What is “The Rookies”

Being in the 3D or animation industry, you may have heard of a website called ‘The Rookies’. This website is essentially a mix of LinkedIn and Art Station but mainly for 3D and 2D artists such as animators, game designers, etc. It’s a great place to look for tutorials, get inspired by other people’s works, enter contests, and get your work noticed by professionals. In this article, I’ll go over a quick summary of what the website is about and how you can go about signing up for an account. 

The Rookies is a great location to find tutorials, free assets, and other information. If you go to the “Discover” tab on the top of their website, you can find lots of resources. Although there aren’t many direct tutorials on their website, they have links and articles that bring you to other websites or youtube channels that do have tutorials. In the “Resources” tab inside the “Discover” tab, you can find many free assets such as creature rigs, 3d models, FX scenes, and more. The great part is most of them are free! However some have specific licenses for usage, so make sure to read those before you download them. There’s also a section called “News”, where they write articles about various topics. One of their most recent topics was an interview with someone who works at Ubisoft. In this article, the interviewee gives advice for people entering or in the 3D field. There are many articles similar to that one, and much more that you can find on their “News” tab. There’s even a tab where you can look up the top schools in this field. But even more helpful for when you graduate college, they have a list of the top animation, game, and visual effects studios. The Rookies is an amazing resource where you can find a ton of information on just about everything related to your field.

The Rookies also allows you to create an account on their website and post your work. They have a “Projects” page that showcases work from other users all around the world. To sign up, you just have to go to the top right of the website and click the “Sign Up” button. When you create an account, this allows you to enter contests that they host. To see current contests, just click the “Contests” page. They have an annual competition that you can join, which starts March 7, 2023. There’s also an Autodesk contest now that you can submit to where you have to either animate, texture, or do FX for a robot model. 

Putting your work on their website is a great way to get noticed by other artists and employers. It’s also a great way to connect with other people in your field. The Rookies has a discord that anyone can join! I would highly recommend joining The Rookies Community so you can be exposed to many industry professionals and other “rookies” like you!