SELF REFLECTION
For the development of my professional practice work, I spent most of my time looking at a various amount of showreels, CVs and cover letter examples. I also looked a lot through linkedin and artsation to find specific artists or employees of a studio. Throughout the assignment we explored topics surrounding professional practices, like finance, a workshop on confidence, placements and freelance work among others. I’m most proud of my showreel, I had worried that I wouldn’t have anything to include, but I included work I am proud of and edited it as best I could, I think it looks eye catching. I struggled most with the cover letter, it was hard write about myself in such a positive light to convince someone to hire me. Like many artists I think I suffer from impostor syndrome and self confidence issues, I’m going to continue to try working on that and looking back at my work helps to see how far I’ve come. If I could change anything it would be my CV, I wish I had the time and skill to make it look more creative but I’m glad how clear and concise it is. Over all this assignment really benefited me and how I will convey myself to the potential employers and clients.
CV
For my CV I mainly used info from my previous one from a couple years ago that I used to apply for retail and hospitality work, but I added new information and formatted it to include relevant links for the job field I am aiming for.
I searched around to find CV examples of other artists and well as the ones provided from the lecturer. My main inspiration for my CV is from one of my favourite artists, that also happens to work at a studio I’m a fan of, EA. I liked Nina’s clean and clear visuals. She keeps her information brief and to the point, and includes relevant information for the job she wants. Although I do like the creativity I saw from Beccas.
My one to one with Alec he mentioned some things to add like being specific in my skill set of what I want to do. This puts forward that even though I am a generalist I have a preferred skill that I feel best at. I was also advised to list my education and experience in chronological order from most recent to least recent, that way the employer sees the most recent things I have been doing, especially if it is relevant to the job.
While searching for CV examples I saw that John Hannon has two separate 3D artist CVs, each one for a specific field he is interested in. I thought this was a really interesting approach to CVs, and how you cater to what you want to apply for.
384918140-nina-modaffari-resume
https://www.artstation.com/nualamcgarry/profile
COVER EMAIL
When looking for which studio to write to, I was drawn toward local game studios like Ambertail, Italic Pig and Brain and Nerd mainly. I’m somewhat familiar with the pipeline and goings on of games, and I’m a big fan of their work and styles they have pursued. While having a search around studios I found out that Larian studios at the time had put up openings for a UK based internship in Guildford, so I chose to have my cover email’s subject as them. I hadn’t done a cover page before so I referenced Alec’s guidelines on blackboard as well as searching for other examples online. I found a lot of useful examples that laid out the basic topics you should cover. I looked on Linkedin for Larians hiring manager but I managed to find the Global Recruitment Lead, I had addressed the cover email to him instead as it was a suitable person to send a cover letter to. I tried my best to sell my passions about the studio’s games that I enjoyed, and my love RPGs that is relevant to the internship position. I also referenced the hiring page and their requirements and how my skills reflect them, especially any bonus skills that they are looking for.
The cover email was the most tricky for me, I am not very good at selling myself or my skills. I will probably use reference again if I do need to create cover emails, just to keep me on track and to push me to write what is needed.
https://www.ambertailgames.com/jobs
https://zety.com/blog/artist-cover-letter-example
https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/cvs-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cover-letter
https://resumegenius.com/blog/cover-letter-help/how-to-write-a-cover-letter
SHOWREEL
For my showreel I mainly looked at other artists on youtube, vimeo and also artists’ blogs, as well as looked at some informational videos/sites online. I really like the style with a small image at the start and a simple colour theme, like Sivan Baron. The effort to do something creative for the showreel feels a bit more fitting to the industry. I had made logos for myself a while ago to use for my uni blog and I thought it came in handy here. A lot of the info cards are simple with clear information of your name, specialty and contact information. I put my most recent and best assets at the start, then my other 3D work follows then with my animation and from my one on one I found out I am able to include 2D animation work, then another info card at the end to round out, and to make sure the viewer knows my name and contact info. For the music I picked something with a clear, strong beat but wasn’t too distracting. The main genre I felt that encapsulated that was lo-fi music, the one I used was leavv – driftwood which I will link below, I made sure to credit the music in my youtube description.
For my newest 3D assets I used Marmoset to place, and render out different aspects of my assets. For my previous models I used sketchfab and it’s model inspector mode to get the details of the model, I also referenced a forum that allowed the model to spin at a speed you desire, and captured it through OBS. For my 2D animation I exported in mp4, they were small enough in size that I didn’t worry about using handbrake. For my 3D animation I used Mayas hardware 2.0 to render, since it’s quick shots of animation it doesn’t need to be in ultra high quality or a huge file size.
https://3dtotal.com/news/inspiration/12-tips-on-creating-an-impressive-showreel