Trying to find a job...overwhelmed. Advice please?

yolojo

Hello,

I just recently graduated from art college and I'm trying to find a job related to art. So far I'm really overwhelmed and I don't really know where to start. I'm actually really interested in the art of story-telling and would love to go into comics/movies/animation. When I look for jobs related to games and movies they all require you to have 3 or more years of experience, there's almost no starting point (unless you get it through connections). I'm also not an American citizen (many job prerequisites prefer American citizens).

I'm really overwhelmed here and I don't know how to tackle this. I'm not afraid of my future, in fact I'm really excited about the possibilities, but at the same time I am a bit lost. Any direction here would be nice, it'll give me some ground to step on.

I've also considered submitting work to Onipress and Dark Horse. If you may please look at my art thread here and give me some comments as to what I might be lacking. http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=118339

Thank you for reading and please give me some advice .

Esh

You have a while to go before working for Oni or Dark Horse. I'd also refrain from submitting your rape/torture artwork. Keep on practicing and build up a portfolio. I hate to say, but art college is often a huge waste of time. Most of the people I know who are successful artists didn't go.

Lail

The first thing I would do is set up a website and use it as a portfolio. I think if you can show an employer how awesome you are, they may disregard the x number of years of experience they ask for.

Second, like any other job search, apply everywhere. Any place that may be even semi-related to what you want to do. It's a lot easier to get an "in" once you're...in.

Darkewolfe

Did your art college not set you up with information on how to manage a portfolio and look for jobs, etc.?

noir_blood

I can't really speak for the other fields, but in comics, artists(and writers) rarely get hired just right off the street. If you ask anyone working in that field for advice, they'll tell you the best thing to do is just to go ahead and create a comic, do the whole independent thing for a while and hone your craft.

Start hitting conventions in your area, join comic forums, etc. If you have a comic done that you can just hand out to interesting parties, you'll have a bit of a step up.

And as much as it sucks, sometimes it boils down to who you know. So hopefully you have some connections, or aren't shy.

Improvolone

Art is something you need to do in your spare time until you finally make a career of it.
Do it constantly in your spare time. Treat it like a second full time job. Develop your own projects. Produce produce produce.

yolojo

Thank you all so much for the replies.

I'm working hard to build a better portfolio. Any more advice or comments on the work is welcome. I know I have a long way to go it would also be nice to point out the flaws.

RadicalTurnip

My Fiancee's friend wants a career in advertising, and she goes to a lot of concerts. What she does is, when she's going to go to a concert, she makes *her own* Poster for the band. Then she prints two of them off, and waits backstage afterward for signatures. She gets one signed, and then has the other in case the band/singer/whoever wants a copy. She's had a lot of success with this.

I'm not exactly sure how this applies directly to you, but try to think of ways to get your art to the people that have the money and the say. Besides that, consider an auxiliary role that could make you connections...like...lets say...webcomics? Just an idea.

Dr. Frenchenstein

yolojo wrote: »

Thank you all so much for the replies.

I'm working hard to build a better portfolio. Any more advice or comments on the work is welcome. I know I have a long way to go it would also be nice to point out the flaws.

you're probably better off in the Artists Corner for critiques and stuff.