I Can't Find Work As a 3D Artist
What do I do!?!?!
Join any Discord server or subreddit devoted to 3D or animation and you will almost immediately see a “Why am I not getting a job!?!?” post. These are generally artists new to the industry and struggling to get their start. They’ve probably taken some classes or even received a college diploma and can’t take the next step and are frustrated.
Believe me, I’ve been there. After studying art in college and VFX in grad school, I struggled to find work and didn’t get my first job in the industry until I was 27. And in that time I saw classmates and other friends scooping up jobs left and right and I was embarrassed, annoyed, and generally questioning if I had made a mistake in choosing 3D as a career. All I wanted was someone to give me a chance and I couldn’t believe my bad luck that I wasn’t landing anything.
But I was kidding myself. Regardless of degree or desire, I just wasn’t facing the blunt truth. My work just wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t up to the level yet for others to want to hire me. And, if I am being honest, for most of the people creating these posts, their work isn’t good enough either.
Notice I said their work and not them as artists. Because there is a secret… everyone I know that truly dedicates themself to being a 3D profession will eventually get a job and develop a career in this industry.
Does that mean everyone that tries to get a job eventually does? Absolutely not.
Because some get caught in this trap.
They lack the ability, courage, or honesty to recognize where they are lacking.
Therefore, they don’t put in the work to improve.
So they keep using the same inadequate reel to apply to different jobs and continue to get turned down and eventually give up.
So what do you do instead?
Step 1. You check your ego and understand that you haven’t put enough good work on your demo reel to get a job.
Step 2. You seek out an industry vet for guidance and critique. You take a class. Get a mentor. Whatever you have to do to find someone willing to give honest feedback on your work and you listen with open ears and look at your work with fresh eyes.
Step 3. You work with that mentor to continue adding improved shots to your reel and continue applying for work. What about places you’ve already applied? As long as it’s been 6 months since your last application and they have another opening, submit again. The worst thing they could do is ignore you and they’ve already done that so there is nothing to lose.
Step 4. You will get a job. And when you do, you work hard. Make some friends. Try not to be a jerk. Hit your notes. Do good work. And then you will stay on long term or make enough connections and experience to make your next job easier to obtain.
Now, am I saying there isn’t a rare exception out there of someone with bad luck or bad timing or just found themself in a bad situation generally and it didn’t work out for them? Of course not. The world can be unfair at times and that is true of any industry.
But at the end of the day, it is not rocket science.
Keep learning and creating and don’t stop until you have enough on your professional level work on your demo reel to get a job. Then work hard, be nice, and continue to improve your networking and skills to make the next job or promotion even more effortless.
3D News of the Week
A roundup of interesting 3D-related news you may have missed this week.
You can now make NeRFs with Polycam! - Twitter
Cozy Blanket 2.0 was released with manual retopology, UV unwrapping, packing, and baking. - 80.lv
Womp.3D was released as a simple, web-based platform for creating 3D models - womp.com
Is 3D Scanning Over a Century Old? - hackday.com
The New York Times breaks down how AI Art is already transforming the way creatives work (paywall)
3D Artist of the Week
3D Tutorials
More selfish self-promoting! Check out my latest tutorial that shows the entire workflow from Maya through Substance 3D Modeler, Painter, Stager, and Adobe Photoshop to create this final California Surf Shack.
3D Job Spreadsheet
Link to Google Doc With A TON of Jobs in Animation (not operated by me)
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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Hi Michael. Great article, I agree with all you said. I was stuck for a long time too. I got a job in the industry but this is still not what I want to do. I am looking for someone who could give me any advice/ guidance how to improve. Do you think you could have a look at my portfolio? I would greatly appreciate that. At this moment I'm working on getting my portfolio on behance so I can present my projects more in depth. For now I'm keeping my portfolio in this form: https://issuu.com/alexkania/docs/portfolio_2024 (some of the projects I need to create new renders for as they are a bit old and unpolished) the holiday house and organic interior modelling are the newest so that's the level I'm on at this moment). If you happy to take on some mentoring, please reply to this comment so we can connect on linkedin/behance or whatever platform :) Thanks!