CV, COVER LETTER & PORTFOLIO
RESEARCH
SHINDY LEONG
Embedded Files
Research
Research
Current CV
Current CV
Current CV
This is currently my CV back in 2018, I feel like there is something missing there. There are some changes I need to do since applying for the game industry is different. But at the same time, I want to keep it short as the recruiters will have a lot of applicants. I would say I have the most important in there, but I could have included my hobbies as example. I got some help with my CV to make sure it's good and not overflooded with information. If there is too much information the recruiters could possibly just skip it. Since I'll be applying to a different industry it will be totally different, however it might be a useful template.
Swedish CV's are different to the CV's in UK, receiving feedback I should put my most recent on the top and include something personal so the recruiter's sort of have an idea how I am.
To summarise my CV:
Contact information
Education
Employment (restaurant and accountant) including years and tasks
Certificate in Cambridge English Level 1 and Level B2, showing I'm able to speak english
Other qualifiatcations - Other languages I can speak, could be useful in the jobs, skills and softwares.
CV Template and advice
CV Template and advice
Kieran Goodson has created a guide to Game Art Applications, this could be helpful since he is a junior environment artist and could give some helpful advice. The structure of the CV should be kept simple and provide key information.
When recruiters look at the CV, it will be quite repeitive for them. Therefore it's better to show them instead of telling them. CV's should be different as studios have other requirements. As example the studio makes a lot of sculpted assets, Zbrush would be prioritised for this sort of skill.
[1] [2]
Guide to Game Art Applications by Kieran Goodson.pdf[2] Goodson. K, Guide to Game Art Applications - CV's and Covering Letters, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/kierangoodson/blog/nz0A/guide-to-game-art-applications-cvs-and-covering-letters, [Accessed 1 October 2020]
[1] Goodson. K, Guide to Game Art Applications, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/library/1znv/60905/guide-to-game-art-applications-free-pdf, [Accessed 1 October 2020]
What to include in CV
- Name
- Title; "Graduate Environment Artist"
- Contact details 1. Portfolio Link 2. Mobile 3. Email 4. Location
- 2-3 Lines profile section
- Technical Skills
- Experiences (relevant) - Otherwise replace experience with skills. Student Game Projects or Personal Projects
- Achievements
- ONE page CV
[9] ArtStation Guide to Going from Student to Professional Artist, [Article], Available at: https://www.artstation.com/kierangoodson/blog, [Accessed 24 October 2020]
Resume examples - Environment- and lighting artists
Resume examples - Environment- and lighting artists
The most helpful way to get a correct template would be looking at other artist's resume, this shows what they include in their CVs. There are obviously some areas I don't have such as experience, instead I will replace that with skills.
The resume is kept simple, clear and honest, these resumes are both environment- and lighting artist. I will be using these resumes and other research when creating my CV. But depending on which studio I'm aiming for my resume will be different to meet their standard.
Contact information should be at the top of the page, this includes link to portfolio. Make sure there is an attached link to easily access. Other ways it to set up further information on artstation portfolio, this will make it easier for the recruiters to find all information instead of trying to find the resume.PDF.
Profile can be very helpful, but I find this difficult as I don't want to bring up "hardworking" as it's a word used very often in the game industry. This personal statement should be kept short but also bring my best personal qualities to get the recruiters interested in me.
No work experience replaces with skills. The skills should describe what I gained from my other work experiences that is relevant which applies to the game industry. Biggest requirements are teamwork, communication, problem solving and leadership. It is possible to include my job experience, but it’s unrelated. Since I don’t have relevant experience, I could include my final portfolio projects. First priority is industry experience, project experience and relevant education and lastly unrelated jobs.
Education should have the most recent first, this was the mistake I did in my last CV. These should also be relevant education; this could be telling them more about my abilities.
Skills - Only bring the relevant technical skills or any bonuses that have been mentioned on their form. The most important should be on top of the list.
Hobbies and interests are an area I'm a bit confused about. Some mentions to include hobbies to know who I am as a person. Others have said to save it for the interviews. But I assume, I should once again only include my hobbies that are relevant for the application. I personally would leave it for the interview or my cover letter. This could also be a way to get to know the recruiters in person better.
Cover Letter - Research
Cover Letter - Research
[4] Doyle. A, (2020), How to Format a Cover Letter With Examples, Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/best-cover-letters-a-z-list-of-examples-2060172, [Accessed 1 October 2020]
[13] Isaacs. K, Tricky cover letter mistakes to avoid, [Accessed 10 December 2020]
[12] StudentJob, What Is A Cover Letter? [Accessed 10 December 2020]
When writing a cover letter, it's always to have a good first impression. I wouldn't say I feel confident to write a covering letter, although it's a good way to see what my strength and weaknesses are. Cover letter tends to be required in most applications, and this could be useful either way.
In a cover letter you should introduce yourself, you want to give a good impression. This should give a sense of your personality and professionalism. Adding more details is fine but avoid boot kissing, there is no need to mention all their games. Most important is selling yourself, your skills and your value for the studio.
Researching about the studios and companies before applying could give you an idea what they are looking for. This will make you more of a valuable candidate and know who you are addressing the letter for.
Since the cover letter will be for an existing company I need to state why I'm interested in them, be honest and have other people read it to make sure there are no mistakes.
- Name
- Date
- RE (regarding): Environment artist
- Dear, X
- Introduce myself "I am a graduate environment artist ---------"
- Why I'm interested and qualified for the job
- Current position
- Best aspects of me
- Sincerely, Name
- Address letter to the right person
- Spelling
- Read job descriptions
- Note specific skills
- Requirements
- Keep it short but relevant, explain why your experience is relevant
- Spelling
- Read job descriptions
- Note specific skills
- Requirements
- Keep it short but relevant, explain why your experience is relevant
Cover Letter Links Examples https://www.careerfaqs.com.au/careers/sample-resumes-and-cover-letters/games-artist-graduate-cover-letter https://www.livecareer.co.uk/templates/letter-samples/cover-letters-misc/game-artist https://www.jobhero.com/cover-letter/examples/graphic-web-design/game-artist https://vdocuments.site/cover-letter-ubisoft.html https://www.greatsampleresume.com/cover-letter/examples/environmental/artist https://www.kickresume.com/en/help-center/3d-artist-1-cover-letter-sample/ https://www.dayjob.com/3d-artist-cover-letter-2-2534/
Cover Letter Examples
Cover Letter Examples
To get a better idea how a cover letter is structured and laid out I looked at a few examples. The examples are very different from what I'm aiming for and they mostly mention their job experience. Since I’m lacking job experience, I can replace that with any projects I have worked on. A lot of the cover letters contained the relevant information and kept the cover letter short which is something I need to keep in mind. Although, I would say a few of the examples overused “I”, it sounds very repetitive even though I understand it’s about selling myself.
Other than that, including my signature will show professionalism and business etiquette. However, I was wondering whether it is necessary or not to include my signature when emailing people. Its more often people that write their signature if they are physically mailing it. Using signature for email is optional, it can also be for my own safety to protect my identity. I think I would avoid using my signature for email, but if it’s any physical mailing I will include my signature.
The four Ms
The four Ms
Mindset - Your mindset is key to positioning yourself in the marketplace.
What do I need to do to get the job I want? Invest time and effort, this means hardwork.
Having the skills is important in the industry, but what else is there I don’t know and how do I find out? There will always be obstacles, to solve this I need to research. Having a good mindset such as looking for opportunities and trying new things will help me progress.
Mission – Mission statements will help you show who I am and what is important for my portfolio. These questions will be questions about my career goals, why did I study Game Art, why do I create what I create? Etc. I find mission statements quite challenging; I would say that I want to create an enjoyable and creative game world to inspire and give the players a new experience.
When writing a cover letter, I need to think about what the benefits would be if they hired me. I can mention that I’m hardworking and trustworthy, but everyone will say this. I need to find my own unique benefits. I would say finding out my unique benefits is hard as there will be people already having those unique benefits, I assume. Although I enjoy learning new things and seeking new opportunities. I’m good at problem solving and I am organized. With my creativity and logical thinking, I can balance it out to find solutions. I tend to be very organized, this helps me keep everything in control, reduce stress and more time to spend on important stuff.
Once I have all the key benefits, I can think strategic to get the job I want. This comes to my portfolio and how I engage with people in the industry.
What do you love doing?
Why do you love doing it?
How can you do it uniquely?
How can you prove it?
Message – When presenting myself in the market, it’s important to sell myself. This is done through portfolio, CVs and cover letters as example. It’s important to sell what the person is looking for, at the same time be honest.
Methodology - Looking for opportunities means I need to put effort, but it’s good to track all my results by creating a template. A good way to contact them could be through email, this is mainly my plan when contacting artists. Email can be risky as they can ignore it or be suspicious. To get straight into the point, the first/ two sentences should be clear. During these pandemic times, I find it difficult to make connections. Especially when events are the easiest way to get response.
Writing application - Advice
Writing application - Advice
Dawn Rice, School of Arts Careers Advisor also mentioned a good STAR model to follow when writing an application. When writing an application it's important to give yourself time to complete to application and get others to check it for you. Always double check employers requirements to make sure you haven't missed anything.
Situation - What scenario were you in when you used a specific skill? Brief outline
Task - What were you tasked to do in this scenario?
Action - Outline the key behavious/things you did that demonstrate how you used this skill.
Result - What was the outcome of this scenario/task
Reflection - What you learnt from the experience?
Portfolio
Portfolio
I currently wouldn't say my artwork on my portfolio is amazing, as a student we tend do upload all work we have done during our time at University. Mine was a combination of environment and character artwork, I removed the character artwork from my portfolio as that's not my career path. I might not have a lot of pieces on my portfolio, but taking the advice from artists "Quality over quantity". One good art piece can get me a job, but right now I need to work on my portfolio. It's important my portfolio stand out and the recruiters look at amazing pieces.
A portfolio should contain all the main things an environment artist would do: modeling, texturing, composition, level beautification colors, lighting. I currently need to work on my lighting skills and colour theory as that's mostly the feedback I get. Since I will be new into the industry, I should mainly have a few high quality props and textures in my portfolio. Such as rocks, lantern and other stuff. From my Zen Garden project I did bake down a lantern and rocks, I might consider adding those to my portfolio as that's something 3D artists should know. Taking different angles of the props is enough.
At the moment I'm open to any company, which means I can have both hard surface to organic, props and full environments. A good thing is to produce one good material (it's a bonus), one prop and one environment scene. Also show a clear breakdown on all my published work, this shows how I tackled the problems. The breakdown could be trimsheets, foliage creation, modularity etc. It's always good to ask feedback from other artists or look at junior's portfolios to see what made them stand out.
After listening to podcast, research and events, everyone said it’s important to have an easily accessible URL link for my portfolio. It’s most likely the recruiters will only spend 30 seconds on my portfolio. Therefore, it’s important to have my best piece first to get their interest. I also need to show I’m adaptable and can do various things, give different example of hard surface, materials, environment etc. Variety is important to show the company, I must highlight my artistic ability and modeling ability. Therefore, having a game ready model is always important to show that I got the skills for it. Lastly, showing how long I spent time on a project is important. If I spent 2 weeks on something, it will be more impressive and appealing rather than something I worked on for 2 years.
Prepare for interview
Prepare for interview
When preparing for an interview I will most definitely be very nervous. Taking some advice from Dawn Rice, School of Arts Careers Advisor, this might be helpful. Finding different techniques to calm down and practicing online will build up the confidence for the interview. When practicing for the interview, I will know what to expect. There are four steps to prepare for an interview: preparation, presentation, technology (make sure internet, camera, microphone works before interview) and relax. It's important to relax the day before so I don't build up the nervousness, relaxing will distract me from worrying about the interview. It's not always possible but reading their website or profile will give you an idea what questions you could ask to show interest.
The purpose of the interviews is to show them that I'm suitable for the role, interested and has potential to carry out the job role. Each interview is structured in a different way depending on what role it is. Good questions to ask could be future plans of the company, number of applicants for the role, milestones and more. Having a final question could be helpful, this could be related to your performance for the interview.
There are a couple of things to avoid in an interview. To give a good impression it's important to be friendly and show it through body language by smiling and eye contact as example. Give them short answers and not too long as you want to avoid the irrelevant stuff. Only discuss about salary if the interviewers bring it up, but it's best to avoid it as it can cause issues and they could become defensive. [5]
To stand out for the recruiters I should tell them about my ambitions, explain why I made these choices, where I am coming from and where I will be going. Showing I'm inspired by telling them about my ideas, this could be how to improve something existing. [8] They will also ask questions; this is preparing for soft-skills questions. Example of questions could be "Tell me about a time when you overcame a big challenge?", "Tell me about a time when things didn't go to according to plan? How did you cope?", "What do you do when you have to work with someone you aren't compatible with?". These are situational questions, this is to see if I'm good at time management, collaboration, problem-solving, communication etc. Even if I don't know everything, it's totally fine as it leaves a better impression rather than pretending. [9]
Summary
Ask questions during interview
Be friendly, body language, eye contact and smile
Not too long answers, keep it short and relevant
Tell them about my ambitions, why I made these choices
Expect situational questions from them as example:
"Tell me about a time when you overcame a big challenge?",
"Tell me about a time when things didn't go to according to plan? How did you cope?",
"What do you do when you have to work with someone you aren't compatible with?
Art Test
Art Test
It happens that art test can come before an interview; art test depends on the company. It could be a prop or a whole scene. It's common that you are provided a loose sketch and brief description what that final prop or environment, including the modeling, mood and texturing. Once they like the test, there will have an interview with the lead artist and art director. This is where I have to introduce myself and tell them my interest in the studio and project. During the interview the art rest and workflow will be discussed. If I get accepted, I will meet the team and see the project they are working on. During this time, it's good to ask questions to show them I'm interested and know about their studio.
Completed CV
Completed CV
Resume
Resume
I kept my resume simple and clean, recruiters want to be able to read through resume quickly and have access to links as easy as possible. I didn't include hobbies because from the research, hobbies should be saved for the interviews. I kept it one page with the most relevant stuff and let the portfolio do most of the work, it's better to show them instead of telling them. Since I don't have any experience, I replaced it with relevenat projects throughout the year rather than my job experience which is irrelevant.. Depending on what studio I'm applying to I will have to meet their standards to get their interest.
Completed Cover Letter
Completed Cover Letter
Reflection
Writing cover letter was quite challenging. But with a good amount of research and feedback I was able to get a decent cover letter. With the feedback, it has been very helpful. My sentences were wrong in a way which could cause some misunderstanding. Having somebody read through my cover letter will give me a different perspective of how they understand it.
I also got unsure if I had to mention any software's, but as I looked at different cover letters, they put that information on their CV which makes sense. I didn't want my CV and cover letter to be repetitive by bringing up the same information again.
I think once I have more job experience and have written more cover letter it will stand out more. And I will be able to be more personal in my cover letter and bring up my unique skills.
Feedback:
In my cover letter I mentioned my interest to work for the company and how I found their application and research. This will show I have looked into the company. I included a short introduction, but it still needs some improvements as it doesn't give a sense who I am as a person. I need to be more specific when I get into skills and experience, what's unique about me. The hardest part is to write about myself. Otherwise, it's a good layout but more information and personality need to be in the cover letter.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Writing a cover letter must have been the most challenging part throughout this module. I find it difficult to write positively about myself. Knowing that I don't have experience makes me concerned but cover letter it's about selling myself and why they should hire me. I might be lacking in some areas but being honest will be more appreciative than lying about specific skills. For my cover letter, I didn't want to repeat everything that's on my resume already.
There were a couple of tweaking I had to do for my cover letter and change a couple of my sentences as it can be misunderstood. I wrote "...bring valuable skills and experience to your studio and other way around". The sentence ruined the sentence, especially "other way around" as it also sounds a bit rude. Therefore, I removed that sentence. And saying "this is the best opportunity for me to grow" sounds like Ubisoft is the only company for me to grow which is a bit of an overkill. Instead, I replaced the sentence with "good opportunity for me to grow". Since Ubisoft is such a massive game studio, I had to be more specific about the company, why I like Ubisoft etc.
To finish the cover letter, I explain why I want to work for the company and what I could gain from it. Lastly, thank them for reading the cover letter and hopefully will hear from them soon.
Reference
Reference
[1] Goodson. K, Guide to Game Art Applications, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/library/1znv/60905/guide-to-game-art-applications-free-pdf, [Accessed 1 October 2020]
[2] Goodson. K, Guide to Game Art Applications - CV's and Covering Letters, Available at: https://www.artstation.com/kierangoodson/blog/nz0A/guide-to-game-art-applications-cvs-and-covering-letters, [Accessed 1 October 2020]
[3] Khanna. S, (2020), My top 5 Portfolio tips - Props art, Available from: https://www.massive.se/blog/recruitment/my-top-5-portfolio-tips-props-art/, [Accessed 25 September 2020]-
[4] Doyle. A, (2020), How to Format a Cover Letter With Examples, Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/best-cover-letters-a-z-list-of-examples-2060172, [Accessed 1 October 2020]
[5] Grads in Games, Preparing for your interview, Available at; https://gradsingames.com/services/students/application-interview-processes/ [Accessed 11 October 2020]
[6] Peter Binh-Vinh Tran, Resume, Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2hzMWrCDtOEbEVZQUdoUjJETEk/view, [Accessed 17 October 2020]
[7] Patrick Metz, Resume, Available at: https://cdna.artstation.com/p/resume_files/attachments/000/029/786/original/Profile_%283%29.pdf?1599189995, [Accessed 17 October 2020]
[8] Apolline Caron-Ottavi, (2019), Getting a job art Ubisoft, Article, Available at: https://montreal.ubisoft.com/en/getting-a-job-at-ubisoft/, [Accessed 17 October 2020]
[9] ArtStation Guide to Going from Student to Professional Artist, [Article], Available at: https://www.artstation.com/kierangoodson/blog, [Accessed 24 October 2020]
[10] Mon. S, (2017) Everything You Need to Know to Become a Game Environment Artist, [Article), Available at: https://magazine.artstation.com/2017/03/game-environment-artist/ [Accessed 24 October 2020]
[11] Eventbrite, UKIE event, Available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/x/ukie-student-conference-virtual-edition-tickets-124261931783, [Accessed 25 November 2020]
[12] StudentJob, What Is A Cover Letter?, Available at: https://www.studentjob.co.uk/application-tips/cover-letter , [Accessed 10 December 2020]
[13] Isaacs. K, Tricky cover letter mistakes to avoid, Available at: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/cover-letter-mistakes-0417 , [Accessed 10 December 2020]
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