Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:21:07 UTC No. 840341

>>840339
use blender

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 01:55:02 UTC No. 840354

>>840339
A short-ish hiatus is not unusual, it's quite common for a working artist's portfolio to be out of date.

2-3 months to crank out work as proof of your current skill level is reasonable, 2-3 months to learn new valuable skills at a professional level is very hard, you'll be surprised how quickly the time flies by and still have effectively nothing to show for it.

Also, leave your reasons for the gap out of the interview or put a better spin on it. Although your contract ended naturally saying your time with a previous employer was a "missed opportunity" and the work "not very challenging" may paint you as a flaky primadonna who will bitch and moan about the tasks and then fuck off to work on his personal stuff at the first opportunity. Sucks but wagecucking is what it is. I'd frame it positively like "at X I got work a little with [thing] and once I found the time I really dove into it" *steer conversation to portfolio piece*.

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:13:30 UTC No. 840356

2-3 months is ok, but not years like me, I live in a third world, so it doesn't matter

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 15:50:54 UTC No. 840466

>>840339
>>840354
Man, if being out of work for a few months is such a problem that artists get scared of doing it (even if they will use that time to improve their skills!), then I'm fucked and should just quit straight away lol. I've been freelancing irregularly for the last year, a few months is great, then a few months it isn't etc. I'm just continuing to work on my projects and building up my portfolio because I don't have many stuff in it. But if it is still an actual problem for studios like you say, then it's game over for me, even if I'm seriously good at it now.

I fucking hate this rat race mentality. You have one life to live.

Oh and also, in fact I could have gotten a stable job (just so corporate overlords won't be able to see any gap in my CV), but that would mean I would model literal untextured low-poly cubes and cylinders for a living. Basically I could have worked in a place where I doubt I'd be able to grow as an artist at all and would probably after a few years be unable to get any job in AAA anymore. Maybe I should have taken it regardless, maybe I shouldn't, but it is what it is.

I've seen all of my colleagues from uni abandoned their hopes of getting into gamedev and just took some regular IT jobs. I've been lucky to work on a few AAA next gen projects as a freelancer, it's just that the work is not stable, especially these last months. I don't want to give up as well and just accept the first job offer of a replaceable 3D monkey in a non-entertainment related industry where my work consists of making some simple shit anyone with a finished donut blender tutorial series could do as well.

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 17:54:37 UTC No. 840487

>>840339
>>840466

I haven't had a job since 2013. I basically moved back in with my parents and worked on film sets, recorded various local bands, played with some bands, worked on my own film projects, learned 3D, took a few screenwriting classes; I basically fucked off from real life. I have a huuuuugggeee gap in my resume.

But I was hired by a news station doing graphics and some editing because they liked my portfolio. It was clear to them that I kept busy this whole time. The pandemic hit us and they basically let everyone new go and the senior positions stayed. Did they offer me the job back? No. So for the past year and a half, I'm back at square one trying to keep busy again.

Netflix is dumping a fuckton of money down here (New Mexico) and that's basically what I'm gravitating towards, hopefully, working on some sets and productions again.

It can be a red flag for the normal world but the film and art world just want to see your portfolio and see if you have a work ethic. (even if you have huge gaps)

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:18:48 UTC No. 840498

>>840354
>2-3 months to learn new valuable skills at a professional level is very hard,
But what about the duck? He got close to AAA levels in animation after a couple weeks.

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:22:56 UTC No. 840501

>>840354

Thanks for the reply.

Of course I would make it a point not to complain or really being up anything negative while in an interview. I was more concerned with how an employer would react if I was just honest and said that after my contract ended I wanted to take some time to update my portfolio using the skills I learned from the job while also trying to up my game in the process.

To me that explanation sounds more than reasonable but then again I'm still a newbie in the industry and cant predict how an employer might feel about it. But I feel better knowing that's its not uncommon. Thanks dude.

Anonymous at Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:32:26 UTC No. 840503

Depressing stuff...