Every now and then I ask myself what my 17 years in 3D are actually worth.
If I’m honest, the number is partly vanity.
I know artists with half my experience who are at least as good as I am. I also know people who’ve been at it longer than me and get outperformed by someone five years in.
Part of that is technology. When I started, tweaking a shader could take me a full day, and it still wouldn’t look as good as one I build in minutes now. My first years didn’t teach me what the first years teach someone today.
Part of it is simpler. Years only give you the chance to get better. They don’t guarantee you took it.
The software skills get quicker to learn every year. That’s not where the years show.
What can’t be sped up is everything around the work. Knowing where a project usually goes wrong before it does. Hearing what a client means when they say something else. Knowing which brief to turn down. Staying calm when the deadline moves.
That’s what my clients actually pay for. Peace of mind.
Nobody hires the best 3D artist.
They hire the one they’re least worried about.
And it’s the part most 3D freelancers ignore completely, maybe because you can’t post it on ArtStation.
– Moritz
Tiny tactical tip:
Think of the last project that went smoothly. Write down one thing you did that the client never saw but that kept it smooth. That’s a soft skill. Put it in one sentence in your next proposal.