Need Guidance, thinking of becoming a Archtectural Visual Artist...

[thomasbrigantino]

Hi Everyone,

 

I feel I made my decision, although, I need a little nudge from those who are the experts in this field.

 

Just some background:

 

I am, primarily, a Architectural Image Post-Producer, provide consultation on refining workflow challenges as well as contracted to provide business development strategies. I created 60 non-scripted demonstration videos that communicate my approach to common obstacles in the post-process and actively contribute to those whom I share the space in the Architectural Community.

 

I have been moving into motion graphics recently, After Effects, as something has been calling me to develop a more varied set of skills. After Effects led me into a deeper world of Z-Axis and I began incorporating 3D Spinnables from PixelSquid and 3D Rendered Objects in my standard 2D working space. I noticed I was happier working with 3D objects, the look...the detail, the realism and I continued further. Modest 3D Objects led me to Unreal 4 and the scene that changed me was the Realistic Rendering, the name of the file, as I sat there mesmerized. Unreal 4 led me to 3ds and V-Ray to Archviz and the finally here. This was very recent and in the past week. All of this expiernece happend over the past 2 years as is my current position and business,

http://www.thomasbrigantino.com

 

The guidance I seek is this, I have the opportunity to spend the majority of, however long I want in my future to dedicate in learning and teaching myself what is necessary to become a Architectural Visual Artist. I would immerse myself in the field and spend the majority of the next 12 months developing every single day. I would compromise my social outlet and I would have to carefully manage my financial position as I would be dedicating more time in getting up to speed as quickly as I can in the shortest amount of time.

 

I am 42, single and have a steady income from my business, would maintain that, use my savings and would think with my current working knowledge that in the next 12 months I could, perhaps, find a full-time position in the field of Architectural Visualization.

 

What do you think of this timeline to do it in? Is the gratification you give yourself through your position in this industry can be an incentive to my situation? The industry is growing, is my timing good? How are the salaires?

 

Thank you everyone for reading, looking forward to the guidance...

 

Thomas

 

My first Unreal rendering: https://youtu.be/GpteMCPcXl8

3840x2160 @ 60fps

[benpineda]

Your videos on youtube are great I think you would do very well in the industry with your skill set and knowledge. You would probably benefit from doing a Vray course like 5SRW rather than scouring all over the internet for tutorials if your goal is to get in the industry in 12 months.

[Scott Schroeder]

Don't overly worry about unreal stuff. 90% of companies aren't using it in production. Especially the run of the mill apartment single room tours. It's nice to have, but shouldn't be the core of your portfolio. Entry level arch viz is a very hard industry to break into these days. The industry is growing, but so are the expectations of the people within it.

 

Outside of Vray, you need to focus your time on composition, color balancing, etc. Your camera moves are hard and generally what you expect from first timers. You don't want to be part of that group. Watch as sorts of movies and documentaries and watch how they frame their shots. Go browse Flickr or something similar for great architectural photography inspirations.

 

As far as being a hermit for 12 months. That's a dumb idea in my mind. You'll burn yourself out by week 2, get frustrated that you aren't making progress by week 4, and give up in week 5. So you live to work for 12 months. Then what? You exit the process well versed in arch viz, but you are so worn out by the process to get there that you are of no use to anyone.

 

Set realistic goals. All too often people wanting to learn will set this grand end goal, and within weeks give it up as they got so frustrated that they felt they were not making any progress. Say you want to do an exterior. Don't set your goal as "The Exterior". Set your goals as the north face, east face, west face, south face, etc. That way you can keep checking off progress points and in turn that will keep you motivated to keep making good progress. If you have a setback? That's perfectly fine. I'm sure NASA blew up a few rockets trying to get to the moon.

 

Stay social and work at a comfortable pace but do not compromise your life in anyway. If you have to ease back on certain things, then fine. For example, say video games. Only play an hour day as a way to relax and reward yourself for getting work done. Or in crunch time know that you need to focus so those days you do not play. But don't give them up entirely.

 

Things like this need to happen at a real world pace. They will happen in their own time and you need to work within that timeline and not try to fracture it or accelerate it in anyway. You can't throw 9 women at a baby and get it in 1 month.

Edited April 20, 2016 by VelvetElvis

[heni30]

Your re-touching skills are excellent and in high demand by architects who can turn out ok renderings but need that final post "professional" look. Is seems like your pricing is way too low. You can target high end firms and get a lot more. I did some re-touching a while back of some very bland lobby/office images in NYC and the guy asked me if $300 - $400 per image would be ok.

 

You already have the "final look" down so it would be a matter of developing compositional and lighting skills. Do you have any "from scratch" still samples?

 

I don't know what offices pay but if you freelance you can get $1000-1200 for interiors with middle tier clients when starting out and $2500 plus when you develop your skill set and target higher end clients (but they will expect higher quality = more work). How much you make will depend on how efficiently you work which will come with experience and how much time your put into learning how to work smart.

 

Here in Atlanta things were dead for about 3 or 4 years but now there is a building boom and things are going up everywhere. I would say it's a very good time to get into the viz biz.

Edited April 20, 2016 by heni30

[innerdream]

 

I don't know what offices pay but if you freelance you can get $1000-1200 for interiors with middle tier clients when starting out and $2500 plus when you develop your skill set and target higher end clients (but they will expect higher quality = more work). .

 

 

Where the h_ll are these clients?!? That pay that much?! I haven't seen them because so many are going to China, India, Russia, Indonesia etc.

 

 

Thomas:

 

 

I'll give you the advice I got ten years ago and it's why I am looking for a new vocation. You are going to compete with people that make $3.00 an hour, the USA is no place for a Viz artist. That said there are successful USA studios but it's a global economy and be prepared to compete on a global stage.

Edited April 22, 2016 by innerdream

[heni30]

You asked what the salary potential was. The numbers I gave were for once you were on top of your game which might be a long way off.

 

You have to do some detective work to find top tier clients. One technique is to good to a quality renderer's site and look at their client list. Also there are lists published of say, the top 100 interior design firms for the year. etc.

 

No one is saying it's going to be easy - far from it.

Edited April 22, 2016 by heni30

[innerdream]

You asked what the salary potential was. The numbers I gave were for once you were on top of your game which might be a long way off.

 

You have to do some detective work to find top tier clients. One technique is to good to a quality renderer's site and look at their client list. Also there are lists published of say, the top 100 interior design firms for the year. etc.

 

No one is saying it's going to be easy - far from it.

 

I didn't ask the OP did.

I worked at Gensler for 17 years and even they outsource to 3rd world vendors now - good luck finding clients that pay $1,200.00 for an interior I don't care how good your work is. The reality is very few jobs come along where the client is going to pay that.