Being a 3d artist
After working in this field for around 10 years, I thought it might be time for reflecting what I like and what I don’t like in my profession. So here we go!
what I don’t like:
- The worst thing about this job for me is the waiting.
Waiting for feedback on offers, corrections or further information for projects. I love to use my time productively, so it is difficult for me to stay calm about certain things, although it is perfectly natural that projects have to be approved first or that everyone involved needs a certain amount of time to give their feedback. I definitely have to learn to be more relaxed here. Nevertheless, I still often find idling a burden. - Another negative aspect is the uneven workload.
Sometimes you have little or nothing to do and in the next second you suddenly have five projects on the table at the same time with an almost identical deadline. Fortunately, this point is much less stressful than in the past, as I now know my strengths and speed and can balance projects and priorities much better. Most of the time, deadlines are not set in stone and I until now have always finished a project on time. - The running costs are of course also a negative point.
Fixed costs such as health insurance, rent, taxes or business expenses are deducted from the account every month. The invoices, however, do not come in with the same regularity. Therefore, you always have to make sure that the account is sufficiently covered and that there are enough reserves. I always try to have around 8–12 monthly expenses as liquid reserves.
what I like:
- Probably the biggest plus point of working as a 3d artist is that you can show and live your creativity.
Not every customer already has an idea of how their project can work or may look like. Therefore you, as a service provider, often have the opportunity to incorporate your ideas into the project. This is, among other things, the reason why the customer books you as a service provider. Your expertise, creativity and problem-solving skills are desired. - What was also a reason for me to pursue this work and what is one of the most important points for me is the fact that you can always work on a wide variety of projects.
On one day you have the task of showing an architecture, on another day you create an animation for a product. The range of your work can be unbelievably wide. Of course, this also means that you get insights into many fields and can also react flexibly to different problems. - Even if projects generally follow a certain schedule, you can often create this schedule yourself, as you usually know how long a project will take, how many projects are running at the same time and what your own schedule looks like.
This aspect is both a luxury and a danger. Of course, as a service provider, you try to offer your customers the best possible solution as quickly as possible. Occasionally this leads to the fact that you tend to take on too many projects. For me, however, this is actually the more pleasant way, as I like to work productively and prefer to be a bit overbooked. - Another nice aspect of self-employment is of course the potential income opportunities.
Since you are not necessarily paid by the hour, you have the advantage over an employee that you theoretically have no upper limit. Depending on how you calculate your projects and how quickly and effectively you work, this naturally results in a correspondingly higher income. Of course, the costs and the idle time have to be deducted from this. - Another positive thing for me is the fact that you are your own boss.
You only have the responsibility to yourself that the business is running. You don’t have to rely on the boss to bring in projects that the employees then work through. For me, being dependent on many customers is much less risky than being dependent on a company that pays me my salary. I notice a lot faster when something is not working or something needs to be changed. - Last but not least, I would like to emphasize the point that you learn to understand project processes and think like an entrepreneur.
I think that this is also an important quality that can be put to good use if you want to get back into an employment relationship. Very few employees have an insight into all areas of a project process.
What other advantages and disadvantages can you think of?
Conclusion:
For me, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Maybe also because I do it long enough to have the necessary experience and calmness in some situations. So I will continue working in this job as long as I can and learn something new every day.
Take care and be creative.
