[samdragon]

I'm gathering as much info as I can about the types of jobs that interest me the most. I'll apologize if this question has been answered before in another thread. I did do a search, but it didn't give me the answers I was looking for. So with that in mind here are some questions that I have yet to find answers to.

How does one become a Matte Painter? I'm sure you don't just walk up to someone and announce that you're the new matte painter.
Do you start off as an apprentice? Or an Entry Level matte painter position, doing clean up work? Is this a position(job) you have to work into, or do you apply for it up front. If you do work into this type of job, where should one start off?
Are most matte painters freelance? (contract work)

Any info or enlightenment on this would greatly be appreciated. I'm sure I'll be asking about other jobs after I do more research on them.
thanks

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[spooge demon]

I think before you get that far you should do some of your own matte shots. Then you can stop someone on the street...

I have heard of people getting apprentice positions a long time ago with some of the studios, but that was back when the barriers to entry were very high. Now it is much easier. Photography, painting, compositing, can all be done very cheaply.

So just get a photo of New York and do something unspeakable to it. Put it on a web page and you are off. Because matte work is less subjective than other forms of artwork, it can be easier getting a break.

Most of the better matte artists are freelance. This is not true enough to prejudge someone, however.

BTW, ILM is looking for people. Don't know what level.

[samdragon]

Thanks for the info Spooge.
hmmm, I'll have to find a picture of new york then! I wish it was that easy
I don't think I'll be stopping anyone on the streets just yet.

That's not a bad idea actually.I need one more image for my show..hmmm..I wonder what nasty and horrible things I can do to my campus in a matte painting...mwahahaha.

ILM! Ok, I'll send them one more resume to laugh at..hehehe You think I should remove the line on my cover letter that sez "hire me or I'll burn your house"..

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[SporQ]

just to help ya with the link
http://ilm.com/cgi-bin/getjob.pl?19-01

[samdragon]

thanks for the link. That's been up there for over a month now. I know cause I applied for it last month hehehe
I'm sure they could have used the humor anyway
there are some other positions that looked like they offered alot. I'm all for learning what I can. Some people snub their noses at rotoscope artists and stuff like that, not me dude! We all gotta start somewhere. Just imagine what you could learn..sorry I'm getting off topic here.
thanks for the link though.

[Freddio]

and you must have good

Disk space management skills.

I can;t believe that they put that down as a requirement...

[samdragon]

hhaha, I imagine some people like to save very large 200m files anywhere they want. If they are on unix I'm sure it's a big problem. If they are using a mac, I'm sure having large files just floating around on the desk top could create some major problems