Nick Rathbone, Senior Games Designer at Codemasters: Outside the Box

Nick Rathbone, Senior Games Designer at Codemasters came to visit us today to give us a lecture on CV and portfolio building. He told us the key points on what they’re both used for, as well as some tips on creating them. In this report, I’ll be discussing the tips given to us on our portfolios.

Portfolios are given to employers alongside CVs to help them see your level of work, and for you to show what you perceive to be your best. Nick told us to keep a potential employer interested we should keep a portfolio that is tailored towards what you have advertised on your CV. For example, you wouldn’t fill your portfolio site with impressive character art concepts or models if you’re applying for an environmental artist job.

We were also advised to only use quality work and don’t put any pieces on there that we are not proud of. This is because employers will look at your worst piece of work on your site and assume that that’s the quality of work that you’re happy to share/submit. I personally agree with Nick’s statement, as does Brent Fox, Art Director at Wahoo Studios, who says:

“Carefully choose what to include in your portfolio. Quantity is important to demonstrate you can keep a consistent level of quality and to show variety. However, quality is more important than quantity. You will be judged on your worst piece of art.”

This makes me mildly worried about what I should put on my portfolio site, as I don’t know what an employer would consider good in comparison to what I consider good. I suppose the answers to this will come when I hit my first interview or application, where I can gain a further understanding of what an employer for my preferred job role is looking for, which links back to Nick’s words on portfolio relevance in comparison to your CV and job that you’ve applied for.

References:

Fox, B. (2012). Creating a Winning Game Industry Art Portfolio. Available: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/165645/creating_a_winning_game_industry_.php. Last accessed 10th May 2015.