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To people that work in the Modeling & Design Industry, what should I expect?

Greetings.

I have been 3D modeling for about a month now, and I am really getting in to it. I am not the best, but I can create a realistic head in around 20-30 minutes, and considering that the first 3D model I made looked like E.T. I think that I am improving. I am in 8th Grade, and I still have my entire high school and college experience awaiting me. My biggest fear right now is that I will end up regretting something down the line and I would like to at least have a better understanding of what the job industry is like for Designers.

Any Input?

what exactly are you fearing?
There’s plenty of videos on youtube showing how the industry is like.
good luck.

I’m gonna be blunt. The industry sucks.
I love my job, still as much as I did 8 years ago when I started out. But my perspective changed a lot.
First of all if you think working hard and becoming good will get you there, you are missing two other major factors.

  1. Sales skill. It is HANDS DOWN he MOST important skill you will need. You are gonna need to sell yourself. Not in the way like selling how good an artist you are by showing your portfolio. No. You need to become a people’s person. Great in social skills. If you have successful friends who do sales, observe how they talk even when thy are not selling.
  2. Luck. Being at the right place at the right time. You gonna start out junior. To move up the ranks you will need to have luck i.e. when a potential opportunity presents, you need to be there available and not stuck in other projects and at the same time the relevant people notice you enough to choose you (that involves the time you invested with sales skill).

I dare say this applies to most industry I know as well.

Skill only comes in after a certain level. Mid/low level jobs doesn’t require Rafael skills and supes simply choose the one they like best to do the job.

Cheers
Someone from the VFX industry.