High Level Exit Plan

Over the course of these 12 weeks I have learnt a lot about the industry as a whole and where I feel I will fit in best. I have decided that I will be going for an environment artist position. I feel this fits my skills best, is what I enjoy most and may be the easiest route into the industry. I will be applying for jobs as soon as possible, or at least keeping an eye on the job market. I do not want to come out of Uni with no idea what is going on in the industry and no idea which companies to apply for. These weeks of research have helped me with this but I will need to keep my eyes open for opportunities to apply for jobs, network, gain contacts and create artwork.

Over the coming years I am aiming for a job in the games industry, however if this does not happen I am aware there are other industries that I can apply my skills to. For example, adverts, product visualisation, films, entertainment and architecture can all require 3D skills for projects. My main aim is to get a games industry job but I feel it is necessary to be open minded.

I will need time to work on my portfolio. I am well aware of the competition that is out there, even for junior positions and want to improve my skills. I have a number of projects that I would like to work on (the sci-fi and forest scenes for my blockout showreel among them) for personal skill development and I would also love to work on some more team projects to get more used to working in a team scenario. Game Development next year will be a good start to this. I will also need to give myself deadlines for projects and keep myself motivated. Using sites such as Polycount, forums and Artstation to post work will keep me motivated as I will be aiming to upload regularly to gain an online following.

Overall, I feel and I am well prepared for life after University. This module has given me a lot more knowledge about the games industry as a whole, what area I would like to work in and made me think about my next steps after University.


Below is my final showreel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQx1sJkLBIQ&feature=youtu.be

And my final website link:
http://smarsh1994.wix.com/3denvironmentartist

Improvements to website

There were a number of improvements I wanted to make to my website. First off, I added more up to date pictures of my A3D scene on to my home page. I also changed the colour scheme so that the highlighted et would be red instead of yellow, making it stand out more and be easier to read.

The next page to really focus on was the portfolio page. I made the images a lot bigger and categorised them into scenes. When clicked on they open up another page that shows even larger screenshots of my work and various shots of the environment. This is much better than my previous portfolio page which only had small images that weren't categorised at all.

 Portfolio Homepage

Individual Scene Example Page

The last thing to do with the website will be to add my more up to date showreel. After that it will simply be updated as I do more work.

Improvements to showreel

In order to improve my showreel I took a number of steps. I started off by replacing my Moorish scene cinematic. I added in the final rendered cinematic. I found that it was too long for my showreel as it took up a whole minute which left me little to no time for another environment or prop break downs. In order to cut it down I took out a couple of shots that simply showed different angles.

In order to better explain my sci-fi scene I gathered a few more images and concepts. I wanted to go with a green lit overlay like the concept art, as if the laboratory was used as a nature research facility or greenhouse, with things growing inside tubes such as planets and small creatures. This will give me an opportunity to work on some foliage work as well as hard-surface, meaning I wont lose out on the skills I would have gained doing the forest scene.

I also looked at a few sci-fi laboratory inspired environment fly-throughs to get an idea of how I could put a camera through my scene. 

In this first video, a simple shot running down the central corridor with bubbles and tubes containg plants would be a nice mid-shot that sets the scene and tells the story behind my environment,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9il_lUNs3Y

I also looked at this environment flythrough by Tor Frick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGB-FnpNHO4
I feel the cameras are too fast and rollercoaster like in this however it shows areas that I'd like to include such as fly-overs of instruments on tables and scientific devices.

I added some music to my showreel to set a mood. I went with some relaxing Celtic style music that I feel fits well with my Moorish environment and will hopefully fit in well with the nature theme of my sci-fi environment too. I struggled a bit with finding music as I did not want something that would distarct from the artowkr but also wanted something that created a mood. I decided not to go for an overused epic style of music but went with a relaxing mood.

Finally the last thing to address was the turntable. Turntables appear to be overused, a lot of people use them and they can often be seen as an easy option and boring. I wanted to use them to show off some prop work but I will now look into adding some interest to it. I still want to use the idea of a turntable as it shows off all angles of a model but I will use some shots such as closeups and render passes to break it up.

Methods of self-promotion

In order to get myself recognised as an artist and get potential employees attention I will need to think about promoting myself. There are a number of ways I can do this:

1) An online portfolio
- I have already started this step by creating a website to showcase my art. There are other websites I can look into for this as well. For example, Artstation is an up and coming place where numerous artists post their work to receive feedback. There are also forums such as the Unreal forums and Polycount. I have created an Artstation account and will be creating more profiles over time.

2) Create an online presence
- Get myself known in the online community. This could be by being active on forums, giving feedback and posting work or participating in competitions online. The main reasons for doing this will be to get my name out there. Especially with competitions it could be a chance to be featured in articles or on other websites. Competitions will also give me deadlines. I am usually pretty good at setting myself deadlines and working to them but after University I can see how this will be harder. I will have a lot of other things going on such as finding work, working on my portfolio as well as general life. The competitions and tasks set on forums will be a good opportunity to work on my art skills, keep me motivated and provide challenges for myself.

3) Networking
- This can be by attending gaming events in the local area, through sites such as LinkedIn or simply by emailing people asking for advice on my work. Making contacts will be very important for my future career as recommendations from people will be good for references and may open some doors for me.

4) Share everything
- Whether its good or bad, share it all. This way I will get feedback on my work and hopefully improve over time. I will only publish my best work on my portfolio but I could use a site such as a blog or forums to showcase my processes and work in progress. This will help people see my approach to making the art as well as my work ethic. If I post regularly this will show motivation and consistent work.

Revisited Showreel

When looking back at my showreel I thought of some ways I could improve it. I decided to insert a more up to date version of my Moorish scene cinematic. I also decided, instead of having three environments, to have some break downs of assets. I feel this will be more beneficial as viewers can see how I have modelled the mesh in wireframe and the different maps applied. I kept in the sci-fi scene as this is something I am keen to do to improve my hard-surface skills. I inserted a video of an asset break down that I like. I would aim to use this style for breaking down my fountain asset when I have worked more on it and made it into more of a beauty piece.

garrett ilardi. (2013). 2013 Compositing and FX Demo Reel. Available: http://vimeo.com/60685350. Last accessed 10/12/2014.

Research into cinematic techniques

For creating my final showreel and the cinematics that will be a part of it, I decided to take some time to look at some simple cinematic techniques. This will also be useful for my Advanced 3D module.

1) Pan
- Horizontal camera movement
- Used for showing the whole of a landscape
-
2) Tilt
- Vertical camera movement
- Used for tall buildings

3) Tracking shot
- Moves with the point of interest

4) Pull focus
- Changes the focus of the shot from near to far or vice versa
- Useful for drawing the eye to different areas

5) Zoom
- Move in on a faraway point without moving the camera, can be slow or fast
- Used for effect as its not something our eyes can naturally do

6) Transition
- Switching from one frame to the next
- Examples include, dissolve, fade and wipes

7) Types of shot
- Establishing shots and full shots to set the scene
- Close ups to show action or lead the eye to main features

How does this apply to me?
After looking at these techniques I can start to think of some ideas for my showreel. In order to make it interesting I should use different kinds of shots to showcase each environment. In addition, I should use different methods such as turntables, flythroughs and still images to the best effect so they showreel does not all look the same.

References:
http://teacherweb.com/WA/CloverParkHighSchool/MsSelby/Basic-Cinematic-Techniques.pdf

Revisited Website

I decided to go back and re-look at my website to see if there were any improvements I could make. I decided to add a showreel page under the portfolio section. I feel this will help as if people want to see different angles of an environment that aren't visible in the screenshots, they can hopefully see more. In addition, it can show off the dynamic elements of environments such as particle systems and water shaders.

I also went back to my portfolio page and made the thumbnails for each image bigger. I found that when clicking on each image, different size windows come up. This can be rectified by saving all the images to the same size before uploading. As most of these images are only placeholders I will wait until I have final artwork in order to do this.

More interview work

For this round of mock interviews we chose a company and position to apply for. I chose an environment artist position at Creative Assembly. To prepare for the interview stage I researched the company and thought of some possible questions I may be asked. We also had to think of questions to ask the other members of our group.

My interview:
There were a few reasons why I picked the Creative Assembly environment job. Firstly the job did not ask for much experience so it may be achievable with where I am at currently. It asks for "proven experience" however this is ideal and since it is not a senior position I feel that it could be an achievable goal. Second, it was a job working on the total war games. Although I did not have much idea what these games were about when I first saw the job, research let me to see they were RTS history style games and this was very interesting to me. I have always had a love of history so the process of researching designs for each asset in the scene would have been of great interest to me. In addition, I have never worked on an RTS game before. This may not work in my favour as the company can not see much experience in the area but to me it seems like a nice change and a challenge compared to what I am used to.

Others interviews:
When thinking of what questions to ask the other members of my group I had to look at the job roles as well. This helped with my own ability to pick apart a job advertisement as well as helped me think of what kind of questions I may be asked in future interviews as well. Here is an example of one of the other job roles my group applied for.

This particular role is for Double Negative meaning its not so focused on the games industry. Its a good chance to see where else skills can be transferred and used in case getting a job in the games industry proves too difficult. When picking apart this job to ask questions I focused on what the advert was asking for. Some quick things to ask about would be...

- Knowledge of Linux? If not, ability to adapt?

- Knowledge of NURBS modelling?

- Explanation of some team projects worked on?

- Why do you want the job? (Find out motivation and passion)

- Knowledge of company

- Worked in films before?

- Favourite part of process? (to try and find out if attention to detail is key or if prefers to quickly model basic shapes)

- Main strenagths and weaknesses?

CV Writing

One important aspect of my plan for getting into the industry is to have a well presented CV. I already had a CV but it was not tailored to the games industry and had a lot of information that was not needed, such as a breakdown of GCSEs and school education, so I decided to create a new, better formatted version.

This is my first draft. I will update as I complete more projects, gain more experience and when I have had feedback on this draft.

UPDATE: 03/12/2014
When looking back at this CV from a later date I can see that the header section could be clearer and there are a few titles I would like to change so this is a revised version. I have assumed that I have passed the degree and am applying for jobs after.

Blockout Showreel

The next step was to being making a blockout showreel. I began by making start and end cards with contact details and information on them. I went for a simple, easy to read style. I also included the programmes used, contact details and year of showreel for future reference.

I then took this title card and the alpha stage cinematic from my Advanced 3D project into Premiere to being my blockout showreel. I also used still images of concept art that shows what kind of scenes I want to put into my showreel. I added arrows and basic camera shapes to try and show how I want the cameras to move around the scene.

ReneAigner. (2013). Mana Cycle:Forest Scene. Available: http://reneaigner.deviantart.com/art/Mana-Cycle-Forest-Scene-356898033?offset=10#comments. Last accessed 13/12/2014.

Yellomice. (2013). Sci-fo doodie 2. Available: http://yellomice.deviantart.com/art/sci-fi-doodie-2-363085384. Last accessed 13/12/2014.

My blockout showreel can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1lcTG_W0wY&feature=youtu.be

Having a portfolio website

I decided to quickly create a blank portfolio website which I can then fill with images and work that I create over the coming years. I chose to use a free website creation service for now due to limited funds but as time progresses I can change and upgrade my website. I made sure to pick a website that supported both computer and mobile viewing and aim to create a site that looks good on both devices. The website simply has place holders and blank areas now and I aim to put my finished work from other modules in as well as blockouts for future projects. The screenshots below show progress from when I was editing the website.

(PC view)

(Mobile view)

(Portfolio page)

I went with a fairly simple design with a non-distracting background. The art can easily be seen at a higher resolution by clicking on each image and an overview of each piece can be seen in the portfolio gallery. This makes it easier for viewers to find a piece they are interested in besides scrolling through an entire page.

My showreel

I drew up a quick mock-up storyboard of how I want my showreel to appear. I took inspiration from various other showreels and the tips I'd learnt from my research.

I wanted to showcase only environments and specialise the portfolio that way but still show a variety of skills so I will be including a variety of scenes. These will incorporate both natural and hard-surface models to show I can adapt to any situation and have base skills in all areas. I will have a simple start and end title screen of the same theme and font to tie the showreel together. The next stage is to create simple blockouts in Maya of how I want these environments to look so I can then quickly get started on the projects at a later date. I will also need to look into what music (if any) to use and do a more detailed breakdown video of the showreel

Image references:
http://www.aie.edu.au/TreeTrunkPresentation.jpg
http://www.feellikehome.cn/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Court-of-the-Lions-at-the-Alhambra-palace-in-Granada-Spain.jpg
http://www.orgchm.bas.bg/~kaneti/al342.jpg
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/059/c/6/mana_cycle__forest_scene_by_reneaigner-d5whka9.jpg
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/092/e/6/sci_fi_doodie_2_by_yellomice-d6066h4.jpg

Analysing Showreels

I began to look at making a blockout showreel for myself. Before beginning I thought it would be best to look at what is out there and what makes a good showreel. I began by looking at various showreels from other environment artists and critiquing them.

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5tsURn1QH8

Good points:
Shows a variety of work
Good resolution screenshots
Simple music in background
Professional text style
Contact and software details at the end

Bad points:
Zooming in of pictures crops edges and does not allow a detailed look around all the models
All still images, no camera flythroughs or turntables
Appears some of the work is of different quality - "a portfolio is only as good as the worst piece in it"

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0cNYJCvrp4

Good points:
Nice screenshots and dynamic fly-throughs
Has footage from in-game
Music affect showreel - simple music and images and videos (especially afer 36 second mark) change with the beat making it a nice piece to watch

Bad points:
I feel some of the images and fly-overs go past too quickly just to fit in with the music. I would have liked to see some more close ups or more time showing each individual environment.
The camera moves very fast in some of the video clips

After looking at various showreels and researching a few interviews with industry professionals I have come up with a list of what I aim to include in my showreel.

1) Length - 1-2 minutes - any longer and the employee may get bored watching or simply skip to the end and miss good work which leads on to my second point...

2) Put the best work first and last - begin and end with interesting and great work, this will grab attention at the start and give something memorable at the end

3) Show various shots of the work - also add in wire frames, details about what areas you worked on and software used as well as a possible breakdown. All this will help an employee see your skills.

4) Specialise - don't put character work on an environment portfolio, especially if its bad character work. Generalising is not always a good thing if you're non-preferred work is bad. If its put on a portfolio you feel it is good enough and the best of your ability.

5) Add transitions between frames - cutting between images and videos quickly and suddenly is not always nice to watch and transitions will make the showreel feel more fluid.

Interviews and SWOT tests

This week was spent doing some mock interviews. We were assigned a job at a studio that creates mobile games. Here I will record a few questions I think may be asked in interviews and my thoughts.

1) Why do you want to work for us?
- An answer to this should obviously be honest, show motivation and enthusiasm. I feel that it would be good to talk about what you know of the company, any knowledge of games ("oh I loved....)

2) What skills can you bring to the company?
- I feel it would be good to mention both technical skills as well as "people" skills as teamwork is a vital part of the industry.

3) What kind of animal would you be?
- For this question I would say a dolphin as they are energetic and work well as a team.

This made me learn a lot about myself and helped me know where I need to focus more. I found that I was knowledgeable about the area I wanted to go into however was not so aware of salary and hour expectations so I went ahead and looked into these.

Salary:
A lot of factors influence the salary expectations such as experience, job title and studio. I began to look at entry level positions such as junior artists as this is where I will be aiming to begin with. I found that salary ranged from 16k to 25k per year.

Hour expectations:
I am well aware of the expectation to crunch at key times in development but I am unaware of what is "normal" working hours for a 3D artist position. By looking at government laws and average working hours I found that you can not be forced to work more than 48 hours a week. This would on average be 9am - 6pm, 5 days a week.

For a bit of further personal development I conducted a SWOT analysis to help me understand even more what I need to work on.

Strengths:
Professional qualities - good teamwork skills, happy to voice opinions and listen to others, good knowledge of Maya, Photoshop, good problem solving skills, ability to work to deadlines

Weaknesses:
Not so good at - ZBrush, baking maps, lack of perseverance at times, procrastination

Opportunities:
How can I get noticed - game jams, networking, portfolio website

Threats:
Obstacles - failing degree, lack of motivation, competition

The main areas I need to work on for getting a job in the industry:
- Portfolio and skills
- Personal goals such as longer attention span and getting out of "slumps" where I am bored of a project

I feel these mock interviews were a good exercise in basic interview skills and what kind of questions will be asked however I will now need more practice at applying for a job where I know more about the company.

The Industry Around The World

This week we all spent time researching what the industry was like in different countries. My group was assigned Australia and New Zealand. We discovered that the industry in Australia is not very profitable at the moment. Most of the studios left in the country are mobile game developers and the only major AAA studios in the area are 2K and Nintendo. It is also very hard to get work in Australia due to the problems associated with getting visas. There are 3 month temporary visas but to get a full time visa you must go through a long application, assessment and have a guaranteed full time job in the country.

After seeing the other groups presentations, it was clear that the industry often centres in certain areas in a country. For example, Canada has a large number of studios in Vancouver and Seattle. The UK industry has a large number of studios in the South East of the country with many companies in and around London.

I took the time to look at www.gamedevmap.com where it can be clearly seen that the major areas for game development are the USA, UK and Europe.

Portfolio Analyses

In groups, we spent some time looking at other 3D artists portfolios. I focused on 3D environment portfolios and prop portfolios as these are the areas I am most interested in. From analysing these I have made a few conclusions about what makes a good portfolio.

1) Images of art are the most important feature
- The images are large, clear, show off the art well and are quick to load. Spending a long time waiting for an image to load, to find out that it is badly composed or does not show good 3D skills is a waste of peoples time. The first thing that a viewer should see on your portfolio is your artwork. It should be easy to find, view and be shown off to its best. Cropping images to hide errors or having tiny images shows lack of confidence and will not look good to potential employees.

2) Clear contact details
- Make it easy for a prospective employee to find out how to contact you. Make your name clear on each piece or page so they associate the good work with you. Make sure there are multiple ways to contact you. Phone numbers, emails (with appropriate names) and social sites such as LinkedIn should be available.

3) Only show your best work
- A single image of bad work can drag down the whole portfolio.

4) Be specific
- Tailor your portfolio to the job area that you are looking into. Don't have animation, characters and environments on there unless you are going for a generalist role in a small indie company and aim to show you can manage all tasks.

Research into Job roles

I began to look at the careers pages of various game studios to see what they were expecting from future employees and began to compile a list of what each role contains and what the essential characteristics are.

Environment Artists:

• Understanding of real-world architecture and composition
• Creating and maintaining in-game environments
• Creating models, textures and in-game items from concepts
• Creating in-game lighting
• Consistent art style
• Ability to work in a team
• Advanced 3D and 2D skills
• Ability to learn software quickly
• Self-motivation

Prop Artists

• Model, texture and create collision on in-game assets
• Ensure art style is consistent
• Strong communication skills and team work
• Strong problem solving skills
• Advanced 3D and 2D skills
• Able to adapt to different software and techniques

I feel I am most suited to being a prop or object artist as there's a higher chance of working on many different things, whereas with an environment it means spending a long time working on one piece. However I enjoy placing assets around a scene and set-dressing. I feel that either of these job roles would be good for me. Maybe starting off as a prop artist to get to know the industry and moving on to environments. This would also give me time to work out if prop art is for me or if I want to work on larger scale projects.

EDIT: I found that there were a lot more jobs available for environment artists at this time and feel that having a portfolio designed for this will show off my prop work as well so will tailor my portfolio to environments.

Initial Thoughts

During and after the first lecture for PPD this year, time was spent looking at what base skills we would be gaining from the module. This helped me understand better what will be required of me in the industry. I feel the most important aspects I need to work on are my interviewing skills as well as my confidence in giving presentations about my work. I will also be focusing on making a professional looking website with a show reel and high quality images of my work.

It became clear to me that I was not very aware about what each job role in the industry involved. I would like to work in the prop or environment areas of the games industry so will take some time to research the different job roles in these areas. This will mean that I can tailor myself and my portfolio to the needs of these roles.