Is a Career in VFX Right for Me?
Wondering if a career in VFX right for you? The visual effects industry for film has evolved into one of the top career choices today. It easily dominates areas of the entertainment industry such as TV and Film, Game Development, Animation, Advertising, the list goes on. What is it about VFX that makes sense to you as a viable career path? There are a few important things for any aspiring VFX artist should know before deciding to travel on such a sought-after career path.
Creativity is not enough.
Creativity helps in this career path, but to maintain a career in VFX, you really need to be interested in the technical aspects, as well as the art. The technical knowledge from using an array of tools, specifically with software skills (Houdini, Zbrush, Maya) should be at the ready.
Most people educate themselves through many hours of Youtube tutorials, or they decide to take a more organized approach in learning at a college that specializes in VFX.
You must have patience and an eye for detail.
Now, let’s say you’re creative, and you’ve gone through an education in VFX. You’re now ready to put yourself out into the workforce armed with your trusty resume and eye-popping demo reel. The good news is that there are thousands of studios who would love nothing more than to pay someone like you to do what you love.
However, there are some soft skills that they typically look for when considering a candidate.
A successful VFX artist must possess those key traits. The more accustomed you become with these software programs, the more opportunities are presented to you when the time comes to find work in the field. Minutes can turn into hours, days turn into nights, and weeks become months as a VFX artist works to complete projects.
Along with patience and being a detail-oriented artist, work ethic is also key. How do you maintain a consistent artistic eye on the project when a nine-hour workday gets pushed even further?
Strong work ethic is your middle name.
The VFX workplace can look two ways: Freelance or controlled studio environment.
Some of us are more than happy to work in a stable and controlled setting, others would rather be their own boss. In either case, a strong work ethic is needed, but to make the best out of a career as a freelance VFX artist, time management is needed.
Remember, this is where personal accountability comes into play.
Simply because you’re working from home and not technically on anyone’s time clock doesn’t mean responsibility can be thrown to the wind. In other words, if you have issues with authority or can’t trust yourself to work on your own then a successful career in VFX filmmaking will be tough.