Lets say I finished my art studies in anatomy. Completed a portfolio. Where and how would I find work to do? What I am aiming for is freelance work, working for indie game makers. But how does one get hired for putting together a creature for them?
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Unfortunately, you would have to do a long, listless search on the web to find jobs in your area hiring artists.
You could do it the ‘old-fashioned’ way by handing in printed out CVs you have created; describing your skillset, previous experiences and more in a CV is what they are likely looking for, and not so much of your life story (if that makes sense?). But I’m speaking from my point of view.
Sorry if my message comes across as pessimistic, however please do what is best for yourself and gather all the help you can get. I can not control, but I can merely try to advise like the rest.
I have full confidence in you that you will find work for yourself. 
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Same way you get hired to any other job- you turn in thousands of job applications across hundreds of different job boards and websites. You send thousands of follow-up emails. You spend hours a day looking for postings. You go to job fairs, trade shows, and conventions and talk to people there. You look up projects and cold-email people on them.
In today’s economy, looking for a job is a full-time job; I generally recommend newly graduated college students spend eight hours a day looking. The last two times I’ve been between jobs, I spent eight hours a day for 2-3 months searching and applying.
In my experience, you’ll probably hear back from 1 in 100 jobs you apply to- I’ve heard nowadays with AI mucking things up, it’s more towards 1 in 300 or 400. If you are highly experienced with a good portfolio, your first or second nibble will probably work out. If you’re new to the field, you’re going to get rejected by most of your nibbles. To maximize your odds, you probably want at least 500 applications.
That said, if you haven’t had any success after 1000 applications, it may be time to reconsider your attempts and spend more time on your portfolio.
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Yes I did approach this in a pessimistic way. I feel like it’s a dead end, an unrealistic goal. ‘Keep Dreaming!’.
It was my understanding that AI cannot yet produce the quality of artwork that a human can do. But this is who my competition is? I know there are millions and millions of artists to compete with, of whom have been doing the work for over 10 years.
As far as AI is concerned, we should all start using it along with our art skills. How about an artist who uses AI to build a model, then refines that model with emotion.
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What does this have to do with A. “how does an artist get hired” or B. the replies you’ve been given?
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Well, a good thing you could start with is to ask for portfolio review, this won’t give you a job but it can help you reach faster that goal and save you some time sending CVs without being ready.
Having positive feedback from professionals is a good first step. After that it’s like Joseph said, you’ll have to send 100 portfolio to get maybe 1 answer especially in the beginning. Once you start to work things get easier.
Now this is a bit off topic, but from what I see in your BA porfolio you are trying to eat more that you can chew. First I’d say try to learn videogame tools and workflows.
It’s fine to work with blender but you should also know substance painter and unreal and/or unity at least.
Having simple but effective generalist skills is a first good step. That is in your case knowing how to build game ready assets, simple characters , environment, material, lighting, textures. It doesn’t have to be overly complex but it should work visually.
Simply put, nothing tells that the first job you’ll get will be exactly what you want. If you know a bit of everything you can start to become useful.
Now about creature modeling : it’s pretty challenging ! In order to succeed, alongside your generalist studies you should practice simple stuff : like only a nose, an ear, mouth , before putting it together in a full character.
Also don’t do design and modeling. Start by modeling stuff that is designed by professional because that’s what is going to append if you work.
If you start to do simple but good scenes running live in a game engine I’d say you’ll be close to someone who studied video game art in a school and the next step would be to start looking for a job.
Also , try to study with some sort of mentor ( could be a youtube channel) in order to use the knowledge/ experience of others. If you try only on your own you’re going to waste some time trying to reinvent the well so to speak.
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Well the sad fact I from the worker perspective is that two things converged.
First the market for animation imploded.
Second, because the market was growing - seeming with no end, and the lowering cost and entry level of software globally partially due to the growth and improvement of Blender, there emerged a new generation of young talented artists. More than ever in the history of 3D.
These two converged leaving artists out of work and a pool of job seekers vying for less jobs in what is now fiercely competitive and saturated market.
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i see you’re feeding your paranoia to something that can only mimic and not create when commanded to.
Look, realistic or not, the answers you have been given are what you get. if you don’t like them, then that’s your problem. Go ask elsewhere, and don’t get too angry about it, ok? 
i don’t know the exact situation you are in but if possible i would get some part time job you can survive on and then be as active as possible in communities like this one, take part in open source game projects or mods, regularly do job applications,… keep your eyes open and eventually opportunities will come.
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