Have you ever asked your fellow students how they landed their jobs? A lot of the time getting the right job comes down to who you know and absolute luck. Look at my job as an example. If I hadn't had Chad as a friend who'd JUST been hired there I would still be unemployed.

How are you going about contacting these companies? Email, phone, mail, in person? What are the SPECIFIC things you do when you go searching for a studio? Maybe there's something in the way you present yourself via your contact with them that doesn't give you a foot in the door or the edge.

It more than likely has nothing to do with your portfolio. Brutual honesty is that there are millions of artists and you could be better than 90% of them but if you're not marketing yourself to the studio properly then they won't hire you.

Does your resume have a cover letter? Do you use the same format for each cover letter?

I think you have to think of something that MAKES you stand out. You have a website, great, so does everyone else! You have amazing art work...but (in all probabability) so do the other people going for YOUR job.

What makes you unqiue? What makes you PERFECT for the job. What length are you willing to go to? And are you okay to do something drastically different to get noticed?

--
I am a meat sandwich.

Thanks Krysil, I really appreciate it.

(Sorry, I babble for part of this -_-; )

I'm glad you commented because you gave a very different perspective than the people who replied to the forum thread I started about this here - [link] .

(By the way, do -you- think my art has gotten more and more soulless? I'd hate to think it has, but I have been kind of just trying to churn out art since getting in an 'art is work' mode in college.. : / )

Anyways, I've been doing cover letters tailored to each company (at least the ones I felt I had the best shot with or wanted the most anyway) and yes, I know you're right about there being zillions of artists for thousands of jobs that are all equal or better than myself.. And I also know I see a lot of 'eh' artists get great jobs - I just feel like I have no clue when it comes to marketing myself or getting my stuff "out there".

I know they said they covered that well in school, but I only remember one class that was about that and I took notes (which I threw away later.. -_-; ) but I also know.. college was not a happy time for me overall, and I --very-- foolishly let constantly-present, not-so-good personal situations, etc. overwhelm me to where I don't think I got as much out of my schooling as I should have at the time - though I'm catching up with it now. I also felt like I got to a point where I just did my artwork assignments just like they were schoolwork in high school - just getting them over with - which is awful, I know. Those two things really make me want to bang my head against the wall saying "dumb dumb dumb!" ala Freakazoid.. ... ... But, I've come out of a lot of that now. I don't think I'm completely hopeless just because I was such a moron about it all back then.

Side note due to my not knowing much about marketing myself - I mentioned getting an agent to my mom and she freaked out because it would cost too much. But I'm not exactly doing so well just flailing around on my own. Aren't there some agents out there who just run on commission if they approve of you? (Ie, they take 20% or so of all the jobs they get for you?) The only problem there would be getting an agent who would actually feel my art was -worth- enough to make a living off of...

But - I really like your suggestions for things I should answer in my cover letter.. I need to somehow let them know -I- am the one who'll do whatever it takes for the job. ..Maybe I need to watch that part of Family Man where he goes up to his former-boss-who-doesn't-know-him-in-this-reality and explains charismatically how he needs to hire him and take notes...

Thank you again, I really appreciate it - and yes, that is a hugely, amazingly-important and kind of 'duh' on my part bit of advice there.. I think I -will- ask what fellow classmates I can how they got there work. Especially Lynn. (I think she's on here as Lynntendo?) She's worked for everyone from Disney to Nickelodeon and a jillion other people. I really should find out what she did. (She was also the artist who did the concept paintings for the remake of Ecco the Dolphin that, sadly, never ended up happening - if you've seen those.)

..Hopefully I'll get real art work soon.. My family's kind of been pushing the "you've tried this long enough - it's time to quit your part-time job, set aside this art thing, and work full time in retail, customer service or other such like the rest of us" card more and more the farther away from college I get........

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[link] - Inspiring Creativity and Unity in Gamers Since the Year 2000 ...(Yes, yes - we have contests & exchanges, too... )

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

Scratch that - someone else on DevArt owns Lynntendo - but the Lynn I went to school with still owns [link]

Honestly, and horribly, I've kind of been avoiding going to her site to hear the latest news about how her art keeps getting her any job she dreams of, while I've struggled so hard and feel like such a total failure.

..Like how she's "currently alternating between lightsabers and assault rifles as she works as a concept artist on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the Nintendo DS"

*Knows much better now than to want to shoot self*, but.. holy carp - what's so wrong with me and my art that I struggle so hard to even get the lowest-name jobs? Her art is great, but I know I can do at least comparably now.. I know I should stop the anime stuff, but aside from that, what is everyone's secret?

Still, I'm encouraged deep down - if she can get good jobs, surely I can, too, someday.. no?

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[link] - Inspiring Creativity and Unity in Gamers Since the Year 2000 ...(Yes, yes - we have contests & exchanges, too... )

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

Its a lot down to luck as previously mentioned. By the looks of your portfolio you're more then qualified for a lot of the illustration jobs out there, in my opinion, more so then your friend.

Unfortunately its how the business goes and it was the main reason why I've not continued my art into further education. Its being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people, which is far easier said then done.

My advice it to keep at it and talk it over with friends in the industry as the best things usually come up through word and mouth. Potentially you could add examples of 3D work and even something to show off your technical prowess, other then that theres not much more you can do to improve.

Best of luck

--
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that" - George Carlin

Thank you - that means a lot to me for you to say that. That is also some wise advice.

I thought about going back to school as well - possibly to learn to do 3D work since so many jobs desire/require it now, but unless it's all paid for in scholarships this time around, I don't think I should take out any more student loans..

I really appreciate the advice and will definitely be using it as much as I can. I -do- have a few friends in the industry. I'll ask them if they've seen anything come up.

Thank you again - so much. I hope your art goes wherever you want it to and that your added schooling proves very beneficial to you!

(And by the way - nice signature quote..)

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[link] - Inspiring Creativity and Unity in Gamers Since the Year 2000 ...(Yes, yes - we have contests & exchanges, too... )

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

hi hi

There's not much else I can say that hasn't already been said, but one thing I'll suggest is that in spite of how much bad art gets put out there on the market, many employers are looking for somewhat ephemeral qualities that cannot be easily shown in a portfolio, like reliability, consistency, determination, how well you get along with your co-workers and that kind of thing.

Luck, right place and right time are hugely important and almost necessary to getting a job like this so you want to make sure that no matter what place or time, you're there.

One suggestion that was given to me by a friend who now has a job in game development is to have a stock resume and cover letter that you send out to anyone and everyone perhaps once ever 2 or 3 months, because you never know when you might snag someone who's desperate for an artist at that moment. Then, send out tailored applications to the more promising employers.

Call them on the phone if you can, try to get the name of the person who's in charge of hiring. If you can get his/her number call and ask if they've seen your resume.

Some of them might get annoyed by your persistence, but a lot of them will have to concede that it's a quality they're looking for.

Sadly, no two employers are the same, so no matter what you do, it's going to work better in some places then others.

I can't say much that hasn't already been said. I wouldn't pay too much attention to anyone who says you're unemployable. Your art can use some improvement (but really, you still have SO MUCH skill that so many artists don't) but that's something you can keep working on even with a job. There are artists who are far worse then you are or even just at your same level who are getting jobs. You are very very *very* employable and please don't ever doubt that.

Keep up the determination and drive, you'll get there.

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Brah

That's very good advice! I'll be sure to try doing that. Thanks to both you and your friend! I appreciate it greatly! : )

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[link] - Inspiring Creativity and Unity in Gamers Since the Year 2000 ...(Yes, yes - we have contests & exchanges, too... )

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

Thanks Nna - I really appreciate that - especially from you! Thank you so much.

By the way -- your latest pieces are really amazing! I've been wanting to try getting back to being more painterly for a few images myself.. I think your work's kind of inspired me to finally do so. : )

Aww.. Too bad I missed whatever deadline or method you had for picking the Z.A.P. contributing artists. That would have been a lot of fun.. Hope it goes well for you guys though. (Let me know if you ever want more artists for the group or at least accept guest submissions.. )

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[link] - Inspiring Creativity and Unity in Gamers Since the Year 2000 ...(Yes, yes - we have contests & exchanges, too... )

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift