Portfolio and Job role research

Looking at the requirements for a vis dev or a bg artist to understand the skills I need and what to show through my portfolio to make me more employable.

Recently discovered that background design, as opposed to character design is an entry level job which is added encouragement. 
Vis dev is a dream job and although it's super competitive there is no harm in pursuing it.

It also meant I included learning Maya and using it for background reference as I'd picked up that it'd be important in a portfolio and generally a useful skill.

Research

I’m collating some of my favourite artists work in this document so that:

• I can easily refer back to their portfolio links for reference
• To advise my website in terms of content and layout 
• Inspiration 
• To remind myself of the quality that I need to eventually reach (a lot of advice is that we need to show potential that we can reach these studio artists and be about 80% of the way there.

AtomHawk Advice:

This is a website that Rob told me about and it’s sooo helpful in breaking down what a company might want from a portfolio. This has helped me focus on what I need to add to my portfolio. 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bd215e00490793ae7303d0c/t/5dd2bc262384c0301153820c/1574091825382/Atomhawk_Portfolio_Guide.pdf 

YouTube/Skillshare : Notes in previous blog post video

Katie Gasgoyne

Background portfolio should be- fully rendered jpegs. Vis Dev Portfolio- Thought process: development, iterations etc.

Clean and simple, White bg portfolio, large images, Simple UI.

Software I need to know

From looking at example portfolios, and job vacancies 

& according to ScreenSkills: Photoshop, 3D modelling and painting software (Maya etc), 2D animation (TV Paint etc), Traditional media

ScreenSkills https://www.screenskills.com/ 

"Background designers are usually employed as staff in an animation studio, rather than being freelance. ( layout artist decides how the figures should be placed in the background.)

Firstly, they need to make a list of all the backgrounds that need to be designed for the film. They create designs which fit the style of the animation, thinking about colour, texture and light."

Skills: 

Draftsmanship (form, colour, texture, light)

Knowledge of environments (architecture of city and landscape)

Creativity

Communication (with director feedback)

Passion for animation 

Portfolio:

For background, prop or layout roles 
-Plenty of observational drawings, colour studies, perspective studies, landscapes, cityscapes and studies of light

Sunrise on the Matterhorn study

•  I have various lists of things that I refer back to if I'm ever forgetful about what I should be working on, including lists of landscape artist to do studies on and collections of their work to study.