Survey

To find out more about how to get the job in the art industry, I created a survey to send it to different professional artists, asking them about their experience and advice about how to get your dream job. I made an art station account, found their e-mails on their art station profiles and e-mailed each artist personally, greeting them using their names to make it more personal although I kept my style of writing professional.

Out of all the people I emailed I got 20 responses, which I think is pretty successful, considering the fact that the required amount was 10. Some of the advice was more helpful than the others, but in the end, I was able to evaluate it all and found out that to get the job, they all used 2 main approaches. 

The first one was hard work and motivation, which basically means to never give up, constant practice, pushing myself and keep studying, because that is the only way to get my art to a professional level that is required in the industry.

The second approach is networking and social media. They told me to present myself, build relationships and ask for feedback, mainly from people who are currently in the industry, because they know how it works there and what is the current standard.

One of the questions I asked them was "What advice would you give to a graduate when creating a portfolio? What should not be included?", because the portfolio is the most important thing when it comes to applying for a job in the industry. That is how they are going to judge our work. I was told to include only the best stuff, because 5 amazing pieces is better than 50 average ones, and that I should not include more than 10 images and definitely no student work, because it is all similar and people in the industry want to see my personal work that speaks where I am as an artist and shows my personality. The advice was also to specialise because otherwise, it can look like I don't even know what I want to do. An advice I found really valuable was "Think of your online self as a brand that sells something." which means I should find my own style that is recognisable in everything I do, because that is the way people will see something and they will instantly know it was my work and that is something I want to achieve in the future.