Something I& #39;ve told a few people trying to get into concept art lately:
Your portfolio has to show that you understand exactly what the job is!

Unfortunately, lots of what industry folks make on their down time is specifically not what they do *at* work, but *away* from it
This is also true of a lot of popular insta\twitch artists. They are making good art! but they aren& #39;t making *concept art*. They aren& #39;t working as part of a team- so making art like theirs, as a beginner, will give you an uphill employment-seeking battle.
You need sizzle in your portfolio for sure, but it needs to have a healthy dose of production minded work that shows you know that concept art is about working with design\3d artists to work within restrictions! This chocobo image is 20% of the job if lucky. This crate is 80%.
There& #39;s always gonna be exceptions to this advice- but I would personally rather hire someone who clearly was used to drawing within set boundaries in a production-minded way than someone who only had blue-sky, epic illustrations, esp if they had no real prior experience!
Things you should have in a beginner concept portfolio
-prop designs + turnarounds + material callouts
-character skins + turnarounds
-VFX concepts (trails, poofs, magic spells)
-Facade designs, door\window designs
-Drawing over 3d blockouts of levels
But don& #39;t just use this list- RESEARCH. Look at production work on released games! Learn about how 3d artists work for efficiency! (learn 3d even!) Work on mods if you can, or pair with a 3d modeller at your same level and make work together.
and again, I& #39;m SURE you will run into people who didn& #39;t do any of this and got jobs just fine. Great for them!! But if you don& #39;t like doing this stuff for your portfolio, you probably won& #39;t like doing it all day long either :p

eat those veggies, kids
Oh, and guns. I hate to say it, but if you want to work in games, having guns in your portfolio is honestly kind of useful. A lot of work out there just wants you to draw a bunch of guns. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤷‍♂️" title="Achselzuckender Mann" aria-label="Emoji: Achselzuckender Mann">You don& #39;t have to, but if you don& #39;t have an aversion to it, it& #39;s a good-to-have.
They can be goofy guns, tbh. Don& #39;t have to go all second amendment, but the experience of designing even a whimsical gun both from side and first-person view is a good thing to have.
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