Fifty-Seventh Week
I just received an email last Thursday from a recruiter asking me if I wanted to sign an NDA and take an art test. I accepted and now I’m waiting for the test assets.
This week I’ve been working on this project. Honestly it has been a slow week. I don’t feel I did much but anyway. I got this project published.
I’m making some final tweaks to the project I’ve been working on. While I’m writing this I’m waiting for photoshop to open and start working on the thumbnail. I’m just gonna publish it. I’ll tweak it afterwards. I just want it published for now.
Well time travel in this paragraph. I just finished publishing it!. Hope you like it!
Now my portfolio looks like this:
Well that’s it for me. Wish me luck on my art test. Hope everything goes well!
Have a nice weekend!!
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Fifty-Eighth Week
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Wish me luck this weekend. I’ll be busy working on it.
Have a nice weekend!
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Fifty-Ninth Week
Sorry for the two week delay. I’m going to post this past two weeks.
So this week I delivered my art test.
Since I was planing to go to the Barcelona game fest I did this demo reel.
This week was preparing for this event.
It was a busy weekend.
Sixteenth Week
The weather destroyed partially the train rails. Therefore I stayed a bit longer in Barcelona. I got a couple of job offers. One of them more solid and the other one still in the air.
In regards of BCN Game Fest, It was really nice to talk with so many people. It was validating and encouraging as well. I got the professional pass so I got a couple of meetings. One of them was with a head studio which was considering me for next year. I told them that I could paint backgrounds as well. I felt like the time I spent making my Concept Art portfolio wasn’t a time waste.
I did some tourism too and came back past Friday.
Have a nice week.
Sixtyseventh Week
So I’ve got a couple of offers going on. I was sending the budget yesterday. I’m waiting today for the response. Honestly, I didn’t think of this as another skill/something to get prepared for, and I felt that I needed more info in order to rate my work. In any case I’ll get to learn from this experience, and I’ll move on.
I’m still waiting for the art test response. I messaged the recruiter this past Monday, and they told me that the team is very busy with a release, so I’ll wait a couple of weeks more before sending another follow-up email.
Likewise, I sent some emails to the people I met at the BCN Game Fest. I sent my portfolio so it’s more handy to them as well as a way to keep in touch with them. I felt that I should’ve checked every participant, but for lack of time and some knowledge, I skipped that part. At least I got some personal meetings and such.
Honestly, this was a slow week. I optimized a bit of my ice VFX. It was dropping the frame rate to half. I guess I should keep polishing it. It still drops to 46 frames. In addition, I applied some feedback. I add more variation to the snow as well as color change. I changed the floor decal; now it “grows” instead of increasing their size.
In any case, I’m still working every day, networking with people, and applying to places in order to get opportunities. It feels like having patience is key. Wish me luck.
Oh almost forgot, Simon add my demo reel to their newsletter and I’m so happy about it!
Have a nice weekend!
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Sixtyeighth Week
For some reason I forgot to write lat week post. Welp basically I talked to the consultant to check what are my best conditions to start working. I decided to start the paperwork necessary for start freelancing on November 5th.
Basically it was a really slow week.
I got time to finish a pating and that’s it.
Sixtyeninth Week
I officially started working on this past Wednesday and I’m waiting for clients response. Hope they liked it. I’ve got two gigs right now. One VFX related and the other one is making a full game. Let’s see how everything goes. I don’t want to be the last post. Therefore the following week I’ll publish an official last post adding some thoughts and tips for anybody that stick through.
Somehow I feel like I made it but still feels like nothing. May be is the impostors syndrome idk.
Have a nice weekend!
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Seventeenth Week
As I promised a last post talking about my experience so far.
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Take time to learn, seriously. It was very rough in the beginning. Taking the time to learn and let things sink it’s rough but absolutely necessary. I was checking my portfolio and It was very beneficial for me to have multiple art styles so now I can adapt easily to other ones.
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Time hiring processes takes wayyy longer than expected: So far people seem to take really slow the hiring process. Remember the latest art test? I’m still waiting for them to respond. Apparently they got a release and they were very busy. Another example of this topic, one of the clients that is paying me right now contacted me june/junly of this year. I declined them and got back to them on September or so. They replied to me after two months. I didn’t expected them to come back. I highly suggest to expect nobody to reply and keep knocking doors.
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Start networking while you’re making your portfolio. Usually nobody is gonna care your progress as in your portfolio. Instead, put only your best work on your portfolio and show your progress in social media while you’re networking (by asking feedback or just chatting with people). This was hard to see for me. It was clear when in one interview the interviewer already saw that apply feedback and we skipped that part of the interview. Basically, show your work both in social media and on the discord severs where VFX artists are. No need to be supper active if it’s not your jam. It’s not mine. I would say that it’s better that you get used to compliment somebody’s work genuinely rather than forcing yourself to be supper active. [I honestly want to go back to those discords and participate a little bit more to give back what everyone gave me]. I saw this video and it was kind of similar of what I was doing for networking. It might help.
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At some point after finishing your portfolio would be worth asking yourself what your rates should be. What’s the current salary rate. What you should charge, etc. Seniors of your country would help you best. Here in Spain rates are way different from the rest of Europe. Also take into consideration your client’s country. Finally one last note, long time ago I came across this guide. It might be useful but I cannot assure you. I didn’t checked for my rates.
And I think that’s it! Honestly, I believe I did quite well so far. I feel time wasn’t wast that much at all. In any case, I’ll keep pushing for a hired position and probably start looking for another web page to publish my weekly progress as a “professional”. I’ll definitively keep writing on my Work Diary as well a weekly post even if it’s just a text document for myself hehe.
One final note I thought everything would change. I would stop needing to check the discord servers. I would get in just to give feedback. There’s no need to do anything beyond and above. However, the other day I was doing a shader and somebody mentioned a technique that I didn’t know about. I felt like that there’s plenty to learn. I’ll keep pushing my portfolio in a reasonable way time wise. It seems this is a way of living rather something you do 17 months and a half and you’re done…
I believe I’ll keep going learning things. I like that. It gives me a feeling of progress that feels somewhat beneficial for me. Also, I like writing about my progress, at least I know where I was and I don’t feel that lost.
In any case, congratulation for myself. I did it! I achieve my goal. I’ll reorganize, rest, and may be set another one.
It was a pleasure to write this every week or so hehe.
Thanks for reading me.
Have a wonderful weekend as always! ^^
Bye! ^^
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