Unpaid art tests: Your thoughts

[hapiel]

One example: at A Bit Lucky they gave me an art test for making 8 directional isometric trains.  What I turned in was an entire 3D-to-Pixelart pipeline that accomplished 16 directional trains in half the time.  I was immediately hired.

Offtopic: Indigo, you should do another blogpost on how professional game artists should save time and energy!!!!

[PixelPiledriver]

As a programmer there's always a test. --> Unless you have a very solid connection on the inside of the team.
They can be pretty open ended and last a few hours.
Even if you get a handful of questions wrong there's still a good chance to get hired.
The test is more about you and less about answers.

And being current is really important.
If you made something 10 years ago that was great, but can't make anything now, it's not of much use.

But I have to say I prefer trial periods rather than tests.
Just because it can take some time to ramp up potential.

Still, I think tests are good.
It forces you to prove who you are.
To yourself and others.

[Ryumaru]

Thanks for all the insight guys; most of you had the much more optimistic mindset about it ( maybe im just pessimistic lately ).

I definitely see the merit in proving oneself, and if anything, every time you open up a program and work it's an opportunity to better yourself.

However, on the practical side, if your portfolio is solid enough, and the employer can't see you being a fit for the project, I wonder about their ability to assess art in general ( it only takes one horror story of a ridiculous amount of revisions to make one sour).

[PixelPiledriver]

maybe im just pessimistic lately

No worries.
It's natural to not want to waste time.
But try to see past that a bit or lots of things will appear to be a waste of time.

and the employer can't see you being a fit for the project, I wonder about their ability to assess art in general

Depending on the team your personality means more than your art.
I'd add a mediocre artist with a great sense of team and open mindedness over an amazing artist that doesn't give a fuck and starts ridiculous fights any day.
There's no way to get a sense of that by looking at your portfolio.
Some tests are great for finding that sort of stuff out.
Others are not so great.

The opposite is true as well.
You can test them as much as they test you.
One thing I like to do before working with or for anyone is to do a few game jams on a whiteboard.
The team dynamic is revealed pretty quickly.

[Conzeit]

you might have a nice portfolio but the employer doesnt really know how long it takes you to make a piece. For all they know you might take a week to do the simplest piece you've shown and the best one took you years. You might also estimate really badly and say you'll complete something in a day but then it takes you a month, they dont know.
That is on top of the teamwork aspect that everyone mentioned, which is of course really key. But you're nice as can be, I wouldnt worry.

PS: why is THIS http://s251.photobucket.com/user/Chriskhaos/media/ChrisKhaos%20pixel%20folio/sal7d.gif.html?sort=3&o=49 in your portfolio? it's not easy to know it's an edit O_o did you just forget it was in the album?

EDIT: I got thinking about your whole "can he asses art?" attitude. in general you dont want to expect too much out of a client that way, if he could do it as well as you do maybe he could just do the art and not hire you. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a not very artistic client, but if you dont resent their lack of knowledge it might mean you can advice them in what direction to take the art.

[Ryumaru]

Everybody bugs me about that a lot, how much trouble do you guys go to get to my old photobucket anyway? I never show it to clients. I always used to put pixel edits in there because it was close enough, in the sense that it was all pixel art. I guess I shall have to dig into that ancient account and fix it >.>

I see both of you talking about teamwork/ the artist's temperament, which of course is very important; but is it ok to rob the artist of their time for reasons such as that when a couple emails/ interview can decide most of that just as well? ( as much as can be known, of course. Often people show true colors much later than this)

And for time, this is mostly only an issue with paid by hour stuff ( which is common enough) as opposed to asset based payment. Months and years I know is an exaggeration, but I would not think it's common in the industry that someone would be producing quality work, but at such slow a pace that it impedes development greatly. Unless they keep redoing assets of their own accord, in which the client boss should just tell them to stop :p

A lot of the points you are making seem to be for art tests in general. Are any of these points enough to warrant not paying an artist for their time if they've gotten this far in the selection process?

[Helm]

I always used to put pixel edits in there because it was close enough, in the sense that it was all pixel art.

No no.

[yaomon17]

I always used to put pixel edits in there because it was close enough, in the sense that it was all pixel art.

No no.

I kindly and respectfully ask for further explanation. 

[Ryumaru]

What I mean is that it was simply a better place to upload, not a place to show off. Like I've said, not only is that account and it's contents ancient, but I never showed the folder to any clients after I started dumping edits in there. Either way, I cleaned it up just for you guys so can we please not make this thread about my photobucket account?

[Conzeit]

OH, I mentioned your photobucket because you mention your portfolio here and you dont link it, and TBH I was just really curious about it so I googled ya and that yielded a pixelation portfolio topic which linked to that account as part of your portfolio. Sorry man didnt mean to derail.

You are right I did kind of read the responses gearing more towards defending the value of art tests and continue on that path, when what you really asked about was UNPAID art tests.

I think it's definitively safer and more confidence building for the artist if the test is paid, I'm always thankful for that. That is ideal but I dont think a test that takes a few hours (hopefully not more than a day? I think every artist has an inmaginary line drawn in their head) is bad enough that it gives me a bad feeling about the whole thing. Now, if the client just happens to be awful in the test then THAT is bad, but assuming all other things seem right it's short enough to be negotiable IMO