I hear you thinking, “What? Why? I feel like sh*t.”
Let me explain! I’ve had many years in my life feeling lost, including depression, which seems to be a major story in my life. (Who the f*ck gave me this character trait?!) Now, 22 years later as a 3D artist in the game biz and just turning 40, I realize that those moments of suck are where deep growth lies hidden!
To quote Jocko Willink: “Embrace the SUCK!”
Now here’s the tricky part. Often when you’re stuck, you need to do things you don’t wanna do. Things your soul is afraid of doing, looking at, or going into.
Now, how does this apply to you and your art career?
Be super honest and ask yourself: deep down, do I already know what I need to do, but I’m too afraid to do it? Congratulations, you’re a human.
Your mission just became to practice your inner muscle to do them anyway. Aim to start doing difficult tasks every day. It doesn’t matter if you succeed or not. What matters is that you went through the pain of starting it. Train that muscle!
Does that mean finally starting to learn anatomy?
Does that mean showing your work to the world?
Does that mean learning design and creativity?
Does that mean talking to people and going to networking events?
Does that mean pushing your current project to a higher level?
Does that mean sending daily job applications?
Does that mean stepping out of your artistic comfort zone? (The thing you’re good at, so you keep doing it over and over because it feels safe.)
Does that mean stepping into what makes you unique and not following the herd?
What did that mean for me back then, 20 years ago?
Well, I sucked at really everything. I had a massive passion for 3D, but I was so much locked into my comfort zone that I was my biggest limit.
So I decided to push out of my comfort zone and do a super intimidating paid course: learning to poly model a AAA quality vehicle. (Pff, that took a long time, but wow, I learned so much!)
Followed by another intimidating paid course on hand-painting. (Geez! I really suck at color and painting, but this is so much fun!)
Followed by creating an entire environment by myself. (Damn! I have no idea how to design good scenes, but wow! My first in-engine world is created!)
My learning speed was insane! And my artistic comfort zone? That was getting larger and larger.
In the meantime, I made myself the rule that I NEED to apply to a single job every day. And of course, after a year, still no job. F*ck! So again, I asked myself, “What am I doing wrong?”
I looked at how I was presenting myself and my work and realized that I still looked like a noob. I started to work on my brand and design style: I created my own portfolio website, improved how I rendered my work, created better thumbnails, and most importantly, the one that really gave me an edge: I created my own physical printed portfolio using my own home printer and a quality sleeve book.
Now, every time I went to a job interview, people were really impressed! Not too long after, I landed my first job! Which is a story for another time, because oh boy, now the pressure really started!
If you’re in this same boat as I was 20 years ago. You can’t find a job, you’re struggling to push your work to the next level, you don’t know what next step you should take in your career. I’m building a coaching program to tackle EXACTLY these issues. It’s not so much about how to make art, but rather about how to boost your art career.
It’s not ready just yet, but it’s close! Make sure you reach out if you want to learn more!