Joining UDON?

Easily the most asked questions we get here on our DeviantArt site via private Notes is whether or not UDON is hiring new artists or how to go about joining our crew.

We're not currently looking for any more artists to join UDON. We have enough artists to tackle large corporate projects and don't want too many mouths to feed. If that changes and we're looking to expand again, we'll let you all know here on the site.

In the mean time, if you want to improve your work and reach a professional level, look to the following:

- Quite simply, is your artwork at a professional level? Be absolutely honest with yourself when analyzing your work. It's a very competitive field and weak spots in your work can severely hinder your ability to finding regular jobs.

- Do you have a strong grasp of proportion/perspective? Being able to draw solid-looking characters and environments is crucial. Are your environments as well thought out and designed as your characters? Can you place characters in a scene and make it look like it all fits together properly?

- Does your work convey a story and mood? Many projects require specific moods and reference material. Do you do research before you begin drawing or painting? Do you thumbnail out multiple angles and ideas to find the best one?

- Are you flexible as an artist? Rather than just drawing a few things well, can you adapt your artwork depending on the style or genre needed? Are you capable of anime and more realistic looking artwork? Are you willing to make extensive changes to artwork if a client wants things done differently? Revision is also a big part of the process.

- Can you format your work properly? Do you know how to professionally scan your artwork and prepare your color images for print? Even if you can draw or paint well, if you don't know how to get your artwork digital ready for a client you'll waste a lot of time. Great looking images on a computer monitor don't always translate to well printed images.

- Do you have any prior professional credits? Showing professional quality work you've already created for other clients can go a long way to convincing a company you're a good fit for them.

- Are you fast enough? We occasionally see very strong artists who are unable to meet the strict deadlines and workload needed to excel in this industry. As an example, most of our elaborate digital paintings are rendered in a day or two. Our pencilers generally can draw a complete page of sequential art (characters and backgrounds) per day. Our inkers can ink multiple pages in one day. Our colorists tackle more than a page a day when deadlines are tight. All of these are at a high professional quality, not just rushed out the door to get it done. Work has to be on time and high quality in order to stand out in this field.

- Do you know us? UDON (and many other creative teams) are comprised almost entirely of friends/acquaintances who have a mutual respect for each other's work. We're a team and enjoy working with each other. Adding new members tends to happen through recommendation by our current artists instead of just purely through application to the studio. Working with new artists can be difficult, so getting a good word from someone already at UDON helps us to know that someone is capable and responsible. The social aspect of this industry is important.