Professional Development: Personal Future development considerations

 What will I do this year?

This year I want to create a professional portfolio and begin posting more across social medias to build my reach. On top of this, I would like to attend more conventions and networking events to build my industry contacts to help me improve my professional presence.

What will I commit to?

I will create an art station, post to my LinkedIn, and create a BlueSky to post my work to, this will hopefully boost the amount of people who see my work. On top of this, I want to improve my own artwork to better meet the standard to be able to work within the games industry, I have also planned to visit a games convention later in the year [also another market to sell some of the TTRPG games I and a friend have made]. I will continue to add things to my blog to keep followers updated on my work, this is something I have been trying to do for the past year and a half [I will also start posting about my personal projects too].

Where do I want to be next year?

This time next year I would ideally like to see myself within an artist role within the TTRPG industry, I think realistically it's going to be quite difficult to actually secure a job within games art so while I am applying to places I will be trying out some freelance work to both increase my skills and also build up client brief experience. Within my own business [Hearthvalley] I would like to be attending at least 2 small markets a year and continuing to produce small game modules to improve my skills in game development.

What steps can I see to help me reach my goal?

I think the most important thing for me at this stage is building a social media presence and expanding my industry contacts, these will be the people I can ask for advice on developing and improving my portfolio. My portfolio will also be included in this so I need to prioritize putting one together. Conventions and markets also would help me to expand my network so researching into smaller markets will help me identify where I should visit. On the topic of research, I also want to look into how to make my work stand out, as the games industry is quite competitive so finding good ways to be unique will help boost my employability.

How has my career path changed over the last two years?

At the start of university [and going through college] I was very dead set on wanting to become a concept artist for video games, this was mostly because I did not even consider going into TTRPG illustration was an option for me. After attending the Critical Hits zine fair I realized that that definitely is an option for me, and having spoken to people within that industry I think that its probably going to be easier to get into that industry with the type of art I like to create. In this last year I have also found more of a love for 3D work, and I would like to try it again in the future, so potentially having the option to make 3D printed minis for games would also be something I'd like to look into.

Am I on target to reach my career goal?

Honestly, I think I am on track to get into the tabletop games industry, I've built up some very valuable contacts within the last year and I know I'm going to have to start small and work my way up. I'm trying to produce games and stay active on social media and look into what others are doing to help inform my own work, but I definitely know it might take a while for me to actually get hired and break through into the games industry. The best thing I need to do is continue to create, network, and stay motivated to get where I want to be.

What could I be doing more of?

Aside from the points I have brought up already, I think I need to look more into the job requirements of a TTRPG illustrator, what software should I learn to make myself more employable, what should I include in my portfolio, and also who are the contacts I should be adding to expand my network. From a self publishing point of view, I also want to look into crowdfunding for future projects and developing skills to improve my own games.

What do I feel I need more of to make my career path easier to obtain?

I think I really need to work on making my work unique, finding my niche and spark so to say. I see a lot of other artists in the TTRPG scene who's work is immediately identifiable as theirs, I would like that to be my work, find what I like to draw, what I don't and how I can improve in that area. I think I also need to work more on splash art and environment art as this is very often crucial in these kinds of games. Aside from physical work, I need to work on my confidence and ability to pitch my ideas to others, I think engaging with more media might help me feel more confident in my ideas, and just simply going out and talking to more people should help me build my overall "talking to people" skills.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths -

I consider my strengths to lie in worldbuilding art [including character designs, simple environments and asset concepts], I also feel like I have some strengths creating designs to fit into pre-existing IP's [my own and from clients] and I have some skills in tabletop game creation.

Weaknesses-

Although I can 3D model, my skills in this area are much less developed than my 2D skills. I can make simple low poly characters and environments, Sculpts suitable for 3D printing, and I have improved my retopology skills slightly. However I do not have any rigging or weight painting skills, and my UV mapping is quite poor. This means I likely would not be able to get a job dealing with anything in the games 3D pipeline.

Opportunities-

I have been attending several industry professional talks this year and I intend to visit some games conventions. I am aware of the Employability team at NTU and may ask them for guidance towards the end of this year in developing a good CV to send to employers.

Threats-

The main threat I probably face at this stage is other people competing for the same jobs, with the introduction and more widespread usage of AI too, I might have a harder time securing a job. To mitigate this I need to ensure my work stands out as best as possible.