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| This has nothing to do with the text! Ha! |
First of all, everyone talks about networking. IGDA meetings, conferences, events.. Yeah, it's always good to know people and during the time in my school I've built up a growing network of fellow students, industry people and other specialists. Cool, now I can ask for help, tips, recommendations, feedback and company for a beer and of course giving all this back in return if someone is looking for it.
It's also good to have visibility to your work and achievements; LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. Make yourself visible to employers! Do stuff! Make games and art!
Portfolio is really important for a game artist. This article in Gamasutra could give you some tips if you don't know where to start. Mine (linked in the right column) is still in a free server built on a template. It's easy, dirty and fast. I don't recommend to anyone but I'm just too busy and lazy to create a better one at the moment. That might just be a reason why I didn't get a summer job at the new Rovio office. On the other hand, I got an invite to another company's interview without even showing my portfolio at first. Strange!
I believe in my skills and art. If someone turns my application down, I won't be too sad about it. There are millions of chances around all the time. And one thing that I keep noticing in this field is that you have to do it again. Draw something, whatever it is, and you'll have to make it again. Something has to be changed all the time. I have an excellent example on this one to show later.
During this project I've had to accept the fact that whatever I do and am happy with might be turned down and changed into something which doesn't look good or make sense in my opinion. I just have to do that because it's not up to me to decide. The motivation might not be the highest at that point, at least after the fifth change, but I've noticed how it affects the workflow. When you recognize it, it's easier to handle.
Just some thoughts, not directly about the project but something that I've been thinking about during it.
