Illustrator in need of advice!

[Vlad_Gusev]

I've been following Idle Thumbs for four or three years now and finally I decided to make a topic and maybe find some suggestions! 

 

Around 20 years ago because of video games I started drawing (and never stopped since) thinking that someday I end up working on the next vagrant story, breath of fire or legend of mana game. Because I was fascinated with those crazy art styles and my art went in that direction too. Some years past most of the companies abandoned those very creative visual styles in favour of something more easy tu digest. I didn't understood that at the time, and so even now its been really hard for me to find work as an illustrator because my drawings are little bit too weird. Lately I've been trying to make my art more friendly and suitable for wide audience, as example I made this selection of work aiming at casual games and editorial art http://vldgsv.com/portfolio But I keep getting suggestions that my style is too risky, and that I should try going for indie game companies or animation. 

 

And so here I am, maybe you guys can give any advice? Or maybe suggest some indie studios that I should send my porfolio to?  I would be glad and very thankful to hear anything!
 

I invite you to look at my work at: http://vldgsv.com/

[BigJKO]

Wow! That looks amazing!

 

I don't think it's risky, but maybe that's because I see indie game art constantly on twitter and this would fit so well in a sweet adventure game or indie RPG or something. I don't have any advice as to how to get illustration jobs, but there must be a publication out there that would love this stuff for their editorial. I mean, I could totally see this being the headline art for something like Polygon.

 

Again, this is top stuff! I'm off to pimp this on twitter, because i love it! Well done.

[Vlad_Gusev]

Thank you BigJKO!
Yeah I also feel that my style is quite friendly right now and I feel really good using it, I´ll keep showing it everywhere because no one can stop me!

I forgot about polygon for some reason, gonna send them my portfolio right now, and thank you for re-tweeting, already got a couple of likes because of it

[SuperBiasedMan]

I concur, I love these! I know nothing about the industry, so I can't speak to suitability I'm afraid but I'd just funnel that portfolio out there cause you have great stuff and someone's sure to need that look.

 

Do you have a twitter? Didn't see a link on your site, and that's the main social media I use.

 

(Also your portfolio link at the top here accidentally has a period in it, which breaks the link)

[BigJKO]

  On 2/15/2016 at 8:00 PM, SuperBiasedMan said:

I concur, I love these! I know nothing about the industry, so I can't speak to suitability I'm afraid but I'd just funnel that portfolio out there cause you have great stuff and someone's sure to need that look.

 

Do you have a twitter? Didn't see a link on your site, and that's the main social media I use.

 

(Also your portfolio link at the top here accidentally has a period in it, which breaks the link)

 

Hah, there's a whole row of social media links under every post on his website!

[SuperBiasedMan]

Blurp! My mistake. I saw 4 at the top of the page but twitter was absent there. Followed!

[Vlad_Gusev]

SuperBiasedMan Thank you! Getting likes and retweets from everywhere! 

Making contacts is vital these days, its a shame I understood that a bit too late. Spending all my time drawing I never stopped to think that having high duality art will not attract clients by itself if I'm not out there searching for them, obviously. Getting smarter little by little!

[osmosisch]

Great stuff Vlad, tweeted some of it out for what it's worth.

[itsamoose]

Vlad,

 

The artwork looks incredible, I really dig that style.  To be honest that kind of work is in pretty high demand in the indie world, provided you can find the right project and the right people.  As someone who tired, unsuccessfully for almost 2 years to find a decent programmer who would stick with the project, the trouble will be getting people to take a chance on you more than to prove your ability.  I didn't see any animation work in your portfolio, but if you are interested in indie game development this is really something you should take a crack at.  For the most part indie studios don't hire an illustrator, animator, concept artist, etc.  They will usually hire 1 artist who can do all of those things, or purchase individual pieces which is a tough situation to be in.  I'm sure mobile game studios would love someone of your ability, and they are always hiring.  I come more from the technical side personally, but from what artists I know the consensus seems to be that it is much more difficult to find work simply due to the sheer amount of talent available.

 

Beyond that I'll just say the same thing that I say to every person looking to get into game development--make a game.  Game development isn't a test of skill, it's a test of endurance.  Sure game companies are going to care about your ability and what not, but really the biggest thing for anyone looking to hire a new developer is whether or not they can prove they are able to see something through to the end.  It doesn't have to be a massive years long development, or even a full game.  Something that takes a month or two, or just a level is enough, it just needs to be finished.  Without even considering things like crunch and overtime, game development is exhausting, tedious work, and the first thing to do is make sure you actually enjoy the process of making games.  As much as I love my job, there are weeks at a time when I hate everything I do, nothing works, and the urge to quit is pretty intense.  In my mind the hardest thing about game development is learning to take it one step at a time, and not get overwhelmed by the sheer scope of it.

 

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck, and I'll make sure to show your stuff around should the situation arise.

[Vlad_Gusev]

osmosisch Thank you! Infinitely appreciated.

itsamoose Thank you, fantastic reply! Agree I should invest some time into animation, actually a couple of weeks ago I send my resume to gameloft and they were about to hire me but at the last moment they said that they wanted someone with animation skills also. That surprised me, but I guess it was from a small gameloft studio in Spain so they could not afford big personal yet.
I did worked on some mobile games, 10 ago or so. It was quite primitive stuff in comparison to what we have now but even then I remember it being really chaotic. But also I was working with russian company while living in Spain so that added to the confusion, really progressive stuff for that time hah! And I think these kind of things happen in art quite often, working day and night without end and always having some last minute problems. But yeah, you really should love what you do to power trough these moments.
 

[Vainamoinen]

Ohhhh I love those dappled 'pixel' light pictures with the dog.