Planning Your Career as a 3D Artist
Planning Your Career as a 3D Artist
The Linen Shirt on a Boat in Positano Method to Career Development!
Ok…so you are off and getting ready to catapult yourself into a career as a 3D Artist. Amazing! So what’s one of the first questions you probably ask yourself…what is my goal? Why am I doing this? What is my dream job?!?!?
If you are like me, your mind will race to all the films and shows that inspired you. Perhaps the first movie that made you cry was Up and you dressed as Dash from The Incredibles every year for Halloween, so clearly it would be a dream come true to work at Pixar. Or Sci-Fi is your genre and you need to get to Weta before they finish making all those Avatar films. Or maybe you and your sister connected by playing endless nights of FIFA Soccer, so a job at EA Sports would be perfect for you!
This is absolutely what I did.
And it is 1000% the wrong approach to figuring out the best career path for you.
So let me present to you another option.
The Linen Shirt on a Boat in Positano Method to Career Development!
Ok…story time...
My older brother was turning 40 and made a declaration, “I want to celebrate on a boat, sharing a bottle of wine with my family, and wearing a linen shirt.”
I asked him where he wanted that to be; he said he didn’t care. He also didn’t know when he wanted to go. He just had this vision, and it was up to the rest of us to figure out the details.
So we made it happen. His wife took the lead and rented a house in Positano (not far from where our grandfather’s family resided). We hiked the Trail of the Gods. We ate everything. And, of course, we rented a boat, purchased some wine, picked up some linen shirts, and made his vision happen.
What would have happened if he had just said, “I want to go to Italy for my birthday?” We probably would have looked at places in Rome or Florence or Siena with that general goal in mind but probably would have completely missed the thing that he was after. By mining down and starting with the very specific activity he truly wanted, we were able to cater the vacation around that one, specific vision.
So wait..this article is about defining your career goals. Why am I spending time sharing vacation photos?
Because every time you are faced with a decision on how your career could progress, you need to approach the problem just like my brother tackled this life milestone. Figure out what your end game is first and work backward.
So how do you do this for your career?
I will start with a quote that runs through my head whenever I want to start planning the next career phase. This comes from my friend and fellow Academy of Animated Art Co-Founder, Jasmine Katatikarn. I asked for her help planning the next steps in my career after the Blue Sky closure:
“What is your ideal day? Forget money or other restrictions; what do you want your typical day to look like? Map that out in detail and backtrack to finding a job that allows you to do what you want.”
And after making a few Office Space jokes, here is a short breakdown of what I came up with :
6-7 a.m.
Wake up and go for a run in Central Park
7-8:30 a.m.
Breakfast with my family and get the kids off to school
8:30-1 p.m.
My most productive time of the day. Focus on image making and any writing I would like to achieve. Limit meetings and other distractions.
1-2 p.m.
Break
2-5 p.m.
Meetings, presentations, mentoring, or collaboration time. I find this is the time of day when I’m more motivated to be social and can knock out some teaching or game planning.
5-8 p.m.
Dinner break and family time. I put away my phone, shut off my computer, and dive into being a dad.
8-9 p.m.
With kids in bed, I’m back to get my email to zero and relax.
9-11 p.m.
Relaxing time.
So this seems pretty basic. What can we pull from this plan. What does this plan reveal? A few pivotal nuggets actually…
I want a job that can predictably be done around 5-6 pm. Working in production or freelancing at commercial houses in NYC would not allow for that. Their schedules are too unpredictable on a good day so I would have to make a big sacrifice to make that happen. (This was a big shock since I always focused on the projects I created as a career goal, not the life that job offered me.)
I greatly value having large chunks of time to dive deep into image creation or other tasks. I needed to find a situation where I wasn’t stuck in hours of meetings every day since I needed to produce artwork or writing in order to feel satisfied.
Teaching/Mentoring is a big part of my day and what I achieve in my career. I love being a 3D Artist. It has given me so much joy and satisfaction in my career. I want nothing more than to share that knowledge with others so that, hopefully, they can find the same career satisfaction.
Remote work would also be a big plus. If I want breakfast and dinner with my kids, a long commute to the office would be a no-go.
Having this focus was HUGE for job hunting because I no longer just threw my demo reel at every animation studio hiring. I expanded my search outside production and started focusing on other companies that would give me the balance I was seeking.
Luckily for me, I’m friends with the great Alwyn Hunt. When I explained my plan, he recommended applying for a Demo Artist/Solution Consultant position with him on the Substance team at Adobe. I had no idea that position was a thing and when he described it to me, it sounded perfect (although he has a very charming New Zealand accent that can be deceiving.)
I applied.
I landed the job.
And I’m happier than I could have been in any production job.
So I challenge you to do the same! Try the craze that is sweeping the nation…
The Linen Shirt on a Boat in Positano Method to Career Development!!! (TLSOABIPMTCD to you acronym lovers out there)
And post your ideal work days in the comment section below!
3D News of the Week
A roundup of interesting 3D related news you may have missed this week.
Mindmelting Use of 3D At the Anrealage Fashion Show - youtube.com
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Gets First Trailer Ahead Of August Release - cartoonbrew.com
Hexa raises $20.5M to turn images into 3D objects for VR, AR and more - techcrunch.com
Check out promising new NURBS modeller Plasticity - cgchannel.com
AltspaceVR is no more - altvr.com
3D Artist of the Week
This project, Kiwanuka, is simply stunning.
Original Reference Image:
3D Tutorials
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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