hi, I’m new here … and the reason I’m here is that I have a big question to ask and many opinions to gather
Well, I've messed around with Blender a bit .. some tutorials, nothing big .. but I'm in my last year at university ... and I'm thinking I might like to have a job in which I'd work with Blender. Now I'm asking around to see if anybody thinks something like this is possible ... and maybe if there is a somehow clear cut recipe for it ... Is there any chance for it (I'm not talking about being extremely lucky and some guy I don't know starting a 3d company in my home town and I knowing him kind of possible ... I'm not that lucky) ? Maybe some way I could learn & work for no/little money for the next year or something and thus assuring a future job? Am I being childish here? Please give me advice (I live in Romania, btw .. so I don't think there's any chance of near companies :P )
greets & best wishes to everybody out there .. & special thanks to everybody actually working on developing blender
Well, assuring a future job? No way. My first advice is:
Blend as a hobby and be happy when you can make some money with it. But don´t do it for the money. Money and art don´t match
Second: Don’t be too sure about HOW you can use Blender to make money. It is rather unlikely that you will be hired by Pixar or WETA Digital, but making some nice 3d logos for some companies might add some coins to your pocket. I work as a freelance translator, but I got a 300€ Blender job some days ago, which will take me about 6-7 hours I guess. YAY!
Quoting some fellow Blenderhead: Blend on and blend well!
BTW: Welcome to the Blender community. This is a nice place.
Yep, Blender can certainly give you the edge in the graphics world. 2D vs 3D? Not to mention, you can make TV commercials, shorts, whatever. I was thinking about doing some educational stuff and live action filler (like the little inbetween things you see on MTV done w cardboard, computers whatever) and I was recently invited to do some character modelling for a video game, which I began doing, then got irritated with the guy and told him off ;P. But just back to graphics,…there is alot you can do with blender that you cannot do with ‘graphics’ programs. My answer: Yes! you can definately make money with blender. There is all kinds of demand out there for 3-D graphics and animation.
well there is someone in the forums (not me!) who’s a 3d pro, works for a company (only in blender AFAIK!) and all throught a nice blenderhead, also his paintings’ screenshots look qutie nice …go figure who he is :]
First…to silver_hook, who stated that “Money and Art don’t match”.
Not true at all. While I agree that one cannot depend on raw talent
to help one make a living (in any artistic endeavor), the creativity that gives life to the art should also feed the entrepreneural spirit within.
The sell but don’t sell out confusion.
The program does have it’s limitations and advantages. So does oil paint.
So far, I haven’t gotten high from being in an inadequately vented room with Blender, thus the limitations.
Just kidding kids. Drugs are bad.
And, remember, most animators have also developed other artistic talents.
i didn’t start the art and money don’t match thing! …and i didn’t mean to offend anyone, i just wanted to say that elysiun hosts (at least) one great artist, which happens to work at a company as an artist (works on blender AFAIK) …i’m not saying he sold out or anything …on the contrary: i really respect his work, and think it only right that he can also make his money doing what he loves to do …and alongside still be more then a true blenderhead, even offering to opne-source his blender artwork. …i truely respect this man
i don’t know, if he got a job just using blender, i don’t know how come you couldn’t …usually it doesn’t depend on what app you’re using, the end format is the crutial bit.
also, i have a friend who made 1000€ for just one 3d flash animation …which seems that blender can also do if you know how to (in linux) …and i think i heard somewhere on the forums that there’s a possibility that there’ll be in the future a native blender .swf export.
there’s always a way of getting a job for something you like to do. i know A LOT of guys who have great jobs because of their linux skills. …and it seems that i’ll join them this year :]
he he … join me too
seriously though … I’m at a turning point in my life … I’ll soon be getting out of uni … I’ll need a job … I used to have my mind set on 3d graphics/game programming … worked on some free projects, made a small 3d engine with DirectX, a screensaver with OpenGl … but now I’m feeling very iffy about programming … and would maybe like to turn my path to Blender … however … I would be wiling to put in a big effort if I knew I’d be getting somewhere … but if I need to work for like 4 years with possibly no payoff … well, I can’t afford to anymore … there’s only so much I can rely / want to rely on my parents. So the bottom line was to find out if investing my time & learning into Blender was a worthy thing.
greets
imo you can get pretty much anywhere with blender meaning that it does not depend so much on the software as much on your skills, personality and will to work. I will soon get a large 3D presentation order from a company in which I have known several people fo several years. And I assure you, my skills are very basic. So relations are also important. But I think that in the end it comes down to your skills, will to work and the way you market your talent.
but what way would one go if he wanted to market his blender skills (assuming I would eventually obtain them) … and what kind of blender skills … the value of how much time would you estimate would be necessary before being able to earn one’s first buck with blender? Know of any company guru taking in an apprentice ?
i don’t know …when you make a few nice renders and preferably animations (doesn’t seem very hard, when you get to know it), you’d need either connections, or build your own …one way is to open up a homepage and show your work there (alongside an anouncement that you’re for hire), contribute to blender3d.org, elysiun or any other 3d art page/community, have lectures of blender somewhere like your ex-school, or the local cybercafe vel simili (that’d be easy). next (or even first) step would be to look for (game)projects in need of 3d artists - that’s allways a good reference for the future.
or you could just do it as my friend did …find a company (or whatever) with a homepage, and ask them if they’d need a 3d flash animation …this things sell VERY VERY good and there’s one ultra-expensive program for it …or blender with some handywork (or simply blender in the future, hopefully).
if i were you i’d start learning blender and ask around if anyone of your friends or proffessors (you attended a programming school, didnt you?) know anyone who needs a 3d artist. …or have basic lectures/workshops on blender somewhere.
agreed, imo the best way is to market yourself. dont be afraid to send out emails proposing services. The big companies often dont even know what 3D artists are capable of. That coming from a rather successful friend of mine.
model in blender…export the model to max or maya…UV-unwrap…texture…etc. etc. to get a job.how about that?i’m trying to go this way.if i can model in blender as good as they do in max or maya then why not expect a job-offer?
you could always go freelance anarky…start up a good website(preferably a .com, etc), and post some really good still and animated works done with blender, also post some web layouts on the site…if your good with photoshop and blender your sure to get some clients…you could probaly make about several hunderd dollars…(cough), or, euros per client…it probably wouldnt take that long, you would be self-employed, and it would probably be perfect for what your looking for…
that sounds pretty well … and I’ve got the domain already (www.ixaarii.com) … but what exactly would I be selling? And where would I find clients? What kind of companies would I be sending emails to trying to see if they’d be interested?
Anarky, as a person with a specific skill to supply to the industry at large, those are all things YOU decide. You take jobs YOU want. If there’s something specific you want to do with your life, you go after it with everything you’ve got. Find someone you WANT to work for, and go for the job. So…to answer your question with a question:
What do you want to sell?
Who do you want to work for?
What do you want to do?
Until you can answer those questions yourself, you can’t expect anyone else to, and if you let them do it for you, you likely won’t end up happy. Thats the best advice I can give you.
And also, why dont you like programming anymore? If you’re using DirectX you must be pretty good at it. Are you sure its not just burn out after studying solidly for 4 years. Once your in a job and they’re paying you cold hard cash!!! Iffy doesn’t feel so iffy.
Hmmmm, did I just sell out?
But anyway, yeah. then you blend and web design and work on the side until you can afford to quit the day job.
