Senior 3D Artist

Job Title:

Senior 3D Artist

In One Sentence Describe Your Work Role:

To create 3D Art for games, including making textures and getting those assets into game.

Number Of Years Dedicated To This Field Of Work or Lifestyle:

9

Category Of Work:

Employment – Paid Work

Country / Area of Work:

United Kingdom

Industry:

Arts/Entertainment/Publishing

Type:

Employment

Key Skills For The Job:

– 3D Modeling
– Texturing
– Shader/material set up
– Understanging of level editors (unity/Unreal etc)

Vital Key Skill:

– Great communication skills

Your Personal Experience Of Entering This Role:

Other Self Taught (i.e. Demonstrated Skills Using A Portfolio Of Work )

Tips For Undertaking This Work:

Please be aware some companies have a role listed as 3D artist. This person can make props and environments. Some companies have someone for props and another person for environments so the job roles are “3D artist” “Environment Artist” and “3D Prop Artist”. In these roles a lot of the assets overlap. The only 3D art job that is a lot more specialised is a 3D character artist. So I have held positions as 3D artist and Environment artist but really the actual job was very similar.

Demo, Demo, Demo ! constantly seek feedback from TRAINED people about your work. Then push again, then use that demo to apply.

Future Progression Or Developments:

(1 ) Junior 3D Artist
(2) Mid-Level 3D Artist.
(3) Senior 3D Artist
(4) Lead 3D Artist
(5) Art Director

Advice You Would Give To A Younger You Undertaking This Work:

Juniors are not expected to know it all!!! That’s not really advice but something important to realise.

The younger me was always learning new things, adding to demo all the time, seeking feedback on my work all the time to make improvements and learn. So I would just say keep doing what you are doing. When I was doing my first ever demo it was easily 50-60 hours a week, mostly learning from a book and the internet, which 9-10 years ago really did not have a fraction of what is there now. So anyone learning now, will have access to better home hardware, more online tutorials (free and paid) and also now there are a lot of formal institutions that have courses related to this. For me personally if I was the younger me now, I would still follow the “self” taught route. Doesn’t mean you can’t get there doing the formal route (college/uni) just it is better for me personally.

What Are The ‘tools of the trade’ Used Daily:

– 3DS Max
– Unity
– Photoshop

Previously
– Substance Painter
– Crazy Bump
– UDK
– Marvelous Designer

A Typical Day’s Duties:

– Create 3D assets with textures and materials
– Set up levels in unity

This current role has included:
– Set up camera paths, audio clips, level load, animated materials, basic rigging, basic SFX/particles.

Is Travelling A Regularly Part Of This Work:

Yes

Weekly Working Hours:

Full Time

Type Of Hours Arrangement:

Fixed Working Week

The Best Thing About The Work You Do:

The people I work with.

Your Least Favorite Thing About The Work You Do:

Not enough time given in your working week to learn new things. Our industry changes so much all the time there is always something new to learn. Lately PBR has been the new pipeline to learn, but I feel companies do not give any time for training and development. There’s almost an expectation we will always do it outside of working time and there is not enough time always even if we were only to do this with our “free” time.

Any Duties You Hadn’t Anticipated Prior To Undertaking The Work:

The amount of level placement. Sometimes this can be 1/3 of the work load and with one company this became what I was doing with about 75% of my time for quite a few months.

The Top Perks Of The Work:

– In general the working environment and office atmosphere is quite relaxed.
– Team – Game Devs are in general a great bunch of people !

Other Work In The Same Sector:  (Left Blank If Not Applicable)

You could take 3D to project visualisation work. You could take it to architectural industry however sometimes as this 3D is more accurate you may need extra qualifications. I feel games and VR experiences are fun to do and where I want to place my 3D skills as it’s relaxed when modeling, I mean you don’t have to keep breaking out the tape measure in your 3D software to make sure its 100% accurate.

Additional Info You Wish To Share:

Look for forums, YouTube, etc for 3D for beginners. Reach out to people doing the role to get feedback on your demo (see “Lets Learn” tab on my site). Also posts on ArtStation/sketch fab etc to get feedback from people. Demo, feedback, learn, polish demo….. repeat !

Where People Can Visit For More Details On Your Work:

https://www.jenter3d.blogspot.com