Starting out as a professional miniatures designer is a tough gig to break into – but Games Workshop is advertizing one opportunity that might be the right first step for some folks: there’s space available in GW’s Citadel Miniatures Designer Talent Programme, an unpaid trainee scheme that it says provides expert feedback and guidance.
The Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar maker isn’t actively hiring in its model design team right now, but it’s marketing this unpaid programme as a kind of ‘taster’ for both a miniature design career in general, and for the experience of working at GW specifically.
“Successfully joining this programme will allow you to find out if this is the right career for YOU;” according to the job ad posted on GW’s official careers site.
“If you want a long and productive career with Games Workshop, this could help you decide!” it adds.
While the programme isn’t a paid opportunity, it’s notable that – unlike almost all jobs with Games Workshop’s core design teams, even the entry-level posts or internship equivalents – it appears to be open to applicants outside Great Britain and Northern Ireland; the job ad doesn’t include GW’s usual limitation to UK residents or those able to commute to the Warhammer World headquarters in Nottingham, England.
Successful inductees into the programme will be given regular model sculpting assignments, which they’ll submit remotely for assessment, and receive “written, objective, professional feedback from our renowned design team”.
The talent programme applications are open until midnight UK time (7pm ET / 4pm PT) on Sunday, August 18. To apply, you need to provide an application letter, as well as a portfolio containing “images of miniatures that you have created” that demonstrate your “understanding of what makes a great Citadel Miniature”. We’d guess that includes not just design brilliance, but at least a bit of nous about Warhammer lore and how its fantasy and sci-fi worlds translate into plastic figures.
While we obviously want to see more well paid, full time entry level creative jobs in the tabletop industry instead of more unpaid ones, there’s no doubt that direct interaction and feedback from GW’s own mini designers, as well as the chance to dip a toe into what a career inside Warhammer is like, would be a valuable formative experience for a tabletop-loving 3D artist.
As always, though we remind readers: other excellent miniature wargames are available, and – fantastic though Warhammer is – Games Workshop isn’t the only great company out there that might be your ticket into designing models for a living.
If you’re considering applying to GW and need a little lore inspiration, however, our full guides to the iconic Space Marines, and all the other Warhammer 40k factions, may be useful.
Otherwise, for daily updates on Games Workshop and its many games, follow Wargamer on Google News.
Source: Wargamer
