10k ArtStation Followers - My journey and art income revelations
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- Here I review my progress over the last 8 years and talk about the difference between using ArtStation for likes vs jobs. I also talk about how much money you COULD make from being a concept artist and I reveal a rough idea of how much I make.
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Follow me on...
Artstation: www.artstation.com/artist/and...
Instagram: / andywalshart
Twitter: / andywalshart
DeviantArt: www.deviantart.com/stayinwond...
Website: www.stayinwonderland.com
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Buy my prints...
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/andywalshart
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Buy my tutorials...
andywalsh.gumroad.com
www.artstation.com/andywalsh/...
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Congrats on that milestone! It is really cool to see how far you´ve come throughout the years. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your process. It is quite helpful and inspiring. Have a good one!
Thanks buddy! glad you got some inspiration :)
Great info and also a nice input from the pro dude that gave you a freebie.
It comes down to fundamentals, composition, lighting and focus, to learn from the great movies with good cinematography and other pros and if we put in the work something's gotta show :)
Lots of helpful info in this vid. I've been trying for years to get work as a concept artist/illustrator/3d artist but worked as a designer and a now a teacher so my portfolio is all over the place. I've only got 118 followers after years on multiple platforms. This video echoes many of the realizations I've had over the last couple years as well as the direction I'm beginning to guide myself in my free time.
Hey Andy, I've stumbled across your stuff a few times it's nice to be able to put a face to a name. I think this is an interesting topic on so many levels. For one I had and have a similar battle for so many things, where I'm trying to gather... I don't know what the exact word is, but trying to figure out what gap I'm missing that I see in other people's work that I assume is what I'm missing and why I perceive them flourishing. And I always thought it was some effervescent thing I needed to tease the information out of. I think you should pick who or what you want to work for, find the peers who are working or doing what you want to do and use that to fill in the blanks. The hurdle is seeing the line between personal work and what the job actually is. A majority of personal work is done to scratch an itch you aren't getting at work, so keep that in mind. Illustration and Concepting are very different worlds, I think if you draw a line in the sand of what you are after you will get there much quicker than taking the scenic route.
yeah man, that's great advice. I like the way you put it - sometimes the nice looking art is just a kind of personal work and nothing more, and the likes just translate to one artist appreciating another's personal expression and quality etc.
But production art is very different.
Funny thing is, I might look at Eytan's portfolio and go: well, I wanna work for Naughty Dog, but his portfolio is full of personal work, and I bet his day-to-day stuff not very ArtStation friendly at all, yet very useful for Naughty Dog. Thanks for the insights :)
Thanks for making this video and keeping your points all straight and not hiding it.As an artist who has been struggling to break into the industry for the past 3years,i can relate to this video.And my portfolio is all disorganized,as i am divided between becoming a Character designer or an environment designer or a 3d artist 'coz all i see in arstation's portfolio is either full of environment art or 3d stuff.And i am always falling for the eyecatchy artworks rather than concentrating on making a portfolio targeting the industry.This year my goal is to become clear what i want to become and tailor a Portfolio according to that,instead of trying to become a Jack of all Trades.And i am glad to be one of your follower! May this year bring both of us what we want!
aw thanks buddy. It is a tricky one. I'd be careful about 3d stuff, many employers and art directors don't like it. I've lost a few jobs because of it. And it seems just about everyone is doing environments these days. I've also lost tons of jobs because I can't do characters alongside the environments. After ten years I'm still not sure exactly what art I want to make because I first want to earn enough. Anyways, best of luck!
Heavily underrated channel. Thanks for these.
aw thanks man :)
This was some interesting insight, good to hear about the ratio with jobs, likes and follow count. I find it strange, at close to 600 followers(which is peanuts today, I accept it) I have been able to get good jobs at good salaries consistently, but the longer I stay on the platform I find the worst my work does with the community. Crappy work I used to do years ago would average at 300-400 views, while projects that I've spent up to 30 hours on this year are capping at all about 50 views if I'm lucky.
It's hard to tell what people will react to positively but I think the algorithm is also a bit busted since of 2022, I have no idea what's going on.
It is a tricky one. Overall, through the years, I would notice that it became harder and harder to get likes. Early on, just about every other piece I did got featured. But in recent years, as I've grown a following, it's become predictable again so I can roughly forecast success. That said, my most recent post as of today (my 2nd Ghostbusters upload) which consists of weeks of work that I'm really proud of, is pound-for-pound (likes vs time spent I guess) the most unsuccessful thing I've ever done in my life. One tip is, if you have a piece that has multiple versions/takes/angles, as long as they're different enough, upload them separately. There's a fair chance that 4 x uploads would each get, say 100 likes, but altogether would still only get 100 likes.
Congratulations Andy
Thanks :)
Thank you so much for share your story, i learn alot of from this, you should try painting about " Fantasy enviroment" , i see many people like it!
Hi Andy, thank you for the insight. I dont know whats going on with Artstation. My most viewed/liked pieces are from around 2018, with 1.6k - 2k likes. The last 2 years I uploaded work with a similar level of quality, getting merely 100-300 likes. A recent project which took me weeks to finish doesnt even reach 50 likes. Is something wrong with the algorithm or is my art drowning in the masses of other peoples work or did my art got worse? I don't know 🤷♂
Well, thanks for your insight too. That is interesting. Apart from one piece that I uploaded which did get 1.4k likes (even though it really probably doesn't deserve it, took me a couple of days only) everything else has tanked. I now have 14k followers and recently did a piece that took me a month to complete with the main goal of really showing off my current skills to the absolute max, was hoping it would be my most successful piece of all time, I promoted the shit out of it on fb, insta, linkedin.... 250 likes.
Were it not for the 1.4k likes piece, I would definitely say something is broken but I think it's a couple of things: people's tastes have radically improved lately (I feel like, since AI, everyone has doubled their skill level to try and keep up, so the stakes have been raised), another thing is thumbnail - your piece lives and dies based on thumbnail, not the piece itself. If the thumbnail isn't good, people don't even see it. Try it yourself, browse through ArtStation's main page and notice that some pieces you're attracted to, while others you don't even notice. Finally, I've learned the hard way, that when you upload a piece, only upload that finished piece. No extras. People want to go click-yes-like vs click, ooh that's cool, but that's less cool, hmm, if I click like, what am I even liking. Then they just abandon the like button. Also, people HATE pieces where you put in a ton of effort. On ArtStation, it's all about the "I did this in two brush strokes before bed." Unfortunately, employers can't do anything with those pieces.
Let me know what you think and good luck!
Great info
Those Victoria art works are amazing !
aw thanks :)
Congrats Andy. My goal is to hit 5k first haha, just hit 2k last year.
Nice one, yeah you'll make it, it's just a matter of uploading and time and all that :) good luck!
Growth has always been a struggle for me on any platform I'm on. Thinking of doing something else with my life since nothing I do tends to work out art related. Such is life.
I feel you. Lately I've come to realise that we need to be less lazy when it comes to making good art. I think it's one of the secrets to becoming good - recognising that inside of us are two voices, one saying "meh, good enough" and the other saying "come on, you can do that better". And it's those who constantly listen to the latter that get somewhere. I've started doing that in every piece of my workflow lately. And it's taken 10 years of pain but finally I'm getting paid a decent amount.
Hi Andy! Thank you for the very informative video, you are disclosing stuff that sadly we as beginners and students hardly hear about. Has the situation with job stability gotten better since you're working for Terraform? (If you're willing to disclose ofc) and as someone living in a 3rd world country (Brazil) and with no close possibility of moving out due to a SO that works in the local market, such as my case, do you think it's more possible to sustain yourself between jobs? Considering that if you're getting international clients, I would presume you would be getting paid in their currency (USD, euros, etc). Considering you have more time in the industry maybe you would know people in situation similar to mine and considering that this is a career with such a high entry point and time spent to learn, it would be good to know if it's simply possible to live from this before making the career move or if it's unviable in the long run. Thanks for the great video and if you aren't able to answer, thanks for sharing these stuff anyways.
Hey man, yes actually getting picked up by a studio that is almost drowning in work is the secret sauce I've been waiting for my whole career. And, as you say, seeing as it's remote and pretty much all clients are from California, even at half their local typical rates I'm making fairly crazy money by my local UK standards. And I'm currently working alongside one guy from Spain and two from India! So yes, the possibilities are there. But it's key to find a studio like that OR get very well known in the industry by doing professionally recognised jobs. Otherwise you're just doing little two week jobs ever couple months. I need to do a follow up video really. Best of luck!
@@AndyWalshThanks for the response! And looking forward to that video. Cheers.
11:50 lol you sad about your most likes was about 1400 , well you have to see my account xD 4 years and maximum likes were about 17 and 66 followers 🤣😂🤣
Hey, I checked out your account. Few things, firstly you're a 3d artist and they kinda tend to not get as many likes as illustrator types. Secondly, your pieces aren't really designed to wow, they're mainly just a sort of 'here's a thing I modelled'. You're not really pushing for presentation. That said, if you're just gonna make a gun, there really is only so much you can do to present that as worthy of likes. It's just a model of a gun. Really REALLY push yourself (assuming you want more likes/followers) to make next level stuff, and in the mean time, do not be satisfied with your work. I'm like 12 years in now, but at the 4 year mark, not much was happening for me either. Oh and delete that last piece with the character illustration. Tough love, we all need it! Best of luck!