Exploiting the "Dream Job"

A Dark Secret of the 3D Industry

Being a 3D Artist has been my dream job.

I have worked on incredible projects, collaborated with brilliant people, and lived a life I never thought was attainable.

Because 20 years ago, I was a long way from this point. I was 23. I had just finished college and trying to work as a photographer but making ends meet as a waiter at the local Buca di Beppo restaurant in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.

That changed on a snowy night thanks to a Netflix-delivered DVD of Finding Nemo.

That night, I made the decision that would change everything. I was too comfortable to get up to eject the DVD after the movie had finished and I just let it continue to roll through the credits. This caused the bonus content to begin playing -- and I was never so grateful for my lethargy.

I saw behind-the-scenes footage of artists scuba diving off the coast of Australia gathering references for the film. They analyzed the ocean’s color far from shore versus how green and murky it became as they approached Sydney. They watched the broken rays of light dance in the water and the patterns formed by the caustic effects. It was then up to someone called the Lighting Artist to translate these visual phenomena onto the screen. I was blown away.

After that night, I made it my mission to work as a Lighting Artist in animated films; I dedicated myself to learning 3D software and set a goal to start graduate school the following year. I was accepted to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) and spent my days honing my craft and nights bartending to make ends meet.

My First Job Offer

After graduating, I was ready to start my dream job. Shortly after, I got a call from the VFX house Digital Domain in LA asking if I wanted to join the Lighting Department on the new Speed Racer movie. It was all coming together! When I asked about pay, they said, “Oh…well it’s not a job as much as an internship. You will get school credit.”

Speed Racer

There had clearly been a mixup. I was done with school. I didn’t need school credit anymore. “Don’t worry.” the recruiter said. “We will enroll you in a class at UCLA so you can work as an intern.”

Riiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt…that wasn’t exactly my concern. I was more worried about being able to move across the country and pay to live in Los Angeles…not so much about receiving credit from a school I would never attend. I can’t pay rent checks with UCLA credits. So I asked about compensation.

“It’s an unpaid internship initially; after a few months when the internship ends, we can look into contracting you.” So I would be like…a volunteer there?

I later found out that even if I reached the point of monetary compensation, the pay was less than $20 per hour with zero job security. I was making more bartending.

I turned down that opportunity. The recruiter was very understanding but also said it wasn’t a problem because they had a line-up of other graduates and someone would hop on this chance to get a film credit on their resume.

That was my first glimpse at the dark side of chasing this dream job.
Exploitation.

Whether it is low salary, lack of stability, long hours, no overtime pay, terrible benefits, or anything else, some companies know they hire people “chasing their dream,” and understand there can be an opportunity to gain financially in that scenario.

In the animation, this is better in the US. Pixar has led the charge in paying a somewhat reasonable salary to allow artists to live a moderate life in the Bay Area. Although they were part of the collusion scandal to fix wages for 3D artists, let’s not hand out any awards here.

North of the border is a different story. The salaries didn't seem to go with all the work transferring to Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Every job offer I have received from studios in Canada has been roughly half to one-third the value I can get in the States. When Blue Sky closed, my $150,000 base salary only equaled offers of around $55,000 in Canada. Anecdotally, artists looking in the EU were also seeing the same value drop. I’m still looking to understand why this is happening, but I will hopefully have an article about it soon.

Not Just 3D

And this isn’t unique to our industry. It’s a pure capitalism, supply and demand thing. As more and more people want a specific job, the supply goes up and those companies hiring can be more picky. They can either pick the best artists. Or the ones most willing to suffer for their craft.

My wife also experienced this as an Emergency Medicine Physician. Do you know the state with the highest cost of living? Hawaii. Do you know which state pays their ER docs the least? Also Hawaii.

Wait…but shouldn’t the compensation for the same job rise and fall with the cost of living in that area? NEVER!!!

It’s all based on the supply of doctors wanting to live in that tropical paradise. Supply is super high so they can lower their price.

So where do ER docs get paid the most? In the middle of nowhere. My wife receives countless postcards and emails offering big salaries to anyone willing to move to the “Banana capital of the world!” or the “Pine Nut capital of Upper Mid-West.” They tout their “Low-cost of living and a thriving community" or “Just a short drive to both mountains and an urban center!” They are always cagey about where specifically, geographically, they are located.

The Banana Captial of the World

Sidebar…
To be funny, I randomly wrote “The Banana Capital of the World” in the paragraph above. I just googled it to see if there was such a place. Turns out it’s Fulton, Kentucky (pop. 2,357). All the Chiquita Bananas used to go through a shipping center there from ships porting in New Orleans to Chicago. They now host a yearly banana festival and produce the world’s largest banana pudding. It weighs over 2,000 pounds. I am all over it if my wife ever gets a job offer there!

Look how happy they are!

…End of Side Bar

What Do We Do About This Exploitation?

The good news is that I see signs that the demand for 3D artists is about to go through the roof. More and more industries are turning toward 3D for product visualization, fashion design, furniture, medical visualization, AR training, etc. This demand will increase the need for artists and I could see the salary floor rise for 3D artists in the next 10 years.

And I know…I know….AI…AI…it’s coming for all of our jobs!!

I still see a long time when AI will accompany artists, removing our tedious tasks and enabling us to focus on the art form. Imagine just focusing on the textures of your model with unwrapping UVs. Or sculpting a character organically while some AI cleans up all the topology. This is much more likely in the near term than some massive cultural shift to an automated workforce.

So I am not only predicting more demand, but the job will be better. We will be as happy as those people making the 2000lb banana pudding!

Did someone say banana pudding!?!?!

Did you also know that you could order a bucket of the amazing banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery anywhere in the country!! Let’s go!!!!!!!

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3D News of the Week

A roundup of interesting 3D related news you may have missed this week.

Unity lays off 600 more, closing half of offices - gamesindustry.biz

An Artist Explains His AI Workflow - kottke.org

Ann Arbor-based artist uses 3D printing to create unique ceramic art - YouTube

How Nvidia is making perfect hair with 3D graphics - VentureBeat

Shutterstock Teams With NVIDIA to Build AI Foundation Models for Generative 3D Artist Tools - nvidia.com

Nothing Voyage’s Outdoor Mixed-Reality Headset - yankodesign.com

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Artist of the Week

Anes Sabanovic

I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the incredible student work I’ve seen around. Here is Anes Sabanovic’s submission to the Rookie awards, and it is lightyears better than anything I created when originally studying 3D. Y’all students are insane these days!

All images by Anes Sabanovic

Link to Rookies Entry

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3D Tutorials

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3D Job Spreadsheet

Link to Google Doc With A TON of Jobs in Animation (not operated by me)

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Michael Tanzillo has been a Senior Artist on animated films at Blue Sky Studios/Disney with credits including three Ice Age movies, two Rios, Peanuts, Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise, and Epic. Currently, Michael is a Head of Technical Artists with the Substance 3D Growth team at Adobe.

In addition to his work as an artist, Michael is the Co-Author of the book Lighting for Animation: The Visual Art of Storytelling and the Co-Founder of The Academy of Animated Art, an online school that has helped hundreds of artists around the world begin careers in Animation, Visual Effects, and Digital Imaging.

www.michaeltanzillo.com
Free 3D Tutorials on the Michael Tanzillo YouTube Channel

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