Your first Art Job. Tips, Strategies, Experiences)
Your normal school will slowly go to end and you get older and come finally to a point where you HAVE TO choose a career path. Or you are already in a job for a longer time and you wanna SWITCH your career into art.
Both are possible. Dont, feel bad when you didn’t do art at all until you were 40 or you never did anything consistently over the years compared to someone who did art since they could hold a pen. It doesn’t matter how old you are or when you wanna start being an artist. It is the love, passion, willpower, and your why, that makes a huge difference. Just to make you more motivated. Someone who is doing art for only 5 years can be better than someone who is doing art for 20 years. Because there are a lot of different reasons why people are good at things. So no worry about that.
⭐ EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE!
So, when it comes to finding your first job, you first have to look at your current situation and skill level. It is hard to see a future you when you dont know where you are at the moment.
Side note: "Forget about your past and what you regret or what you didnt do. THAT IS THE PAST. IT CANT BE UNDONE. WE DONT HAVE CONTROL OVER THAT ANYMORE. So try to not look back and feel bad about it. Focus on the things you CAN controll now. You can only start at the point where you are in this specific moment. And feeling bad about things you cant control anymore is a waste of your energy which you can use more wisely for the present."
To find out where you are at the moment, there are two groups. You have to choose which one you are. Maybe you are kinda both. But let’s see.
🌱1 Group: You never did anything for your art journey before
When you are in this group, you will start from 0. What is not a bad thing. But we have to cover the basics here first before we move on.
Set up a portfolio
Something every artist should have is a portfolio with their best work. When you wanna make it easy and you have no idea how to make a website, then i would recommend using Artstation for your portfolio. At this age, your portfolio should be online and Artstation is a free and easy way to do so. Of course, you can upload your artwork on any other side as well. There is, even more, to say about a portfolio but for a short answer. Only try to have maybe 3 or 4 of your best pieces in it in the beginning. Just so clients and companies can see what your skillsets and thoughts are. All the things after are another whole story. :)Write your resume
It’s always good to have an updated resume in place when you wanna apply for any kind of company. You rarely need it as a freelancer, because clients you work with normally see and know what you can and everything else is unnecessary. But like i say it is good to have one especially when you wanna apply somewhere.Social media
Social media is not always necessary to have a successful career (i know people who rarely do anything on social media and still they get a lot of money and have amazing skills), but it also can help you to get attention especially when you wanna be a freelancer or independent artist. The more people who know you, the more potential customers you get for selling your art. Also, it helps to connect with other artists as well.Connecting with other people in the industry
This point is highly recommended because connections in this industry can bring you a lot of opportunities, jobs, friendships, help, and many more. You dont need to be best friends with everyone but knowing someone and keeping in touch now and then, maybe connecting at events, workshops, or drink & draw, hanging out, collaborating together and supporting each other is always a good thing to do. Not only for artists.Searching for possible art schools/courses
If you wanna improve your skills or overall knowledge of the industry, then online courses and schools are a great thing to do. Maybe you have good choices around in your area where you can go as well. You can go to public schools and courses or do them online. (please be careful when it comes to money and art schools. Not all are worth the incredibly high amount of money. No school is worth it at all to be in debt for many years..)Writing down what you wanna do in the future
This is a big thing because when you dont know in which direction you wanna go, it will be hard to get you on the right path. For example, when you wanna be a stylized character concept artist, then your portfolio needs that kind of artwork. Also you can search more specifically for companies who have that kind of style when you think about those things before. In general, it’s always easier when you know what you want.
When you have all the basics set up, which can take a while, then you can do the next step. The good thing about working on the 1. group and doing all the basics first is, that at this time, you can have the luck to get your first jobs there already. No matter how small or big it is. Every experience is a good experience. (yes even bad experiences are useful to learn things.)
🌱2 Group: You already worked on your art career on the side
When you are in this category then you already did all the basic work and you can go on to the more advanced stuff and when you didn’t find any job until now, then this is the time where you will. There are two different areas where you can find jobs.
Freelancing
It doesn’t matter if freelancing is a full-time or a side hustle. Freelancing and working from home is a good thing to get jobs around the world without even leaving your country. You can also make more money while you still have another main job. The good thing about freelancing is, that you dont depend on a studio job or company. You can jump in right away because you are your own boss. A lot of beginner artists try the first steps in this career by doing small commissions, like drawing a portrait of people’s faces or pets. Or just implement client ideas in 2D or 3D. There are a few things you can make money with as a freelancer:
➥ Client Jobs - you work for different clients and companies. This can be also for private people who wanna hire you for commissions. These are mostly smaller projects but still, every experience is a good experience.
➥ Online Stores - you can set up an online store to maybe sell your own stuff (prints, stickers, self-made cloth, etc.), digital files (3d meshes, brush sets, tutorials, etc.), or merchandise (hoodies, pillows, caps with your art on it) or just be creative with whatever you want to. :)
➥ Others - you also can open for example a Patreon account or maybe stream your art on Twitch or make videos on Youtube, where people can subscribe and donate to support you. You can also start a podcast, write a book, use affiliate links, get sponsored by companies, and many more. There are actually a lot more art areas out there. Even when you are a 3D artist you can also get into the game of being a photographer, or dancer, or decorate cakes or whatever it is. When it’s an art and you like it, even when it’s not your field, you can make money out of it. (even when it’s not art-related. You can be more than an artist and have more interests than art. Just keep that in mind.)Working in a Company
I already made a longer post about the difference between working as a freelancer and in a company. If you are interested in that, just have a look at the blog post' Freelance vs. Studio'. But overall getting hired in a company, small or big, is the common thing for most people. And to apply there is not a secret. Get your cv right, write a resume about why you wanna work there, etc., and send it all away with a link to your portfolio as an email.
Another way to apply to companies is when you know people there. This comes in handy when you get recommended by someone there and you can easily jump over the pool of thousand of CVs and directly to an interview or when you are lucky, you will immediately get the job for a position or project.
➥ Big studios
Big studios are mostly the ones where people wanna work for. Blizzard, Disney, ILM, MPC, Naughty Dog, and many more. They seem like a great deal and a dream to work there. But it can also be hard to get there as a beginner. (just harder, not impossible). because those big studios have a lot of requests from thousands of people every day and their specific style needs to be learned to get into it. Like i said before it’s often easier to get into companies when you know people there (what brings back the point of 'connecting with other people more'.) or when your skillset is just incredible and breathtaking.
➥ Indie studios
Indie Studios have a lower budget and payment but it’s easier to work in a smaller company first. You can learn a lot there in all areas. Being a general artist is something most artists are in the beginning (that’s what they learn in art schools. Being an okay artist for all areas but not amazing in just one) and Indie studios often search for generals who can do everything. Compared to a bigger studio you are mostly stuck in one area and dont have a look around, only when you apply for a different position inside the company. For example, when you are a hair and fur artist you only do hair and fur all day long. nothing else. (well it depends on the studio but that is mostly the case.)
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🌱 Where can you find Jobs and opportunities in general?
Well, The first and most obvious area to find jobs is on the websites of companies you wanna work for. It’s easier when you know companies because then you can just search their URL and look for their career or job sections. Most of the time they have something up there, especially when it’s a bigger company. You can email them or fill out an application formula. Depends on what they offer on their website. If they dont have a job opening that is for you, you can still just send them an email with an individual application.
Another point, is when you don’t know a company, then you have to search some lists on the Internet. This is a bit hard because most of the jobs are not easily found when you just google them. You have to know where you can find them. When i started out and tried to look for companies, i struggles a lot with finding companies who are still open, who are in my field, and that i didn’t get the same sites over and over. If you know how to search then yes that can be useful but in my opinion, it’s harder to find them by just searching them on Google.
One other way of getting jobs is over social media sites like Instagram, Artstation, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. If you follow the right people (mostly companies who do art stuff or artists themselves) then you will see, that a lot of them share or retweet or offer jobs. It’s so much easier to search for jobs in a field of a bunch of artists because that’s where the best jobs come from. I see a lot of job offers on Twitter because artists and studios often search there, where a lot of artists are. So surround yourself with artists and you will see more often job postings. Also, it’s very common that when you tweet that you need a job or searching for one or for example, you got laid off from your recent job, then people like to share and retweet your post to help you, which gives you great opportunities in general. Just make sure to post your portfolio link and maybe a few images of your work in this post.
When you are very lucky and your art school is helping you in that area then even better. Most schools dont really help you on your journey of getting a job after graduating (because let’s be honest, they only needed you because of your money and not to help you succeed. That’s the sad truth), but OF COURSE, there are schools out there who will help you in that. So getting your first job and starting immediately in a company can be throughout your school.
I also got jobs while i was active in art forums. I actually got my first-ever internship because of that. I was active in the Polycount forum and saw one of the people has in his descriptions ‚we are hiring‘. I grabbed the chance, looked at their website, and messaged the person. That’s where everything started for me. Open your eyes in forums as well and maybe you can see those offers too. Also, Polycount has its own job opening section Which is pretty cool.
A big point where you can find jobs is through artist friends. That’s where i got my first ever freelance job. My friend worked for someone at that time and because he knew i was searching for something and it was actually in my skill area as well, he recommended me to his client. I worked with that client for one full year and got me a bit of good money which gave me more confidence and experience. That’s why it’s so helpful to talk to other artists, not always being friends (we can’t befriend everybody), but to know each other and help each other out when we need it. Create good connections with other people. You will never know when a friend or someone you know has a job offer to share or when they will recommend you.
One little thing you can also do is have a recruiter or a 3rd party person who knows clients and they will give you different kinds of jobs. For example, you(A), the recruiter(B), and the Client(C) are in one project together but don’t work together.
So B is knowing a lot of different clients and has connections With them. They also get paid a bit to have those connections, but they normally don’t do the work itself. That’s why B is hiring A‘s to do the work. So that would mean A works for B and B transfers and communicates with C. C pays B and B pay the A‘s. You normally don’t have any connection with the end client but you don’t need to search for new jobs as well, because that is the recruiter’s job. I can’t really say how to get those recruiters because i never really searched for them. But one just messaged one day and i got in the group of A‘s and every time the recruiter has a new job and project he emails all of us who are interested and then puts the ones who wanna do the job in a team and that’s it. So yes, that can be also a thing to find jobs.Some people asked me if i would get jobs from websites like freelancer or other sites. But to be honest, be careful with those sites. I know as a beginner you still do have not so much experience when it comes to ‚how much can i charge‘, but those sites normally try to push the price so low that it’s not really worth it to work for any of them. It is sadly a truth that in the artist community, a lot of people are trying to push down the prices, and it’s a big problem because you will lose job opportunities because of that. someone else will do your work for way less and of course, clients will jump to these people when they dont see your potential. BUT PLEASE. Try to have some self-worth and know that your art is good enough. Don’t do a lot of work for almost nothing. Don’t do the work because someone can’t pay you. Work with people who love your art and who see the worth in the things you are doing. Clients would love to pay your charge because they want you in their team and your art in their products. Like i said before, act like a professional already which also means, seeing your art as a job. And who would work for free or for peanuts right?! Please don’t do that. Try to find out slowly how much you can charge for your art. Don’t go too high and not too low. Also sometimes we have to go with a little bit of a lower price but only when you see more worth in that connection. For example, i got a job offer from a client which i told my charge and it was too high for him. So he asked me to go down a bit and also told me he has way more models in the future for me and he would go up with the price when his company starts running better. I know the client more so i do trust him. (What is important when you work with people). So you have to see if a job is worthless money or just be confident in what you want. (But that’s another whole topic).
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🌱 Some other tips when it comes to jobs in this industry.
▪️ When you wanna make art your career, then start immediately with acting like a professional artist, even when you are not professional yet. What i mean by that is, you have to take this seriously or you will get lost along the way. Try to get more knowledge about finances, taxes, managing client projects, talking with clients, finding good workflows, learning new programs on your own, trying to find ways when you have a depressing moment or when you dont feel inspired, be smart about your situation and when people wanna hire you, act like an already professional artist. We only can make our dreams come true when we take these dreams seriously. Maybe you never had a job before but even then, try to show everybody around you that you want to make it your job. If people dont wanna pay you, be smart and dont work for them. Because IT IS ALREADY YOUR JOB! :) Be confident in yourself. You will be a great artist, but people will only take you seriously when you take yourself seriously.
▪️ This brings me to my next point. Being in school and maybe the younger people who read this as well, think that, other people have to come up to us so we can learn something. But the truth is, we only learn as much as we want to learn. Even in school.
There is a good example of two students. They are both in the same school and do the same classes. the first student goes to school, learns the things the teacher is telling him, goes home, and relaxes until he goes to school again the next day. The other student is doing the same, going to school, learning what the teacher is telling him, and going home BUT the difference is, that this student sits down and is doing more work on his own. Watching tutorials, doing personal work, learn from another teacher. So in the end, after both students graduate their school. the one student is just more skilled and has more experience and knowledge than the other one. Even when both were in the same class.
What i wanna teach you with that is. You will only be as good as you want to be. You can of course depend on the teacher and get pleased with the stuff he teaches you. Or you be responsible for your own life and teach yourself or search for more teachers and ways to improve whatever you wanna improve. please keep that in mind. Teach yourself and dont rely on others so much.
▪️ Dont care too much about the 3 years of experience when you see it in a job description. Apply anyway even when you dont have these 3 years. I know it’s frustrating as a beginner when you just started and you see everywhere the lines '3-5 years of experience'. It held me back a lot when i started because i didn’t have enough confidence to say that i still can do the job. Maybe you deal with the same things. I would recommend, JUST APPLY ANYWAY! :) You can’t lose here. The worst thing that can happen is that they dont reply to you. That’s it. And i also heard a lot from professionals that this is just a common line to scare away the right people. (whatever that means)
▪️ Companies dont care too much about your cv. The most important part for them is, whether can you get the work done, whether can you work with their programs and workflows, how fast are you, how good is your skill, whether are you willing to learn, and whether can you bring yourself in this company and its philosophies? If yes then nothing else matters. Well, your personality does but i can’t help a lot with that. :) Sometimes we have a good vibe with people sometimes not. That is just normal. So when you get an interview it can be lucky to get interviewed by the right people you vibe with. If not, then dont beat yourself down. Just be you, be smart, friendly, cool, and casual. I know, hard to tell that an introverted and shy person but we all have to go through that (i can sing a song from that~ You can do it.)
▪️ Dont be too picky when you apply for studios and projects. I know applying for example to Disney is a great thing for you. And i would never tell anyone NOT to be a dreamer and to believe in impossible things. I’m the same. I always dream about impossible things. I love those people who have no limits in their beliefs. But we shouldn’t forget to be a bit realistic as well and to see our current situation. So even when you dont like working in a small indie studio at first or doing a position you dont like so much, do it anyway. You will gain a lot of experience, money and learn a lot of lessons along the way. And one day, after applying at Disney a few more times over some time, you will get the chance to work there. If you really want it. I definitely believe in you! 🤍 (Just as an example)
▪️ One thing i have to mention as well is when you can’t find your first job in the industry immediately, but you have to get some money, then dont hesitate to do another job (probably one that has nothing to do with art when you can’t find a better one.) and get money from there and do your art business as a side hustle until it pays off and you can leave the other job.
A lot of artists work in different fields besides their art until the income of their art business is stable and they can live from it. Not everyone has the luck to get financial support from others or the luck to find a position immediately.
[Little story time]
When i got out of my normal school i know i wanted to be an artist. But i couldnt find any jobs at this time. So i went to a mediendesign school first. I learned a lot about general rules of design and had my first 3d classes there. (once a week for 1 hour. So actually that was not really a good class but better than nothing). I also learned photography, filming and cutting videos. Well all the things what mediendesigner do.
After i graduated i couldnt find a job again and after, i think it was half a year, i went to a 3D school for 15months and learned basic things there as well. (It was pretty expensive, like most private schools). The school just opened at that time so the courses and what you learned there were just the basics (The school has way more to offer now though. Even schools start small) .Sadly the teachers never prepaired us for the real industry. What means, that all i learned there, were basic skills in different softwares, but not how to act and be out in the industry. (This is 90% the way schools handle your education. You learn a lot about skills and programs, but never the really important things you need to survive as a professional like how to set prices, how to communicate, what to do when you have mind struggles, what to do with competition, where and what is the best way to search a job, where to find jobs, how support can you get financially as anartist and many more.)
Plus i was totally lost when i wanted to start my journey. I made a lot of mistakes and didnt know what to do at all. Everything i know now is self taught. This goes from softwares and skills up to managing, organizing, finances, industry rules, mindset and many more. A tough up and down journey, but in the end, i guess, it made me stronger and wiser.
After my 3D school i worked in a small game company for 6 months but couldnt stay there longer so i went back to my parents house. (i was lucky that i got supported financial from home, but i know most of you guys dont have that benefit. What makes me even more sad. But hopefully i can help you with my knowledge so you dont have to go through all that what i experienced.)
After i went back home the real struggle began for me. because i was 2 long years jobless. The reason for that was, i thought starting a freelance career (without connections, experiences, internet presence) would be an easy thing. Damn i was so wrong. Building a client base, getting attention on social media and getting into the industry from zero is hard and takes a while. I also was just too stubborn to do another job next to my freelance because i was just not smart enough to see the truth. So i stayed jobless until i got my first job, over an artist friend.
THATS why i highly recommend you, when you wanna do art, be smart enough to assess your situation and do, if needed, another job while you build up your art business on the side. If you have enough money saved up to focus fully on your art business then do that. If not, find another job and pay your bills and work after your job a few more hours on your art business. Its hard but thats what you have to do when you really want it. (but pls no job is worth a burnout. Remember that.)
Also i know not everyone wants to be a freelancer and not everyone wants to work in a studio. It depends on your personal preference and situation. But what i say is, try both and see what you like and dont like. Only time and experience will show what you like. Or be an independent artist and do your own thing, without being involved in other peoples projects. Its your choice.
🌱 So what do you need to do now to find your first job? Lets summaries.
Find your Why. Why do you wanna be an artist?
What are your interests and what do you wanna do specifically (character artist, animator, vfx artist, rigger, film cutter, matte painter, and so on.)
Build up your Basics first (Portfolio, CV, Social media, Connections, schools/courses to learn)
Start doing small projects and commissions as a Freelancer. Learn to handle money, clients, paperwork, projects, and your overall workflow when it comes to working professionally.
Act already like a professional artist/business person. Take it serious
Applying for companies (Freelance maybe as a side hustle)
Practice every day on your own. Dont wait that someone will teach you.
Go for your dreams. Just have to say that because what would our art be, when it doesn’t come from our heart.
