Looking for any opening position into gaming industry.
I'm looking to help out on any project made available to me. Although I'm running the risk of underselling myself, I am prepared to work for free. All I ask is to be taken under the wing,shown the ropes and maybe be considered for a position further down along the line. As far as skills are concerned,I would be inclined to say I'm more an artist then programmer. That being said,I do have some experience with HTML. (Please note,this was HTML 4.01 and not HTML5.) As well as some CSS and of course Javascript. Markup Language aside, I began studying C# on my own. The learning curve was a bit steep and money was hard to come by so I postponed any formal studies until I felt more confident in my own abilities. As such, I am familiar with the core concepts of OOP, the application life-cycle, IDE's and other critical key concepts needed to be an asset and less of a burden. However,as I said earlier I am looking for the chance to learn these things from someone with real working knowledge. Long story short, please consider me a blank slate and not a know-it-all that cannot be taught.
As for my proficiency in programs relating to illustration or animation I can confidently say I have ample enough knowledge and talent in not only 3D assets but raster and vector programs as well. I was fortunate enough to be schooled in art from grade one through matric so I am able to not only use digital methods but traditional means as well. Programs I am able to use professionally are Photoshop,Illustrator(although I still prefer Macromedia's Freehand) and Blender as well. I am more then capable of finding my way around a computer. My proficiency extends to general maintenance of almost all Windows systems and research skills when using the internet as a source. Although I do have a few pieces I can use in a portfolio I do not feel they are even close to the standards expected of me as a professional. I will be pressing for a polished website in the coming week or two and humbly ask anyone that should be interested in giving me a chance to please contact me if no point of reference has been made public at that point and I will gladly E-mail you what I currently have,as well as being open to any requests for material being used in development at your studio.
Lastly, I would like like to ad that due to my geographical position (Kimberley) I can safely say jobs are few and far between when it comes to web/graphic design. That being said, I strongly feel it is time to move on to bigger and better things in life. Not only has the market become overcrowded, businesses in smaller towns such as Kimberley tend to take advantage of this fact. Resulting in being overworked and underpaid. I would not mind this if something in it was beneficial for me as well but as it is hard to cope with deadlines and other pressures if I have to guess my way through the day because I have no-one to turn to for advice or guidance. (This might sound like a lie, but the last "job" I had along these lines I worked for an individual for about 5-7 months without ever being paid. His excuse at the time was that his company was still in start-up. In that space of time I received R200-00 in total for countless hours,pages of magazine layouts,brochures and corporate identities for potential customers). In the end I had to use my own PC for the job and it ended up costing me more then just money to be able to work for him.
As I said earlier, I would not have minded any of this if only he had something to offer me,such as guidance or mentoring. But ironically I ended up teaching him the ins and outs of Photoshop.
Looking forward to any correspondence.
Chris de Wet
aem85031527@hotmail.com
As for my proficiency in programs relating to illustration or animation I can confidently say I have ample enough knowledge and talent in not only 3D assets but raster and vector programs as well. I was fortunate enough to be schooled in art from grade one through matric so I am able to not only use digital methods but traditional means as well. Programs I am able to use professionally are Photoshop,Illustrator(although I still prefer Macromedia's Freehand) and Blender as well. I am more then capable of finding my way around a computer. My proficiency extends to general maintenance of almost all Windows systems and research skills when using the internet as a source. Although I do have a few pieces I can use in a portfolio I do not feel they are even close to the standards expected of me as a professional. I will be pressing for a polished website in the coming week or two and humbly ask anyone that should be interested in giving me a chance to please contact me if no point of reference has been made public at that point and I will gladly E-mail you what I currently have,as well as being open to any requests for material being used in development at your studio.
Lastly, I would like like to ad that due to my geographical position (Kimberley) I can safely say jobs are few and far between when it comes to web/graphic design. That being said, I strongly feel it is time to move on to bigger and better things in life. Not only has the market become overcrowded, businesses in smaller towns such as Kimberley tend to take advantage of this fact. Resulting in being overworked and underpaid. I would not mind this if something in it was beneficial for me as well but as it is hard to cope with deadlines and other pressures if I have to guess my way through the day because I have no-one to turn to for advice or guidance. (This might sound like a lie, but the last "job" I had along these lines I worked for an individual for about 5-7 months without ever being paid. His excuse at the time was that his company was still in start-up. In that space of time I received R200-00 in total for countless hours,pages of magazine layouts,brochures and corporate identities for potential customers). In the end I had to use my own PC for the job and it ended up costing me more then just money to be able to work for him.
As I said earlier, I would not have minded any of this if only he had something to offer me,such as guidance or mentoring. But ironically I ended up teaching him the ins and outs of Photoshop.
Looking forward to any correspondence.
Chris de Wet
aem85031527@hotmail.com
Comments
Welcome. I'm really sorry to hear about the crappy situation you were in.
Firstly, I don't think you should work for free, but I get why you're saying that. I mostly going to assume you want to do game art because that sounds like your strong point. For that I think you can either expect to get paid an hourly rate or in revenue share (or some combination of the two). Be careful of accepting revenue share for smaller projects, as there is a reasonable chance they will die out, with little you can do to prevent that.
As I see it, there are three ways you can proceed if you want to work on games: setup a portfolio (hoping that someone will approach you), approach potential employers, or do the whole thing yourself.
You mentioned you are working on a portfolio/website, which is good. However, remember that it doesn't need to be super-professional to get work. Have a look at some of the portfolios here for inspiration. Just a few of the pieces you're proud of can spark some interest.
You can also approach some potential employers directly. One way to do this is play some of the prototypes here, and make a mockup of how you think the art would look if you were working on the project. At the very least you'll learn something with relatively little time investment, and at best you'll be approached for a job. If you're doing this, I advise picking a project you think you'll want to work on.
And lastly, you can make games entirely by yourself. It sounds like your strong point is art, but it also sounds like you have the necessary programming skills to start making some prototypes, perhaps more. This might be the most emotionally rewarding route, but the risks here are obviously higher if you're looking to making a living.
I hope all of the above is helpful for you, and (at least initially) you should be able to do all of it remotely from Kimberly.