The Greener Pasture Hypothesis.

[harris-ejaz]

[ I couldn't find an 'introduce yourselves' thread ]



So this is me, 'looking into it'.
Hi all. I'm Harris Ejaz. I've been a Professional concept artist for two years, a drawguy all my life.
I thought seeking out people in the NZ cg industry would be the best way to figure out the scene over there.

What's your country like? How's the living for a digital illustrator / concept artist? Do you lot have crime? religious zealotry? What's your culture?

I know I'm no Feng Zhu or Craig Mullins, but i'm in possession of a fairly competent portfolio and I adapt well to the task at hand. Do you think I could get a job offer from NZ, or is the market too saturated already?
Does anyone know the skinny on emigration through this route?

Because I'm entirely clueless.
Help me CGNZ. You're my only hope.

[Don-key]

hey bro,
quick reply -

NZ is fucking rad. plenty of people here complain, but thats because they live in a bubble.
we have crime like every single country on earth but we are lucky to NOT be on the verge of civil war
apart from perhaps the climate, i think almost anyone can enjoy the laid back approach to life over here.
couple things - NZ has unarmed police, no military (a defense force, not a fighting force) and we are really good at
sports that no other country cares about....relatively cheap lifestyle etc blah blah you get the idea.
bad things are - shit weather in wellington (the city that weta is based in) its the middle of summer but its been raining for 3 days and the concept art industry is small. you have 2 options. weta and a game studio called sidhe (for whom i work and who are currently looking for concept artists). thing is, it is cheaper for both those studios to hire NZers over anyone else and so will do so when they can, what this means is you have to be really very very good to get your foot in the door.
my suggestion is, get together the best folio you can and send some work in, gotta be in to win.

check this: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=462


hope this helps
-J

[harris-ejaz]

Thanks for the quick reply, Don-key!
New Zealand does sound like an improvement. I know you lot are good at cricket, like my country. I don't much care for it though... sorry (insert embarrassed emoticon i couldn't find).

Thanks for the link to the job posting - I've sent Sidhe a primer email so put in a good word for me bro.

General inquiry - is it okay for me to post work in CGNZ, even though i'm not from New Zealand?
General inquiry # 2 - Do concept artists / illustrators make a good living in NZ?

Thanks in advance to everyone!

[HunterKiller_]

Hi Harris

General inquiry - is it okay for me to post work in CGNZ, even though i'm not from New Zealand?
General inquiry # 2 - Do concept artists / illustrators make a good living in NZ?

1. Yes it's okay.

2. Sadly the commercial art industry in NZ isn't that big. As Donkey mentioned, we only have two big studios here which are Sidhe and Weta.

You got some cool work. Good luck with whatever you're gonna do.

[Rusty]

#1 - Don't see why you can't, post away man.

#2 - It is hard to make a living here in NZ if you want to specialize as a concept artist because, as Donkey has said, the creative industry here is very slim pickings (WETA workshop and Sidhe are pretty much the biggest ones here, smaller companies are far and few) Before i landed a full time concept artist job i was freelancing, doing both local work (some good, some bad) and odd jobs i scored from overseas, so it is possible to make a living as an artist but your sanity will take a beating i can tell ya now. heh!

Lifestyle here in NZ is very good compared to a lot of other countries, no worries, no trouble...unless you look for it.

[harris-ejaz]

Its surprising for me to hear that the industry is small in NZ, considering WETA's high profile. I would've imagined many other studios would've sprung up to capitalize on its success.

So you lot, you drawguys like me, what do you do to get by? because I'm interested in doing anything and everything that involves drawing.

What's the illustration scene? the animation scene? the fine art scene? and can you recommend sites/forums for me to visit, related to these fields?

Thanks a lot for your responses. Feel free to add me on facebook via the link in my signature.
(or you can add me here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref ... =501777142 even though i've shifted my activity to the aforementioned public profile)

[HunterKiller_]

What's the illustration scene? the animation scene? the fine art scene? and can you recommend sites/forums for me to visit, related to these fields?

To give you an idea of just how small the industry is in NZ, there are barely even any art related websites/forum based in the country. Small country, small population.

The only art forums I'm aware of are this one, NZCGI for 3D and Playmaker for indie game development.
All of them are used by no more than a dozen or so people. Pretty much everyone on this forum know each other in person, haha.

I would say animators have it a little bit easier here, there are a few prominent animation studios and a handful of small ones, mostly 3D.
Yukfoo and Flux are both 2D animation studios that have handled the majority of 2D animations produced in NZ, mostly TV commercials.

Anyway, yeah so it sounds a little bleak, but NZ is a great place to live and I do know a couple of people who make a living from freelancing over the net so that's definitely a possible pathway.

[Rusty]

I've got a mate (Lukias) who makes his living of his fine art, selling through local galleries. I've only followed him around once while he was doing his gallery rounds and it does seem like a knife edge living, meaning if you aint got it your not gonna make it, fortunately for him he's extremely skilled and talented (as a few of the guys on these forums know about, heh!)

I worked as a 2D animator at a small Auckland studio for 2 years and it's a dismal existence to be honest, your whole life depends on "footage" as an animator, quality isn't as strict as it is in major studios, as a result you end up with "Bro town" and possibly an anger management issue. As Daniel said, small animation studios are a bit easier to come across but prepare for the grindstone.

Freelancing is good for it's diversity, for example i've done "arty" art installations both designing and building, small architecture designing, posters for events, tattoo designing, storyboarding for TV commercials, children book design, character designs and a little website designing, there is a lot of odd jobs out there if you look hard enough but more often than not you'll be dealing with corporate-minded piss stains who like to use the words "hip" and "fresh" a lot.

Currently i'm working as a concept artist at a small, Auckland based game developer.

[grifter730]

Currently i'm working as a concept artist at a small, Auckland based game developer.

Which one?