5 Things To Bring to GDC (for Artists)

Well it’s Spring Break, so I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit down and write!
I spent the first few days of my break in San Francisco, where I attended the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC). While I’d have liked to attended the entirety of the convention, I only got to spend the final day, Saturday, wandering the halls because of finals.

First off, GDC is definitely a great place to go for business. Many game companies set up shop there specifically to recruit for job positions they are trying to fill- which ranges from programmers to business people to full-time artists, and Saturday of the convention is “Student Day”, where students can get in for just $75.

To my surprise, the vast majority of the students I saw were art students! Most of them were local to San Francisco, armed with some great-looking portfolios and hunger in their eyes. Some companies (namely Blizzard that I saw, but probably others) had art directors on site to review portfolios.

So, if you are planning on going to GDC to get your portfolio reviewed and maybe get some jobs out of it, you’ll need the following:

1) Your Student ID- Must Be Current
Unfortunately, Student Day is for students. Not to say that working professionals cannot attend- they are encouraged to, but they pay a higher price tag to get in the door ($250 for Expo-only vs. $75 for students). Whether or not that is worth it to you is really up to you. Many of the companies attending GDC will also be at PAX East two weeks later, and PAX is only $50 for a three-day pass. It depends on where you live, obviously.

2) A Portfolio with Your Best Work that Fits the Company/Companies You Are Targeting
The biggest complaint I heard from companies was that artists were showing up with portfolios full of, as one woman put it “Barbie-doll-proportioned anime characters”. I guess if you wanted to do concept art for Bayonetta, that might be alright (joke), but honestly it’s not going to fly in most of the industry. She went on to say that that might be nice, but it’s not what they do, and it’s a waste of her time to look at that portfolio. Many companies are looking for high quality, nicely colored and well rendered work, but all companies are looking for work that already fits the feel of their current products. This is great news, on the one hand, because it means that if you want to do work for a certain company, you should get super familiar with their style, which might mean playing lots of games, and who doesn’t like that?

3) An Elevator Pitch
Believe it or not your art does not only speak for itself. You should also be able to give some quick background about who you are, what your experience is, and what you want to do. Doing this in just 30 seconds is best, because it gives people a sense of who you are without wasting much time. This 30-second self-explanation is called an “Elevator Pitch” because it should be done in the time that it takes you to ride in an elevator with your pitch target. Obviously you don’t have to be in an elevator to do an elevator pitch- the showroom floor will do just fine.
A good format for the elevator pitch is:

• Who you are
• What you want/are trying to accomplish
• Your background/experience
• Your interest in specific company

You don’t have to get too flowery, but having this at the ready will be very beneficial to you. I also recommend practicing it (out loud) before you go straight up to a company you really have your heart set on so you aren’t as nervous.

4) A Love of Networking
At GDC, as with many conventions, a lot of the connections happen not just at the convention, but at the bar afterwards. Many GDC attendees were having drinks starting at around 2pm onward for most days, and you NEVER know who you’ll meet or what opportunities may come out of it. Do bring your portfolio (preferably not on an iPhone but on paper), do have a drink, do talk industry talk (talk about games!), but don’t bust out your portfolio unless it comes up naturally in the conversation. Have fun! Networking isn’t hard, it’s just socializing, and people LOVE to talk about games at GDC– and if you want to work in the industry, I’m betting you love games too.

5) Business Cards
As always, an easy way for people to contact you. At minimum, your name, phone number, email address and website. If you want to be really clever, make sure your cards are blank backed and quickly draw something on it to be memorable. Make sure your website is up-to-date, easy to navigate, and has clear examples of your style.

With those things and a positive attitude, you should be able to make some inroads.

What do you think- have you had any experience shopping your portfolio at GDC that you’d like to share?