I first had to “Identify 1 or 2 job roles within the Animation/VFX/Games (and related) industries that interested me?”
I chose Concept Artist, Environment Artist as the 2 roles I wanted to research.
Concept Artist
The most basic skill set for a Concept Artist is as follows; Knowledge of the software MAYA, Graphic design, Photoshop, Design concepts, Game designs, Character design, Visual development, Communication skills, ZBrush, 3-D modelling, Anatomy, Ability to give and receive feedback.
When creating a show reel/ portfolio for a Concept Artist position you must, include art created in the medium you are most comfortable working with. This should also include a variety of different types of art, such as illustrations of machines, characters, diagrams and environmental art. Include some brief information behind each piece of work.
The role of a Concept Artist needs prior experiences before taking on the role. Some concept artist positions require previous experience to be considered for the job. To obtain the best possible experience, you should take into consideration pursuing an internship with an art-related company. You could also take a job as a graphic designer if this is a field you are familiar with.
Environment Artist
The most basic skill set for a Environment Artist is as follows; Creativity, Time management, Problem solving and technical skills, Working well as a team, Ability to listen and improve when given feedback.
When creating a show reel/ portfolio for a Environment Artist position you must, include the pieces you’re most proud of, but also think about how you’re representing yourself as a professional candidate. Try to include work that shows off your range, skills and creativity. Many employers look for examples of quality composition, lighting, modeling, texturing and colour decisions. Use your portfolio to highlight your best finished work. Make sure the quality of your pieces is consistent and don’t feel pressure to include advanced animations or effects, especially if you’re less confident in those areas. When hiring an environment artist, most employers show more interest in things like textures, scenes and props.
Most of the time when starting at entry-level, game environment artists don’t start working on large-scale environment scenes right away. While it can depend on the size of the company you work for and the game you’re working on, many opportunities have new artists focus on minor details. For example, you might be responsible for adding textures to environments, creating props or designing small game details. As you work with the company and gain experience, you can often qualify for more advanced opportunities that allow you to build your portfolio and increase the complexity of your art. With experience and practice, you can start designing more complicated and high-profile game environments.
CV, Cover Letter, and Show Reel Research
When reading this section of the task I thought that it would be simple enough to complete with needing to do much research on CV’s as I did an employability course in 2019 that taught us how to write CV’s for jobs we would like to apply for. I did decide to do a little further research incase what we had been taught in 2019 had changed or been updated since I last wrote a CV. I looked up on google and asked my college employability coordinator that took our classes if my CV was still suitable or if there needed to be changes to stay up to date with current employers. Both google and the coordinator stated that my CV was still acceptable and useable in there opinion. Google said that a CV should be no shorter than a minimum of 2 pages and no longer than a maximum of 4 pages. When asking my coordinator about the length of my CV he said that some employers are very busy and will priorities shorter CV’s but they will not neglect longer CV’s incase a candidate with a longer CV has the required skills, that candidates with shorter CV’s haven’t shown.
When researching how to do a cover letter I looked at the nationalcareers.gov website, which gave in depth information in a step by step process for how to create a cover letter. I will probably look on google for a cover letter template for assignment 2 to get the positioning of the text correct.
Finally for the show reel was easy enough to research I just looked at the screenskills website which has 6 easy steps to making a show reel. I’ve bookmarked this website to relook at it for assignment 2.