Art is hard...but worth it! (i think)

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"I'm going to get a studio job in toronto in 2016!"
Says the person who failed school/dropped out, only draws mutated dogs(no variety in art like animals,creatures,people,buildings,props,vechicles,etc ) and bad mouths artists/studios/companies on a constant basis on social media while linking their "real name" to all of that. (you'd think i was talking about one specific person, but this is multiple people I see on DA/social media/etc lately )

If you want a job in Canada at an art studio (for concept art, 3d art, etc. working on movies, tv shows, video games, comic books, etc) 99.9% of studios require you to have an education backing that application. Failing, dropping out, etc will end up working against you (so if you have, get back and finish that course! ).

The days of "it's solely based on your portfolio" are slowly dwindling, especially in Canada or hiring individuals from a different country to work in Canada, U.S, or England...visa's require 4 years of schooling to obtain or 2 years of industry experience for every year of school they don't have (and no fly by night random art commissions does not count as experience). 

This is a safety measure for studios because it shows you not only can "complete" something you say you'll do, but also hit deadlines, do art consistently with instruction, work with a team on art projects or solo and other credentials studios look for now. 

Who would you hire? the artist who has amazing work but no industry experience, education (or failed education/dropped out) or an artist who's good but has experience or education and actual proof of projects/etc they've done? You can always get better and improve at art especially with the right supervision, but if you don't play well with others and can't finish what you start who in their right mind would take that risk?

Don't get me wrong, your artwork has to be good too and a variety of strong art pieces, but education is becoming a must in Canada and even in other countries. Some manage to still get in if they have actual proven industry experience from credible studios (whether indie or AAA, if you have great art and proven industry experience...sometimes they over look the education portion but you have to have BOTH going for you these days)

I find more and more artists create unrealistic goals for themselves and are the first to slip into a depression/sad spiral if they can't accomplish it. (and in this case, a completely unrealistic goal that can't be obtainable in any form so why make it at all and do that to yourself?). By creating a goal like this you're already making it unobtainable, and setting yourself up for automatic failure. No amount of "boo hoo i'm broke, and i can't get an art job" is going to make people sympathize if you're not even trying to obtain it (harsh i know) or creating a realistic goal.

Make baby steps, little goals and eventually jump at that big goal once you have at least 2 out of the 3 requirements (requirements being good/strong art portfolio and either education or industry experience).

Work on your art. Practice every day and get good! Go to school, even if it's a 1-2 year diploma if you want a studio job in Canada, go to art conventions and spread the word about your art/services, this is my advice too you. iF you can't go to school get into some indie studios somehow, work from the bottom up and have a proven industry experience job record (working at loblaws or sears for x amount of years does not count and majority of art jobs don't even care if you have that on your resume because it's irrelevant. My art job resumes do not contain any jobs that wasn't art related anymore). 

Don't create unrealistic goals you can't achieve because you're only shaping up your year to be a flop. 
Actually research the industry you're trying to get into because this is very common knowledge at this point and easily obtainable to prove what I'm saying is true.
Shape up your portfolio: if you only draw mutated animals...great, but that's only going to be useful if you find a very very specific job requiring that...otherwise better sit in the corner of the art unemployment train, because you're going to be on it for years with that mentality. 

And then it gets even further complicated then that...great artists are finding it "tough" to find a job, so realistically look around to the top tier artists...do you match up? do you come close? If not, time to get your nose to the grind and start practicing/building up that portfolio!

I have 3 years of industry experience as a 3d artist and newly as a 3d character artist. (2 years of off and on month here, couple months there, etc on top of that)
I have a 3 year advanced diploma in game development. 
I have connections in several studios across the world
I have average 3D modeling skills, above average texturing skills and many other skill sets. 
I go to on average 3-4 art conventions a year, sometimes more! (2015 i will have gone to 7 by November, and 2016 i'm already booked for 3) 
I find it tough sometimes to get consistent work.(granted a lot of my art work is under NDA so i have to get special permission to even show studios it but yea)
I have 4 games under my belt as well as 2 in development currently working on. 
I have 2 tv shows worked on and one big budget movie
I find it tough sometimes. (partly my own fault because i bought a house locking me to my particular location, but even so sometimes i struggle to grab contracts/freelance work and in studio work when i look for it). 

This is not to scare you or demotivate you, it's to show you the reality of everything. To get where I am today I had to work extremely hard on both my art and my networking skills, work hard in school and the jobs I did get no matter how small they were. I built up from having off and on short contracts, to having yearly or more contracts. 

But because I worked hard at the same time I got to fund my hobby business of making clothing/jewelry,etc. (as that is a passion of mine). And other big accomplishments I couldn't have done if I didn't work incredibly hard. I have made a ton of connections and industry friends and contacts that I can't even count.
I get to wake up everyday and do art both covering my bills and to just create what I want. 
I'm surrounded by amazing people all the time.
Even if it gets tough, I usually realize it's my art that needs to shape up and eventually I get right back into it. This took years of  build up, and I'm still no where near where I want to be. 

Art is a rewarding experience and I wouldn't change it for the world!!

But before you look at getting into it, know the facts.
In canada
You need a good portfolio with several very strong pieces (3d artists you need 5-6 polished 3d pieces that are well modeled, well textured, well lit...concept artists you need a portfolio of actual concept work! a random sketch of a weird anthro does not count, full backgrounds, character concepts and full turn arounds, design work, etc. etc Animators you need at leas 3-4 very strong polished animation work)

You need an education of some sorts. 1-5 year education.
If you don't have education 1-2 years of industry experience per year you need of education works also. (some studios though refuse to hire if you have no education though...do your research before applying)

And for the love of everything professional...do not link your social media account with your actual name if you plan on bashing artists, companies, studios, the industry or profressionals in any regard...you would think this is "professionalism 101" but you wouldn't believe how many people applied to work under me in a studio and a quick google search led me to their social media page on DA, tumblr or Facebook where they did nothing but complain,put down and bully the above. Yea don't care how talented you are, you're unprofessional and you're not working here (or most places).

Once had someone tell me they couldn't wait for the day I got knocked down a peg from my supposed "high horse" yet knew none of the above I just mentioned. I work hard every day, practice every day and my social time/free time has dropped immensely since I started pursuing art. People look at my side of the fence and thinks it easy because they either compare themselves at face value to my art (good in some scenarios, but generally not a wise thing to do friends ) or think "how can she have any of that? she's no good, doesn't do good enough art, etc".

This right here is the jealousy comments, and you can spot that pretty easily if you read someone's social media talking about others in a similar route. They think it's easy to get this far, and I'm not even half of some of the industry artists currently full time at other studios right now! 

This journal is meant to show you it's really NOT that easy and really take into hindsight how many years already i'm into this. Since 2007 at least for post secondary my friends, this is how long I've been at it and how much further I need to go.

This journal also is not meant to paint me in any other light then what is reality. I have suffered (lost my best friend when i was 17 to a drunk driving car accident, lost my mother just 2 years ago), i have had problems (suffer from IBS and a major symptom of that, anxiety lately), i have been knocked down, I have had down days, and I wanted to give up. But I worked hard to climb back up, I work hard to be happy and everything i have or ever have I worked for. From getting to go to school because i worked hard in elementary and high school to get A's (as per my parents deal), to helping get my first car because i graduated college 3.6 gpa, to every job/connection/art piece i have created i have worked for. Nothing ever came easy, nothing ever does and if you think it does (unless the person is filthy rich and handing all that money to their kids or something) it probably never came easy.

So don't be jealous, learn from it and find the passion/motivation inside yourself to ACHIEVE what you want, but don't create unrealistic goals for yourself just because you think it'll help. It won't. 

I actually love what I do and wouldn't change it for anything :dalove: 

Mune's advice  (mix of personal and professional advice)


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Thankies!
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Emikova's avatar
IBS BUDDY! ...That sounds so freaking wrong hahaha. 

This is all very helpful advice. I'm quite a few years behind you in this career path (I think you know most of the story involving my stupid mistakes XD) so I'll definitely take all this advice to heart. I've been noticing a lot of places in Toronto require a bachelor's degree to apply to. I've been considering going through for that...but I honestly don't know how much more schooling I can take. I'm hoping a diploma and a strong portfolio will be enough to get my foot in the door. Still have a lot of work to do for the portfolio part! Study, draw, repeat ad nauseam. 

Annnnd the networking! Ohhh the networking... So essential. Main reason right there to not bash people on social media. Social media should be a tool to help you get a job, not something to scare away potential employers because you've filled it up with stupid comments.