So I've tried going to a couple of places for work experience has a 2D Artist, there were two things that they said which were mostly stopping me from going on, one was my speed and two was the fact that the quality of my artwork did not match the amount of time I had spent on it.
Now I know I'm not great, thats a given so I'm just going to keep on practicing and I think I'm finally getting some sort of standard going on right now ( will show you guys soon, been pissing about with a new hard drive ) but if my quality gets better and better, do you think an employer is going to care about the speed if the quality is great even if there are deadlines? I'm just wondering if doing exercises or some such is really worth it or I should just keep practicing until I get natural enough with what I have that I can do it fast anyway because that seems to be the more common sense action in my view.
i think you'll find that this won't be much of an issue senra as the more you practice & the better you get, the faster you will also get, i think most people find that.
kazky is right senra. the more you work at it the faster you'll get. It used to take me for ever. But I've really decreased the amount of time and improved the quality of my work over the past 4 to 5 months since hanging out with these people at this forum. Changing myself one pixel at a time
Thanks for saying, its just very difficult to tell often whether or not they're just being assholes or they're genuinely trying to be helpful, I guess I just need to keep practicing, I think I'm reaching a possible standard soon enough so we'll see whether I get faster.
Thanks for saying, its just very difficult to tell often whether or not they're just being assholes or they're genuinely trying to be helpful, I guess I just need to keep practicing, I think I'm reaching a possible standard soon enough so we'll see whether I get faster.
If they didn't show you the door then they're being helpful, that sounds glib especially as you've been on work experience. The good employers are those that are prepared to train and be patient, there are all sorts of employers however.
but if my quality gets better and better, do you think an employer is going to care about the speed if the quality is great even if there are deadlines?
Yes. The quality of your artwork is totally beside the point if you can't finish a job in the time given. Deadlines are of the utmost importance. If you can't meet them then you won't be hired. If you can meet them then your artwork has to be of a sufficiently high standard to be useful. Practice will help you speed up and improve the quality of your artwork.
Thanks for saying, its just very difficult to tell often whether or not they're just being assholes or they're genuinely trying to be helpful, I guess I just need to keep practicing, I think I'm reaching a possible standard soon enough so we'll see whether I get faster.
If they didn't show you the door then they're being helpful, that sounds glib especially as you've been on work experience. The good employers are those that are prepared to train and be patient, there are all sorts of employers however.
They pretty much did show the door to be honest the second I showed them some stuff I sketched up so I'm back to square one >_> I guess I'll just keep practicing it looks like I may have to find something else to do, the only issue is that I'm living on borrowed time really because of my parents otherwise I'd just keep it going.
Can I ask what kind of stuff the companies that you saw produced, and what did you show them?
The work you've posted on this forum is a kind of simplistic Manga style, but if that's nothing like what they do, it would be completely pointless showing them that.
The stuff I showed them was pretty rubbish which is why I acknowledge that, I'm more fuming over their lack of communication they basically said I had a full creative license but they never told me what they wanted and expected me to come up with some comic strip stuff in a couple of days without any explanation of what subject they wanted it on etc. etc.
To put it simply I'm aware that my skills weren't up to scratch, which is why I'm practicing like mad, but part of the problem as well was them expecting me to do everything right off the bat and magically come up with a full storyline in just a couple of days I can't really be bothered over it right now anyway, I'm just going to keep practicing until I'm good enough. >_>
thing is, as a concept artist they're expecting you to be creative and to have ideas. by giving you free reign and letting you do the entire idea, they're not just looking at your skill as an artist, but your passion as an artist. anyone can work from a brief. if they ask you to do up a couple pages worth of storyboarding they're not asking you to come up with an entire script. just show a scene.
ex. I just watched 28 weeks later. I'm inspired by zombies. what's the scariest moment? being chased. so my two pages of storyboarding would be a character moving through the city, first sight of the zombies, run, chase, catch or escape?
I could easily sum this up in 2 pages of storyboarding. But by doing this, I've shown them how creative I can be. They let you pick your subject because you're going to do your best work with something you're interested in. And they want to see your best work.
"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat
I can understand that, but the thing is, in the end if you're doing a piece of work for a game or a film, you can't be giving COMPLETE free reign because you won't come up with something that they specifically want, I'm not really annoyed about getting dropped off or anything, more or less I'm annoyed because of the sheer lack of communication on their part >_< they just didn't really explain that to me and expected me to suddenly hop up and sketch everything instantly.
QA isn't bad. In fact, you probably will get paid way more.
Speed is very important. If you spent a lot of time but your work is not great, then you are not up to the task.It means you don't have the proper skills.
Your employers will have zero interest in your art theory. So work fast and produce quality work. If you can't do that, well, then do art as a hobby, not as a job. If you wish people call you a "professional", that means you must have great skills and in most cases speed is implied in the mandate.
But if you decide to continue this path, then you now know where you truly stand. I am very happy for you that you had the courage to take your first step. It might be square one for you now, but you know what need to be done so you will have biggest chance of success the next time.
Draw a lot, learn the fundamentals, be patient, and eventually everything falls into place. There is no theories, no principles, no styles, no characteristics, no right or wrong approaches. There is just drawings, so just keep drawing.
Senra:
