Is it a pain to drive one of those things with your car on the back (assuming thats what you are doing)?
No no, I've got a trailer that I'm towing with my car (I've got probably one of the 2 Pontiac G6s in the world that's been equipped with a trailer hitch.)
But yeah, driving with the trailer on the back is kind of a pain- not on the highway so much as trying to park or get up to speed on onramps. Also other cars around you are liable to assume that your car is going to be way more maneuverable and have much better braking that you actually do under the circumstances, which makes dickish driving behavior even more infuriating/frightening.
Oh I see. You got a mattress into one of those things? well done! I've seen people drive with a car hitched to the back and that always seemed like a huge pain. I can imagine a trailer in boston might be the worst thing ever, considering boston drivers are huge dicks.
Well, luckily I don't live in Boston proper (holy hell that would be a nightmare trying to go around in the city with a trailer), but I'm really not looking forward to merging from the onramp onto the freeway around here with the trailer behind me...the stupid yield signs at the end of the onramps around here and the subsequent fact that nobody tries to accommodate incoming merging traffic makes the prospect of getting onto the freeway with a really slow, really heavy vehicle somewhat bottom-clenching. I'm going to see if I can time it so I can get on at some point of the day where the traffic is either really light, or is extremely slow rush hour traffic so at least if I run into someone it'll only be moderately catastrophic.
Once I get out into the country it should be smooth sailing though. Unless it's really windy, or stormy, or if the roads are pot-hole ridden trails of shit. (You really can tell the states that spend money on road upkeep versus ones that don't.)
EDIT: Oh yeah, what I did with the mattress before was to just lay it on top of everything else- which has the added benefit of keeping everything from smashing around too much.
Oh I see. You got a mattress into one of those things? well done! I've seen people drive with a car hitched to the back and that always seemed like a huge pain. I can imagine a trailer in boston might be the worst thing ever, considering boston drivers are huge dicks.
Im sure LA is its own monster, but I'm used to DC where people are aggressive and by comparison boston is a hell hole. Plus there are fucking round-abouts everywhere, which is a terrible Idea.
Well, drivers may be dicks everywhere, but the amount of dickitude you actually encounter will be more around Boston, as a result of a meandering, bullshit road system that makes no fucking sense.
The (admittedly unverified) statistic I heard was that that MA has the highest percentage of road fatalities in the US, and it's not difficult to see why.
LA drivers are actually pretty good for the most part...there are just so many of them that everyone is miserable together. San Diego drivers though...are just retarded.
skype: rtschutter
0
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
My commerce demons are taunting me again and telling me that I must buy this watch if I am to have any hope of a fulfilling life. Though one demon secretly wishes it was made in Germany.
My commerce demons are taunting me again and telling me that I must buy this watch if I am to have any hope of a fulfilling life. Though one demon secretly wishes it was made in Germany.
I know it's a 12 and not just a 2, but I think if I wore that, every time I looked at it, that stupid "2, 4, 8, who do we appreciate!" cheer would pop into my head, and I would grow to hate the watch as a result.
My commerce demons are taunting me again and telling me that I must buy this watch if I am to have any hope of a fulfilling life. Though one demon secretly wishes it was made in Germany.
I was all
"pfff what is this piece of consumer produ- oooooohhhhhhh pretttyyyyyyy"
not fifteen hundred dollars pretty, but still pretty
@Beavs: Oh wow, are you in San Francisco now? I thought you were in Seattle (for some reason? Were you in Seattle or am I thinking of someone else entirely?)
And argh, emailing people sounds like it's easy, but I tend to over-think such emails by a mile and probably end up sounding like a form letter robot by removing anything that could possibly be taken the wrong way. A simple 2 sentence email, even to someone I know, can take like 3 hours to compose as a result.
I'm in orange county!
and i can help you with that part too... the emailing part
i'm a very extroverted person, so this stuff comes naturally to me, but i understand some people freeze up a bit when it comes to initiating conversations with artists they admire and such. i can help with that!
i should teach an internet class on how to "stop being a scaredy and email that person you admire cause connections in this industry are worth more than a hundred degrees from professor xavier's school for very gifted artists." (hey.. it's a fairly decent school!)
edit: you probably thought seattle because of valve/penny arcade. it's a better guess than orange county.
I was all
"pfff what is this piece of consumer produ- oooooohhhhhhh pretttyyyyyyy"
not fifteen hundred dollars pretty, but still pretty
Yeah $1500 is well out of my range, if I could get it for under $800 I'd think about it.
0
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
The best way to email-network is to write it like you've known them for years. Then when they don't email back within the hour, send them another one calling them a stuck up jerk for not emailing you back. Then give it another hour and send them another one saying you know where they live. Then follow that up with 5 or so emails saying how sorry you are that you snapped like that, and attach a few nude photos of yourself.
I'm in orange county!
and i can help you with that part too... the emailing part
i'm a very extroverted person, so this stuff comes naturally to me, but i understand some people freeze up a bit when it comes to initiating conversations with artists they admire and such. i can help with that!
i should teach an internet class on how to "stop being a scaredy and email that person you admire cause connections in this industry are worth more than a hundred degrees from professor xavier's school for very gifted artists." (hey.. it's a fairly decent school!)
edit: you probably thought seattle because of valve/penny arcade. it's a better guess than orange county.
I thought Kazu was in Seattle for some reason, not sure why.
In any case, that's, uh, pretty far away from San Francisco...(kinda reminds me of how my mom used to say me and my brother should hang out more because I was in San Fran and he was in LA...then both being in California doesn't make those places not 6 hours away from each other. :P)
Hah, yeah, I'm super-shy so it doesn't come naturally to me at all...I can do decently well in like a one-on-one face to face situation where there's some straightforward reason for a conversation to be occurring- like I'm being interviewed, or there's a problem needing to be solved, or whatever, but free-form conversations with strangers I have trouble with, generally. So if we ever hang out feel free to use the opportunity to have me help you move a couch or draw you something, it'll put me more at ease than like, just going to grab coffee or something (for one thing I don't drink coffee.)
HOW TO MAKE CONNECTIONS (for artists and other people)
Step the first: initial contact
Say I find an artist I like.
I email them!
As artists, you all know how great it is to get an email or comment from someone telling you that they like your work.
It feels great! Everyone loves that
So i email them and tell them that I really love their work! I usually say why, maybe some piece really inspired me, or reminded me of home, or something like that. keep it short, sweet, and try not to talk about yourself too much. no one likes that. I keep it simple and to the point.
Step the second: the follow up (where you ask questions)
that's easy enough, but now what?
If they write back, sometimes they'll ask about your own work, or what you do or things like that. So at this point, I ask them a couple questions
Sometimes I'll ask about a specific technique that interests me,
or if they're working at some job I'm interested in, I ask them advice on getting into that position
If it's someone who's worked as an art director, I ask them what they look for in a portfolio when they're hiring
If they're someone who holds a job in a field I want to work in, I ask them what they put in their portfolio when they were hired.
Artists generally love talking about this stuff! So they tell me!
Additional tips (and an example)
I try not to throw my own work down their throat unless they ask, or offer up advice but a link to my website is always in the signature part of my emails, so it's there if they are curious, but it's not in the body of my email anywhere
Don't be selfish. Some of these people are really busy! Many times they don't respond. it's not something to take personally. First and foremost I'm emailing these people to tell them I admire their work. If I was just emailing them to make connections so i can get something from them I don't think it'd work out for me like it has (it might though, i dunno... i feel like you'll just look like an ass if you do that though) I want them to know that I like their work and have been inspired from it. That's always how it's started for me, and I never have any sort of expectations from it.
here's a real scenario that happened to me that is the perfect example of how important it is to start emailing and making connections (i took out the names cause it's not important to know who the people are, the scenario is what's important):
I really admire the work of artist "x" he works at one of the feature animation companies
He did an interview where he discussed how he struggled for a while trying to find his style and be happy with it. When he embraced his style, and stopped trying to be something he wasn't, he found happiness, and then success in the field. This really hit home because I still struggle with the fact that my work is not "concept arty" enough for lots of people. I was very moved by the interview (totally teared up a bit) so I emailed him to tell him that.
He offered me up a portfolio review based on that email
He gave me tons of advice, so I set to work improving on the things he told me
I then went to CTN-X (IMPORTANT ADVICE: go to as many cons, workshops and industry events as you can) where I got to meet him in person
we chatted for a bit, then he told me my all time favourite character designer(artist "Y") (who works for the same company as him) was wandering around somewhere.
so i freak out and am all "OMG WHERE!??!" and he points me in the direction of some guys who know
they introduce me to artist "Y"
he asks if he can look at my portfolio (IMPORTANT ADVICE: bring your portfolio with you to cons/workshops/anything where you can network... have it ready. i keep my ipad with me at all times, and it has my portfolio on it)
from there he asks for my email
and then the next day emails me to invite me to his studio to tour around and look at what he's working on
he gives me heaps of advice
encourages me to continue on with my places project
this all started with a freakin email because i liked a guy's work easiest thing in the world, yet so few people do it!
The Conclusion to this thrilling adventure:
networking is very very important. The entertainment industry is small. And they bleed into each other. Game artists end up working at animation studios, and vice versa. People know people. Having a good portfolio is the most important first step, but getting to know people who are already in the industry you want to be in is a very close second. It seems silly I know. A part of me wishes that you just were a good artist and that was it, you got discovered by magic because you were awesome... but it rarely works that way without having made a couple of connections first (not saying it doesn't happen, because it can! but having a network will not hinder you in the process at all). It's like this in any field. That being said, you can know all the people in the world, if your portfolio is not up to snuff, you won't land the good jobs, but you'll be able to get there eventually if you work at it and maintain your connections.
I hope this was somewhat informative!
if you actually need specific help or encouragement, you can just message me and i'll help you out
I like to help
Thank you for sharing your skillz prof. Beavo. I have no idea how to network.
I emailed one of my dad's friends yesterday, which was pretty much my first attempt at networking. The guy used to know George Miller, but apparently they've lost touch since then. Sucks!
I think a lot of people stop themselves by believing the "successful artist who is a snob" stereotype. They're usually people who were doing their normal thing and barely realize they're as successful as other people think they are.
very true mkr. people get intimidated. there's no reason to be, i promise. i've emailed so many friggen artists hahaha. i'd tell you if they were jerks.
I think it helps to hang out in places with successful artists/writers/whatever. Like this, or CA, or whatever the popular niche community is for your hobby/profession. It has a way of rehumanizing people.
HOW TO MAKE CONNECTIONS (for artists and other people)
Step the first: initial contact
Say I find an artist I like.
I email them!
As artists, you all know how great it is to get an email or comment from someone telling you that they like your work.
It feels great! Everyone loves that
So i email them and tell them that I really love their work! I usually say why, maybe some piece really inspired me, or reminded me of home, or something like that. keep it short, sweet, and try not to talk about yourself too much. no one likes that. I keep it simple and to the point.
Step the second: the follow up (where you ask questions)
that's easy enough, but now what?
If they write back, sometimes they'll ask about your own work, or what you do or things like that. So at this point, I ask them a couple questions
Sometimes I'll ask about a specific technique that interests me,
or if they're working at some job I'm interested in, I ask them advice on getting into that position
If it's someone who's worked as an art director, I ask them what they look for in a portfolio when they're hiring
If they're someone who holds a job in a field I want to work in, I ask them what they put in their portfolio when they were hired.
Artists generally love talking about this stuff! So they tell me!
Additional tips (and an example)
I try not to throw my own work down their throat unless they ask, or offer up advice but a link to my website is always in the signature part of my emails, so it's there if they are curious, but it's not in the body of my email anywhere
Don't be selfish. Some of these people are really busy! Many times they don't respond. it's not something to take personally. First and foremost I'm emailing these people to tell them I admire their work. If I was just emailing them to make connections so i can get something from them I don't think it'd work out for me like it has (it might though, i dunno... i feel like you'll just look like an ass if you do that though) I want them to know that I like their work and have been inspired from it. That's always how it's started for me, and I never have any sort of expectations from it.
here's a real scenario that happened to me that is the perfect example of how important it is to start emailing and making connections (i took out the names cause it's not important to know who the people are, the scenario is what's important):
I really admire the work of artist "x" he works at one of the feature animation companies
He did an interview where he discussed how he struggled for a while trying to find his style and be happy with it. When he embraced his style, and stopped trying to be something he wasn't, he found happiness, and then success in the field. This really hit home because I still struggle with the fact that my work is not "concept arty" enough for lots of people. I was very moved by the interview (totally teared up a bit) so I emailed him to tell him that.
He offered me up a portfolio review based on that email
He gave me tons of advice, so I set to work improving on the things he told me
I then went to CTN-X (IMPORTANT ADVICE: go to as many cons, workshops and industry events as you can) where I got to meet him in person
we chatted for a bit, then he told me my all time favourite character designer(artist "Y") (who works for the same company as him) was wandering around somewhere.
so i freak out and am all "OMG WHERE!??!" and he points me in the direction of some guys who know
they introduce me to artist "Y"
he asks if he can look at my portfolio (IMPORTANT ADVICE: bring your portfolio with you to cons/workshops/anything where you can network... have it ready. i keep my ipad with me at all times, and it has my portfolio on it)
from there he asks for my email
and then the next day emails me to invite me to his studio to tour around and look at what he's working on
he gives me heaps of advice
encourages me to continue on with my places project
this all started with a freakin email because i liked a guy's work easiest thing in the world, yet so few people do it!
The Conclusion to this thrilling adventure:
networking is very very important. The entertainment industry is small. And they bleed into each other. Game artists end up working at animation studios, and vice versa. People know people. Having a good portfolio is the most important first step, but getting to know people who are already in the industry you want to be in is a very close second. It seems silly I know. A part of me wishes that you just were a good artist and that was it, you got discovered by magic because you were awesome... but it rarely works that way without having made a couple of connections first (not saying it doesn't happen, because it can! but having a network will not hinder you in the process at all). It's like this in any field. That being said, you can know all the people in the world, if your portfolio is not up to snuff, you won't land the good jobs, but you'll be able to get there eventually if you work at it and maintain your connections.
I hope this was somewhat informative!
if you actually need specific help or encouragement, you can just message me and i'll help you out
I like to help
This should be added to the tutorials thread, if it hasn't been already.
@Beavs: Zynga's all over the place- two other former Blue Fangers I worked with just got jobs in San Diego and Boston. I think San Fran is where they started though.
I guess part of the problem with the email thing for me is that I know enough that general questions (ie:"What do you want to see in a concept artist?") will probably only tell me what I already know from working in the industry/what I've picked up from various sources (I read a lot), and specific questions would be essentially asking them to teach me a class on the subject, which would be a bit much to ask of someone you don't really know. I don't know what kind of balance to strike in getting professional to professional type responses instead of like..."hey little boy so you want to make video games when you grow up, huh?" type responses. And I don't want to ask the general question just to try to make a contact, because that would be somewhat insincere and go against trying to have a real, honest conversation.
(The above paragraph is an example of how I likely overthink things.)
I did once email the creative director of Bastion asking how he managed to get the game made, considering how most companies could never make something like that because of publisher/marketing/budget demands, but that was just because I was curious and I honestly had no clue what the answer was. (The answer was 'it was independently funded').
@Iruka: If you can get up to Boston by like 10am tomorrow morning, you could latch on to the back of my car trunk, Terminator 2 style, and get to California that way.
Posts
My plan was to start off with California Dreamin' (appropriate), and at least a few repeats of Radar Love.
Twitter
No no, I've got a trailer that I'm towing with my car (I've got probably one of the 2 Pontiac G6s in the world that's been equipped with a trailer hitch.)
But yeah, driving with the trailer on the back is kind of a pain- not on the highway so much as trying to park or get up to speed on onramps. Also other cars around you are liable to assume that your car is going to be way more maneuverable and have much better braking that you actually do under the circumstances, which makes dickish driving behavior even more infuriating/frightening.
Twitter
Once I get out into the country it should be smooth sailing though. Unless it's really windy, or stormy, or if the roads are pot-hole ridden trails of shit. (You really can tell the states that spend money on road upkeep versus ones that don't.)
EDIT: Oh yeah, what I did with the mattress before was to just lay it on top of everything else- which has the added benefit of keeping everything from smashing around too much.
Twitter
I have news....drivers are huge dicks everywhere.
The (admittedly unverified) statistic I heard was that that MA has the highest percentage of road fatalities in the US, and it's not difficult to see why.
Twitter
I know it's a 12 and not just a 2, but I think if I wore that, every time I looked at it, that stupid "2, 4, 8, who do we appreciate!" cheer would pop into my head, and I would grow to hate the watch as a result.
Twitter
i'm more than happy to share my connections
... and my trick is easy, i just email people
lots of people
like all the time
I was all
"pfff what is this piece of consumer produ- oooooohhhhhhh pretttyyyyyyy"
not fifteen hundred dollars pretty, but still pretty
And argh, emailing people sounds like it's easy, but I tend to over-think such emails by a mile and probably end up sounding like a form letter robot by removing anything that could possibly be taken the wrong way. A simple 2 sentence email, even to someone I know, can take like 3 hours to compose as a result.
Twitter
and i can help you with that part too... the emailing part
i'm a very extroverted person, so this stuff comes naturally to me, but i understand some people freeze up a bit when it comes to initiating conversations with artists they admire and such. i can help with that!
i should teach an internet class on how to "stop being a scaredy and email that person you admire cause connections in this industry are worth more than a hundred degrees from professor xavier's school for very gifted artists." (hey.. it's a fairly decent school!)
edit: you probably thought seattle because of valve/penny arcade. it's a better guess than orange county.
Yeah $1500 is well out of my range, if I could get it for under $800 I'd think about it.
I thought Kazu was in Seattle for some reason, not sure why.
In any case, that's, uh, pretty far away from San Francisco...(kinda reminds me of how my mom used to say me and my brother should hang out more because I was in San Fran and he was in LA...then both being in California doesn't make those places not 6 hours away from each other. :P)
Hah, yeah, I'm super-shy so it doesn't come naturally to me at all...I can do decently well in like a one-on-one face to face situation where there's some straightforward reason for a conversation to be occurring- like I'm being interviewed, or there's a problem needing to be solved, or whatever, but free-form conversations with strangers I have trouble with, generally. So if we ever hang out feel free to use the opportunity to have me help you move a couch or draw you something, it'll put me more at ease than like, just going to grab coffee or something (for one thing I don't drink coffee.)
Twitter
here it is (it's long)
Step the first: initial contact
Say I find an artist I like.
I email them!
As artists, you all know how great it is to get an email or comment from someone telling you that they like your work.
It feels great! Everyone loves that
So i email them and tell them that I really love their work! I usually say why, maybe some piece really inspired me, or reminded me of home, or something like that. keep it short, sweet, and try not to talk about yourself too much. no one likes that. I keep it simple and to the point.
Step the second: the follow up (where you ask questions)
that's easy enough, but now what?
If they write back, sometimes they'll ask about your own work, or what you do or things like that. So at this point, I ask them a couple questions
Sometimes I'll ask about a specific technique that interests me,
or if they're working at some job I'm interested in, I ask them advice on getting into that position
If it's someone who's worked as an art director, I ask them what they look for in a portfolio when they're hiring
If they're someone who holds a job in a field I want to work in, I ask them what they put in their portfolio when they were hired.
Artists generally love talking about this stuff! So they tell me!
Additional tips (and an example)
I try not to throw my own work down their throat unless they ask, or offer up advice but a link to my website is always in the signature part of my emails, so it's there if they are curious, but it's not in the body of my email anywhere
Don't be selfish. Some of these people are really busy! Many times they don't respond. it's not something to take personally. First and foremost I'm emailing these people to tell them I admire their work. If I was just emailing them to make connections so i can get something from them I don't think it'd work out for me like it has (it might though, i dunno... i feel like you'll just look like an ass if you do that though) I want them to know that I like their work and have been inspired from it. That's always how it's started for me, and I never have any sort of expectations from it.
here's a real scenario that happened to me that is the perfect example of how important it is to start emailing and making connections (i took out the names cause it's not important to know who the people are, the scenario is what's important):
I really admire the work of artist "x" he works at one of the feature animation companies
He did an interview where he discussed how he struggled for a while trying to find his style and be happy with it. When he embraced his style, and stopped trying to be something he wasn't, he found happiness, and then success in the field. This really hit home because I still struggle with the fact that my work is not "concept arty" enough for lots of people. I was very moved by the interview (totally teared up a bit) so I emailed him to tell him that.
He offered me up a portfolio review based on that email
He gave me tons of advice, so I set to work improving on the things he told me
I then went to CTN-X (IMPORTANT ADVICE: go to as many cons, workshops and industry events as you can) where I got to meet him in person
we chatted for a bit, then he told me my all time favourite character designer(artist "Y") (who works for the same company as him) was wandering around somewhere.
so i freak out and am all "OMG WHERE!??!" and he points me in the direction of some guys who know
they introduce me to artist "Y"
he asks if he can look at my portfolio (IMPORTANT ADVICE: bring your portfolio with you to cons/workshops/anything where you can network... have it ready. i keep my ipad with me at all times, and it has my portfolio on it)
from there he asks for my email
and then the next day emails me to invite me to his studio to tour around and look at what he's working on
he gives me heaps of advice
encourages me to continue on with my places project
this all started with a freakin email because i liked a guy's work easiest thing in the world, yet so few people do it!
The Conclusion to this thrilling adventure:
networking is very very important. The entertainment industry is small. And they bleed into each other. Game artists end up working at animation studios, and vice versa. People know people. Having a good portfolio is the most important first step, but getting to know people who are already in the industry you want to be in is a very close second. It seems silly I know. A part of me wishes that you just were a good artist and that was it, you got discovered by magic because you were awesome... but it rarely works that way without having made a couple of connections first (not saying it doesn't happen, because it can! but having a network will not hinder you in the process at all). It's like this in any field. That being said, you can know all the people in the world, if your portfolio is not up to snuff, you won't land the good jobs, but you'll be able to get there eventually if you work at it and maintain your connections.
I hope this was somewhat informative!
if you actually need specific help or encouragement, you can just message me and i'll help you out
I like to help
(congrats by the way, so awesome!)
Step 2: Ask to get paid in Yachts.
Step 3: Profit
I emailed one of my dad's friends yesterday, which was pretty much my first attempt at networking. The guy used to know George Miller, but apparently they've lost touch since then. Sucks!
Beavo's advice is good advice.
I used to think that too, but I think I was just selling myself short.
What you need is some flubber.
What you need is some flubber.
What you need is some flubber.
This should be added to the tutorials thread, if it hasn't been already.
I guess part of the problem with the email thing for me is that I know enough that general questions (ie:"What do you want to see in a concept artist?") will probably only tell me what I already know from working in the industry/what I've picked up from various sources (I read a lot), and specific questions would be essentially asking them to teach me a class on the subject, which would be a bit much to ask of someone you don't really know. I don't know what kind of balance to strike in getting professional to professional type responses instead of like..."hey little boy so you want to make video games when you grow up, huh?" type responses. And I don't want to ask the general question just to try to make a contact, because that would be somewhat insincere and go against trying to have a real, honest conversation.
(The above paragraph is an example of how I likely overthink things.)
I did once email the creative director of Bastion asking how he managed to get the game made, considering how most companies could never make something like that because of publisher/marketing/budget demands, but that was just because I was curious and I honestly had no clue what the answer was. (The answer was 'it was independently funded').
@Iruka: If you can get up to Boston by like 10am tomorrow morning, you could latch on to the back of my car trunk, Terminator 2 style, and get to California that way.
Twitter