Illustration & Concept Art industry - 2024 mid year update 

Timothee is getting obnoxious posting those memes every other day lol

@@MrFour4th can be a bit 'shamey'. There are a few solid, successful concept artists who don't do call out type work e.g. Quentin Mabille, Eytan Zana, Darek, Ruan Jia, Ruxing Gao etc

​@@AndyWalshexactly, I'm not saying his wrong but sometimes his posts seem very rage baity.

I agree. You just need to have different portfolios and show only the one that exact customer is looking for.

I always scratched my head over this too. Every time you specialise, you're reducing your job prospects. Thing is, when someone hits you up for a job, they will almost never ask you to do what's in your portfolio anyway. The work that I'm asked to do is sci fi, sports, car games, more sci fi and a little bit of sci fi. None of that is in my portfolio. So you may as well do everything.

​@@AndyWalsh I think it's better to be a Generalist when you're a production or pipeline artist. but when you're a designer, i think it's better to specialize at least either as environment/prop designer or character concept designer.

maybe they dont want new stars to arise lol - if you say to all artists to make only swords or cars , they will not be a threat - i think many of the artists who make mentorships and have schools , need students for their business - so they will push their agenda - i agree with this art talks and need for interesting design but also artists need to make cool images and need to be noticed - so yt self promotion and self promotion is in my opinion very importamt , especially for freelancers. All stars of concept art niche were popular online before they landed jobs in ilm etc , at least this new breed or independent artists who started online - not in art center school , i think we should look what they do not listen what to do lol - its not saying that someone is gatekeeping , or this advice is bad - its great but its part of success , big part is exposure online - as Andy said Loish model of business is great - she is famous artist , has patreon, has products and for sure has good clients . Better tey to aim at this because "job" is not always best thing - inhouse artists sometimes are used to clean up or do not cool stuff - if studio hires you because you are famous thats cool job ! Also some of us are more artists and sone are designers - concept art is mix of this people , so if you are kore artistic its great to have your own independent art career that is not in yhis smalll niche

When times are good and the creative industries are buoyant, yes being a generalist is an advantage. However, since the end of 2020, when the covid panic started dying down, the creative industries have suffered and hiring teams are now very anxious to only hire someone that has shown they can do the 'exact' thing the current project needs. They need all the help they can get to convince their finance departments to release the budget for any new hire. If a company accountant can't see a very obvious link between your previous work and the project they need to hire for, they are going to pressure the hiring team to keep looking for someone with a closer skill match. Another thing to consider is if one creative industry is suffering more than the others, then the specialists from that depressed industry will look for work in slightly healthier creative industries. This happened during the writers strike in Hollywood. The strike made the vfx industry dry up so a lot of vfx artists sought work in the video game industry, advertising, arch-vis etc.

thanks, lol. It's anything but rainbows!

it's all commerce now I guess. It all has to = $ somewhere along the lines. Income and profit have to balance etc. but if you can get it cheaper, folk will, regardless of consequence.

well, I often get through those ok. In fact, one interview I had wanted me to relocate. I said I wouldn't and they still had me proceed to the next round. That said, it could still be some kind of mining expedition.

@@AndyWalsh Do these next steps often include unpaid tests, if so then how often you’re asked to do them?

​@@Rahviel80 No, I was recently given the wrong job opportunity by mistake, but within that there was mention of a paid art test. And about 8 months ago I was told that I should expect an art test for a senior position (recruitment person found me on Linkedin) and I just flat told them no. If I was a junior and I trusted the company I'd do it though.

aww thanks so much! most kind!

crazy. Maybe that is what's happening, people are just flipping through the massive catalogue of artists until they find the best and cheapest.

Interesting, you're correct! But how did you know?

@@AndyWalsh they also asked me the same thing :) out of the interviews i've done in games so far in games, this one was the most curt and serious. Usually it's a lot friendlier but this one was like an interrogation. The recruiter was so nice though.

most welcome! Wish I could do more but it's highly time consuming :(

most welcome bud!

well, I did work for Terraform for about 1.5 years. But that approach is easier said than done. There's really no one to reach out to, they have to reach out to you. But you are right in a sense, it's the absolute best scenario if you CAN get approached.

yeah I suppose. It's just too slow for proper character concept art though. Clients will expect half a dozen ideas at least, just quickly drawn, by the end of a working day. It would take me a few days just to do one in 3d.

Maybe. I think some people have money. I had a client recently who was just one person who saved up money over the years and paid me not too far off my day rate. But overall the money isn't flowing.

That sounds good. What kind of videos, like footage or digital/3D type videos? Best of luck! Polished art is still needed at the highest level for video games. I'm still getting job discussions with larger companies. Competition is high though.

@@AndyWalsh I am mainly creating short promo and branding videos for small companies that sell luxury goods. Nothing too fancy, as my clients cannot afford refined motion graphics. If you decide to go this route concerntrate on getting good audio. Cutting to a good soundtrack works all the time. I am using Da Vinci Resolve for video editing - used in broadcast productions and it's free.

well, something along those lines. Most likely. But one has to be so clued up and wise in the ways of business to make that bring in anything like a full time job. I already have an Etsy store for example and it brings in about 2 sales per month and I'm really trying to figure out why because I'm doing most things correctly there. I started a jewellery store too and have pretty much only had sales from friends/friends of friends. Tutorial sales are ok, but still about 1/10th of a full time job. Personal IP can take years. So like I say, you'd have to be like a black belt in ecommerce to make that work. And I'm definitely willing to gain that level so we'll see.

@@AndyWalsh thanks for this realistic reply (apologies for jumping on someone else's question). I sometimes think the only people making money are the youtubers with videos about how artists can make $10k a month. We all click on those videos out of sheer desperation, only to find out its another video with step 1 and step 20 but nothing in-between.

you have to consider that when the market is flopping and not even million dollar companies can profit, your little board game won't sell either

​@@solarydays Yeah, I see the mainstream flopping, but it has a lot more to do with the quality of what has been coming out of it. Everything now is remake, reboot, sequels, prequels and all heavily loaded with ideology and proselytism. That is exactly why indie creators have been so successful filling the gap left by the corporations. You search here in RU-vid and you will find innumerous podcasts talking about that. So don't give up.

@@solarydays Yeah, I see the mainstream flopping, but it has a lot more to do with the quality of what has been coming out of it. Everything now is remake, reboot, sequels, prequels and all heavily loaded with ideology and proselytism. That is exactly why indie creators have been so successful filling the gap left by the corporations. You search here in RU-vid and you will find innumerous podcasts talking about that. So don't give up.

It has been over for a year now. It's whether it'll stop being over. Or was it never NOT over except for 2021-2023 and now it's just back to being over?

I took it down. Wasn't happy with work.

you don't look for freelance work. Freelance work finds you.

Yeah, I guess two reasons 1) I'm still accumulating data on that and 2) you kind of need to have a decent following for that to work. I can't advise an artist with 500 followers and amateur skills to sell tutorials. But so far it's been fairly good. It will depend on how popular and liked the piece is that you're tutorial-ing. If it's a banger you can make about a grand on it over a few month period.

when you say you don't see problems, are you a senior concept artist in the games industry?

Your analogy is off. Jama is at the top of his niche. He's made it to ILM, arguably the most prestigious company to work for as a concept artist. I can cook a mean beans on toast but that doesn't mean if I just had a personal brand and schmoozed with top chefs that I'd make a living as a chef in a Michelin star restaurant.