As a student related to the art industry, it is very important to think about the
current state of the industry. Recently, i attended an online meeting for
undergraduate classmates, many of students have started working in the
industry. I interviewed one of them, Ji Bei, who works as a storyboard artist at
NetEase, a famous Internet company in China.
In this conversation, I asked her about the current situation of the game and
animation industries in China. From our conversation, I known that due to the
market downturn, now the work environment is not optimistic. Ji Bei said: “I
know many relatively large game companies are laying off many employees
recently. It’s not the employees’ fault; it’s the fault of environment. When we
graduated in 2022, the market situation was still good, and an undergraduate
students could find a good job. That is one of reason that I had the opportunity
to enter the industry. But now, it might not be as easy to find a job. Large
companies are like this, and smaller companies are worse. Many companies
are reducing budgets, and non-core positions like storyboard artists have a lot
of pressure. ‘’Besides work time, I have to spend other time every day improving
my drawing skills to avoid being eliminated.” She said, “I don’t like it.”
During the process of interview, what touch me the most was the direct impact
of this economic crisis on salaries. This classmate mentioned that in the past,
the game industry in China was known for high salaries. For a while, it was even
comparable to the computer science industry, which made these companies
attractive to many young people. However, salaries have gradually dropped,
and even experienced professionals are struggling to make a living. Some well
known game companies, such as HyperGryph and miHoYo have set strict
recruit requirements, which is a made contrast to the boom in the industry a few
years ago. “Right now, many companies only want ‘geniuses’, she said. “For
most people, this is almost impossible.”
Due to the generally negative outlook for the industry, I asked her how she was
looking for a way out. She said, “After working in the industry for a while, you
can’t just focus on this one job anymore. You have to start exploring other
possibility of development paths, especially in the new media field. For most
people in the arts, no matter what industry we work in, our aesthetic skills are
the final test. So, you might need to consider some alternative development
paths, such as digital products, selling illustrations online, or starting your own
studio to create products, etc.” She explained that if you want to increase your
income, you can’t just rely on traditional work. You have to control your own
talents and find a new way to maintain your ability to withstand risks.
obviously, from this interview, I learned that the job market in China is not
optimistic. However, through this classmate’s experience, I was reminded that
in the adversity, there are always new opportunities worth exploring.