3D rendering is more than just a pretty-looking image of an otherwise rough sketch of a design. The photorealistic quality of 3D rendering allows you to visualize a concept, an idea, a prototype, a floor plan, or even an entire product or an architectural project without relying on physical models. In many cases, you might actually still need 3D visualization even when you already have a physical product manufactured; when used as a marketing material, 3D-rendered images are much more practical and cost-efficient than traditional photography. Renderings are easier to edit, transform, or manipulate in many different ways to fit the marketing narratives.
Whether you’re a product designer, an architect, an automotive engineer, a CNC machinist, a 3D printer operator, a prototype maker, or everything else in between, chances are you need to work with a 3D render professional to help visualize your craft. Unless you’re working with a big in-house team of designers, the question is: where can you find and hire 3D rendering freelancers and visualization artists for your projects?
CAD-specific freelancing platforms like Cad Crowd are the most likely answer for their deep specialization in product design development, engineering services, architectural projects, and essentially everything where 3D rendering and photorealistic visualization are crucial parts of the workflow. Other platforms are not equally specialized, as in general remote hiring sites, while the rest of them seem to position themselves more like job boards and recruitment agencies rather than freelance-focused alternatives.
CAD and design freelance services
Think of it as a niche category of platforms that cater specifically to 3D rendering services in both technical design and digital arts purposes. Because of their specialized nature, the platforms offer to connect clients with talent pools tailored to provide relevant services. Some of the best in the category are as follows.
Cad Crowd
One of the core features of Cad Crowd is the talent matching service, which helps eliminate the guesswork by connecting the client with pre-vetted freelancers best qualified for the job. The platform tracks the freelancers’ portfolios, specializations, and verified expertise, and matches them with the project brief. A rigorous vetting process makes sure that you can only hire fit-for-role professionals on the platform.
Cad Crowd offers three different hiring methods, including “Hire a 3D Designer” for private projects, “Design Contest” for a crowdsourcing-like approach, and “Hourly Services” for on-demand work. In terms of 3D rendering services, it caters to various projects like product designs, engineering prototypes, game character modeling, architectural visualizations, animations, and more. Throughout the entire duration of the project, Cad Crowd provides oversight and client support, including a confidentiality agreement (if needed) and secure data sharing protocols.
Website: CadCrowd.com
CGTrader
More popularly known as one of the biggest marketplaces for 3D assets, CGTrader also functions as a pretty comprehensive freelance hub to connect clients with a massive network of 3D render and visualization artists from all over the world. The hiring process is simple enough: you post a project using a provided form to describe the requirements, interested designers bid for the project, you review the quotes, and hire the one you think is best.
You can chat with the designers in real-time and review their past projects, too. In case you find the method too restrictive, CGTrader gives the option for you to directly invite freelancers to work on your project, bypassing the bidding process. All payments are done through an escrow service and released only when you’re satisfied with the work delivered. The platform’s “Quality Guaranteed” feature, powered by a dedicated QA Team, makes sure that the freelance services meet the project requirements.
Website: Cgtrader.com
99designs
Despite offering a freelance hub for custom 3D rendering and visualization, 99designs somehow doesn’t actually highlight the feature on the front page. It appears that much of the platform caters mostly to logo and graphic design services. Clicking the “Find a Designer” option at the top of the homepage reveals a selection of categories, including the “3D” option; this is where all the platform’s render artists are neatly grouped, and each profile comes with a portfolio preview.
You can then narrow down the search even further by selecting project-relevant industries such as architecture, retail, food & drink, animal & pet, art & design, medical & pharmaceutical, industrial, technology, fashion, etc. There’s an “invite” feature, with which you get to choose the designers based on their portfolios. There’s also a design contest option, where multiple render artists compete to produce the best work.
Website: 99designs.com
Sketchfab and Fab
Unlike traditional freelance hubs, Sketchfab is primarily a 3D asset sharing platform where render artists can showcase their works and build an online portfolio. You can still browse for available models on the site, but the marketplace itself has now been moved to a sister site, Fab (of Epic Games). Both sites allow render artists to include personal contact information (emails and other public accounts) on their profile/about page. Even if you don’t need to purchase the already-available assets from the marketplace, you can contact the artists and hire them directly as freelancers.
Website: Sketchfab.com / Fab.com
Superhive (formerly Blender Market)
It’s an online platform developed mostly by and for users of Blender, the open-source 3D CAD software. The platform serves as a marketplace where you can buy and sell Blender add-ons, tools, and, of course, assets. Products available in the platform include character creation tools, rigged 3D characters, software resources (including render setups and presets), and finished renderings of objects of many different categories.
In many respects, Superhive is similar to the previously mentioned Fab; both are not traditional freelance hubs, but the artists showcasing their works on the platform are easily identifiable. This means you can review their work, take a closer look at their capabilities, and directly hire them for a rendering project. One possible downside of such a hiring method is the lack of platform control over the workflow.
Website: Superhivemarket.com
Creators 3D
You may think of CGHero as the more minimalistic approach to the freelance 3D design expert marketplace. You don’t have the option to set up a contest and start a private project as you get from Cad Crowd, but you can post projects and gain access to thousands of creative freelancers once you become a registered member. CGHero claims to have a network of more than 10,000 creatives and over 300 professional studios in the database. Freelance search feature and the filtering options are available as well after you join the platform. There’s also an optional full-service management with a quality assurance team and a dedicated account manager in case you need it.
Website: Creators3d.com
CGHero
You may think of CGHero as the more minimalistic approach to the freelance 3D artist marketplace. You don’t have the options to set up a contest and start a private project like you get from Cad Crowd, but you can post projects and gain access to thousands of creative freelancers once you become a registered member. CGHero claims to have a network of more than 10,000 creatives and over 300 professional studios in the database. Freelance search feature and the filtering options are available as well after you join the platform. There’s also an optional full-service management with a quality assurance team and a dedicated account manager in case you need it.
Website: Cghero.com
DesignCrowd
If you like the idea of crowdsourcing a 3D render and visualization project, the aptly named DesignCrowd is worth considering. It’s a contest platform in which your project should receive submissions from multiple artists, and you get to pick the best design. Every project costs anywhere between $99 and $129, and the platform takes 4% billed as a transaction fee. For a project worth $200 or higher, there is also a 20% management fee. DesignCrowd says you can expect the first submissions to appear within the first 24 hours, and you get to pick a submission deadline from 3 to 5 days after posting the project. In case you don’t like any of the submitted designs, the platform offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Website: Designcrowd.com
Job boards, recruitment agencies, and studios
On the subject of managed talent networks, some freelance hiring platforms offer their services as recruitment agencies or specialized job boards catering to 3D CAD creative sectors. Many job boards charge a premium to clients for posting a project for a limited period of time, but this is not entirely unreasonable. As for recruitment agencies, you might find it difficult to justify the associated cost, especially if you’re looking to hire a freelancer only for a one-time render project. In case your project requires a team of 3D artists instead of a single-person job, hiring a studio on a temporary or per-project basis is a good idea.
ArtStation jobs
With ArtStation, you have the option to use the “Find Talent” feature to browse through not only individual 3D render and 3D visualization services, but also studios. The job board itself comes with a plethora of filtering capabilities (for the freelancers) to narrow down project search by seniority level, employment type (permanent, contract, freelance, and others), software, medium (digital 3D, animation, etc.), so make sure your job posting is as detailed as possible to attract the right talent. The fee is on the steep side here; monthly unlimited job postings cost around $700, and a single freelance job listing will set you back $149 per post.
Website: Artstation.com
Archinect
In case your render project has anything to do with the architectural industry, Archinect is an easy recommendation to help you look for freelance 3D visualization artists. The good thing about such a hyper-niche focus platform is the guarantee that your job posting gets exposure only from the right audience. You can either go directly to the “Submit” option to post a project or search for freelancers through the “Talent Finder” feature. There is an advanced filtering option to sort the talents by location, education, number of projects in the portfolio, years of experience, and areas of specialization. Archinect doesn’t provide a clear pricing structure for posting projects.
Website: Archinect.com
Dezeen Jobs
Prices for posting projects in Dezeen Jobs vary from as low as £150 for a single standard job ad (non-featured) to a whopping £1,200 for a package of 5 featured job ads. The platform specializes in the architectural industry. While it’s based in London, England, you’re allowed to post a project no matter where you are. Dezeen Jobs claims to be one of the most popular architecture and design jobs in the world, gaining more than 100,000 visitors each month. The biggest downside is that there’s no direct way to search for talents like in Archinect, and much of the website is geared toward freelancers looking for work rather than clients looking to hire professionals.
Website: Dezeenjobs.com
Artisan Talent
Unlike a job board where you can simply post a project and communicate directly with the freelancers applying for it, Artisan Talent is a recruitment agency that acts as an intermediary between clients (or employers) and job seekers. The platform specializes in creative talents, which basically cover anything, including 3D designers and visualization artists. Once you register as a client looking to hire freelancers, the agency works to deliver the best candidates and handle the entire hiring process on your behalf. You can say that it’s a turnkey hiring service, in which an Account Manager will be your point of contact throughout the process.
Website: Artisantalent.com
Braintrust
What separates Braintrust from the vast majority of recruitment agencies is the way it handles the hiring procedure. Instead of getting directly involved with the clients and freelancers, it allows you to directly hire the talent using an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) tool. Braintrust’s ATS gives you access to more than a million talents (although not all of them are 3D modeling design services and visualization artists) worldwide and a range of AI features to simplify the hiring process, such as a job description generator and candidate matching. Braintrust says the system is anywhere between 30% and 70% more efficient than using traditional talent marketplaces and staffing agencies.
Website: Usebraintrust.com
Game-Ace
You’ll find plenty of 3D rendering and visualization studios on the web, and they basically offer similar services. Game-Ace doesn’t necessarily fit in that category, despite the fact that it does provide a lot of the same things as many other 3D rendering studios. The biggest difference between Game-Ace and the alternatives is that it primarily deals with game assets. But the good thing is that Game-Ace doesn’t limit its services to game-related projects. You can hire individual 3D artists, including VFX professionals, to develop photorealistic visualizations of any objects–from environmental objects and imaginary creatures to engineering products and architectural designs–through the studio’s Team Extension service.
Website: Game-ace.com
Kevuru Games
In many respects, Kevuru Games is doing pretty much the same thing as Game-Ace. Both are mainly game development studios, which happen to provide outstaffing services. However, it does seem that Kevuru is a little bit more laser-focused on game assets, as in, the visualization job is done mostly with an imaginative approach rather than a photorealistic viewpoint. The outstaffing itself is nothing peculiar; you’re allowed to hire an individual 3D artist or a small team, handpicked to meet your specific visualization projects. Kevuru even offers a managed outsourcing service in which the studio takes full responsibility for an entire project, requiring nothing but minimal involvement on your part.
Website: Kevurugames.com
Profiles
A lot of recruitment agencies provide outstaffing for just about every profession in existence. They build a massive database of job seekers, including fresh graduates and experienced professionals, and then utilize it to assemble a team for clients in need of additional workforce. Recruitment agencies usually cater to a broad range of industries to improve their chances of success. Profiles isn’t quite like most agencies. It focuses on just three categories: one of them is “animation,” where you’ll find professionals specializing in graphics design, 3D visualization, and animated videos. The agency offers direct hire, contract-based staffing, and managed services models.
Website: Careerprofiles.com
Cella
One of the best-selling points of Cella is the comprehensive range of staffing solutions it offers. You get to hire 3D render and visualization artists, whether as freelancers, temporary employees, temp-to-hire creatives, or even direct hires. There’s also a permanent staffing model, which basically works like a talent-hunting service, including for executive positions. In the creative category, Cella gives you access to pre-vetted candidates for the roles of 3D modeling expert, animators, illustrators, graphic designers, and more.
Website: Cellainc.com
Rachelle Lewis Talent
Chances are, every staffing agency you’ve come across likes to boast about its abilities to bring the most talented and motivated professionals to your team in no time. Rachelle Lewis Talent is no different, and the agency comes with its own big claims, too. Chief among these is the claim that it has a team of “industry insiders” with direct experience and background on the studio floor, promising a deep understanding of your needs and the candidates’ ideal roles in your team. The agency further explains that it maintains a network of more than 60,000 professionals in the creative production departments, including 3D artists, rigging experts, animators, VFX professionals, and CG generalists.
Website: Rachellelewis.com
Cominted Labs
Much of Cominted Labs is about the creation and development of game assets. The platform claims that for the last 3 years, it has produced thousands of 3D assets for games built on Unreal Engine and Unity for some popular titles like Pneumata, Bleak Faith, MadWorld, Ethereum Towers, Baby Doge, and TCG World, to name a few. While it functions primarily as a studio, it also has an outstaffing service. This means you can hire individual talents from the studio to work on your project, under your management. Most (if not all) of these talents are based in Latin America, but the studio makes sure everyone can communicate in fluent English if you decide to hire them.
Website: Comintedlabs.io
Workana
Similar to Cominted Labs, most of the freelancers in Workana are located in Latin American countries. In fact, Workana claims to be the largest remote work platform in the region and that it has a growing presence in Southeast Asia, too. Although you can search for freelancers directly and contact them from their profile pages, a lot of the information provided isn’t in English. Your best bet is to simply post a project, explain it in detail (including language requirements), and have the professionals send the proposals. Workana says that any project should receive bids within minutes after posting.
Website: Workana.com
VES (Visual Effects Society) Job Board
The actual “job board” on the VES website certainly doesn’t look like much. It doesn’t have the typical long list of available jobs, and there’s no clear way for clients to post an open position there. The only hint you get is an email address to which you can send a project/job you want to be highlighted on the page. To be fair, VES isn’t exactly a freelancing platform or a recruitment agency; it’s an honorary society created for visual effects practitioners in the entertainment industry, including movies and games. This isn’t the right place to look for junior 3D render and visualization artists, but seasoned professionals. It’s good that VES also gives some links to the more traditional job boards.
Website: VESglobal.org
Ediiie
A game design studio that doubles as a staff augmentation agency, Ediiie offers all sorts of 3D rendering and visualization services from art and animation to performance testing and even marketing asset creation. The good thing is that you don’t have to hire an entire team of game developers, especially if you only need one or two render artists to handle a visualization job. Ediiie is pretty flexible in its hiring policy, allowing you to temporarily hire professionals on a per-project basis. The platform promises ready-to-deploy 3D experts with an interesting 48-hour replacement guarantee to help minimize workflow disruption. And if you need a separate project management service, Ediiie has that covered as well.
Website: Ediiie.com
GameJobs.work
And if a traditional job board is what you need, GameJobs is a pretty straightforward option for that. Mind you, the job board is reserved only for game-related projects; you can post a 3D render project about any object, even for HDR rendering design services, but you’ll have better chances of finding the right freelancers if the object is meant to be an asset for a game. When it comes to the user interface, the site does an excellent job of highlighting all the main features on the front page. Posting a project to the site costs $99, and the listing stays on for a period of 60 days. The unlimited job posting package (for a year) will set you back $595.
Website: GameJobs.work
ZipRecruiter
Despite being a general job board, ZipRecruiter is a worthy addition to the list thanks to its popularity and ease of use. It also makes a bold claim that 4 out of 5 employers who post a project or job opening on the platform get connected to a quality candidate within 24 hours; that’s an impressive success rate, but this is probably because ZipRecruiter covers just about every industry and business sector out there, including 3D visualizations. Keep in mind that while ZipRecruiter is a job board in its own right, the site actually forwards your job posting to more than 100 other job boards online, increasing the exposure a great deal and improving your chances of hiring the best professional for the job. Also, both the Standard and Pro plans come with a free trial, so it’s at least worth a try.
Website: ZipRecruiter.com
We Work Remotely
It’s an otherwise plain and simple premium job board, but with an additional feature to improve the accuracy and quality of candidates applying to your project. We Work Remotely is one of the easiest, most straightforward job boards to use on the web, but it’s pricey. The base price to use the platform as a client is $299, for which your project will stay on the listing for a month. There are some add-on options costing between $69 $159, for which your listing basically receives greater visibility and exposure in the partner network. Furthermore, the Filtering Service promises that each applicant is reviewed by a real human–instead of a bot–to prioritize candidates who actually meet the project requirements.
Website: Weworkremotely.com
SimplyHired / Indeed
In contrast to We Work Remotely, which requires you to pay to post a project, SimplyHired makes the feature available free of charge. The platform is mainly a job search engine, and when you click the “Post Jobs” button, the page gets redirected to the Indeed website. There’s nothing wrong with this, as you can just continue creating and posting the project brief without an issue. According to SimplyHired, free job postings receive standard visibility, although it’s unclear how much exposure you get with it. Indeed offers a “Sponsored Jobs” feature, with a pay-as-you-go method, for greater visibility.
Website: Simplyhired.com
Wellfound
Formerly known as AngelList Talent, the platform gives you free job postings and a built-in ATS to manage candidates. Wellfound focuses on startup companies and clients looking to hire job seekers, so you probably won’t see a massive network of seasoned render artists from its database. Nonetheless, Wellfound says it has access to a community of job seekers from all around the world with diverse backgrounds and skill levels in various industries, including architectural design firms. If you want, there’s the AI-powered RecruiterCloud service, which supposedly scans more than 500 million candidates based on your requirements.
Website: Wellfound.com
Creativepool
It’s somewhat of a specialized job board, but not to the extent of only listing 3D render and visualization artists on the site. Instead, it covers a broader category of “creative” professionals. The platform offers three basic options for clients, including Studio Gigs, Standard, and Premium Featured. The first option is free, and this merely advertises the project on the platform where freelancers apply directly to you. There’s also StudioBriefs, in which the platform sends the project only to agencies deemed capable (by Creativepool) of completing the project. Standard is free of charge, too. And there’s the additional benefit of the project getting sent out to social media, but the platform says this is only available for a permanent position job advert. The Premium Featured option comes with guaranteed results, but it’s rather expensive, starting at $95 per project. In case the available options aren’t quite enough, you can buy a Monthly Pass for $49, for which you get unrestricted access to the platform’s talent database.
Website: Creativepool.com
Contra
In some respects, Contra is like Braintrust in the sense that both aren’t necessarily job boards, but they give an ATS tool to help you post jobs, review applicants, streamline the hiring process, handle payments, and basically manage the project from one interface. Contra claims to be able to provide access to a global network of more than a million freelancers with over 500 different specializations. The ATS has a tool to share the project not only to Contra but also to social websites and other online platforms. This is to allow anyone to apply, even if they’re not on Contra. The service isn’t free; it comes with an invoice fee, a contract fee, and a payment fee, too.
Website: Contra.com
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Community platforms
Many of the following platforms offer a managed space for 3D render and visualization artists to showcase their works and sell 3D assets. They are marketplaces that also serve as channels for employers/clients to discover talent.
Behance
Owned by Adobe, the community-driven Behance is a massive network where creatives across various disciplines are encouraged to build online portfolios, sell digital arts, and get discovered by clients. Behance is essentially a marketplace, but it has a built-in job board where freelancers can find paid projects posted by clients. You can also look for professionals directly through the “Hire Freelancers” option; this is where you browse for freelancers and sort the options based on software, location, and specializations, like engineering design services. Every creative’s profile comes with simplified hiring options, including for full-time jobs and freelance projects. However, all the hiring and payment processes are still managed by Behance.
Website: Behance.com
Dribbble
A lot of what you see in Behance is also available in Dribbble. As a matter of fact, both platforms are pretty much identical in terms of functionality and features. Creatives have the chance to showcase their works and build professional profiles online, whereas clients can utilize the platform to hire freelancers. Dribble doesn’t actually charge you for posting a project on the site. That said, you can only post jobs if you’re a registered member. Subscription fee starts at $150/month. The good thing is that hiring a freelancer by browsing through profiles (not by posting a project) is allowed even if you don’t have an active subscription. The platform fee is anywhere from 2% to 5% scaled from project size.
Website: Dribbble.com
Carbonmade
Unlike most community-driven sites where content submission is usually free, Carbonmade sets itself as a premium (with a free trial) platform for creatives to showcase their works. Pricing information for clients looking to hire freelancers isn’t clearly mentioned. It’s easy to browse profiles, and you can even sort them based on availability for hire. In the “Talent Pool” tab, you’re presented with a list of top specialties, which includes an assortment of graphic design categories such as 3D design and modeling, animation, architecture, concept art, illustration, and more. Unfortunately, a good number of the profiles that pop up from the search function seem to be inactive, so you might as well stick to the featured ones instead.
Website: Carbonmade.com
Blender Artists Community
Broadly recognized as the official online base for users of Blender, the platform is filled with every possible topic and discussions related to the software, from material and textures to technical support and feedback generation. It also has a job board, including for volunteer and paid projects. The platform says that the “paid projects” category is heavily moderated, and it doesn’t allow members to advertise their services, meaning the board is reserved for clients looking to hire Blender artists. All submissions/proposals are sent to your profile or any other contact information you may attach to the job post. This is pretty much a direct-hiring method, in which the platform has very little involvement in the process.
Website: Blenderartists.org
CGarchitect
Except for its niche specialization in the architectural planning and design industry, CGarchitect shares many similarities with Behance and Dribble. It’s a platform where members can share their works, build portfolios, and tell the world about their capabilities in architectural design, modeling, and visualizations. CGarchitect claims to have more than 100,000 architectural renderings on the site. But underneath this primary function lies a talent-sourcing feature, allowing clients to post projects and attract the most qualified candidates to apply for the job. Since members are allowed to include links to their social media accounts on their profiles, you can also get in touch with them directly outside the platform.
Website: Cgarchitect.com
Polycount
The front page of the Polycount website might not look like much, but head to the Forum section, and you’ll discover a comprehensive list of sections where users get to discuss a whole range of digital art topics. Marketplace, user-generated content, digital sketchbooks, showcases, and technical topics have their own separate sections. There’s also a “Work Opportunities” section that allows members to offer services and clients to post projects. The vast majority of the current job postings are for game assets, but it doesn’t mean Polycount disallows any other 3D art project. Or, you can go to the “Artists Looking For Work” and browse through freelancers’ profiles there.
Website: Polycount.com
DeviantArt
With more than 100 million registered members and over 650 million pieces of art, DeviantArt has been the definitive online community for digital artists for quite some time now. While the main site itself pretty much only serves as a massive gallery where everyone can browse through a massive number of user-submitted digital arts of every category imaginable, the “Forum” section brings some additional focused topics such as TVs, movies, literature, general discussion, challenges, and, of course, employment opportunities. It’s possible to send messages to artists from their profile pages, but the Employment Opportunities feature gives you the option to post projects, too. It doesn’t seem that DeviantArt charges a fee or commission for the process.
Website: DeviantArt.com
ArtStation
A blend of an artist’s portfolio site and a job board, ArtStation comes with a sleek-looking gallery and a robust selection of freelancer hiring options. The gallery itself supports high-resolution 3D art, videos, 3D scenes, 3D 360 panorama services, as well as short clips. It also has a blog section where users can share ongoing projects, articles, and information related to the trade in general. As for the job boards, clients are provided with three different features, including Post a Job, Find an Artist, and Find a Studio; each is pretty self-explanatory. You can even contact an artist directly from the gallery page and get in touch for potential collaboration.
Website: Artstation.com
RenderHub
Also quite similar to Behance, the main thing about RenderHub is the marketplace, where users can post and sell their works on the platform. The biggest difference between the two is that the latter focuses heavily on 3D assets, although it does have some 2D art as well. Browsing through the gallery reveals a huge collection of users’ submissions, and you can click on any of them to take a closer look at the artists’ profiles. RenderHub allows you to make contact with the artists and hire them through the page. And then the platform also has a separate “Jobs” section where you can post projects and find artists using a variety of sorting options like availability, location, specialization, or software preference.
Website: Renderhub.com
Social network
Social websites and apps like Instagram and Facebook might not appear like great options, but they can be effective tools to start conversations about your projects and browse through freelancers’ profiles or even professional groups. One thing to keep in mind is that the platform–no matter what it is–has very little involvement in the entire process, if at all. It’s a direct hiring method; you have to do all the screening, interviewing, and project management. This is not entirely a bad idea, considering that many job boards also operate in a similar fashion.
LinkedIn Jobs
Unlike most social websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other similar alternatives, LinkedIn is a rather closed network with a heavy focus on business relationships and professional networking. Members likely connect with people they already know or those who have been introduced to them by someone else. That being said, it also comes with features you often see in other social websites, such as forum discussions, groups, etc. For hiring purposes, there is the LinkedIn Jobs part of the platform’s talent solutions. It offers various tools to help you post jobs and engage communities of job seekers with personalized targeting, filtering options, and management.
Website: LinkedIn.com/jobs
The idea of using Reddit as a tool to look for and hire freelancers isn’t entirely a far-fetched one. While it is indeed a much more generalized social networking site compared to the likes of LinkedIn and Blender Artist Community, the platform hosts a good range of focused sections (subreddits) for 3D artists and freelancers, such as r/artcommisions, r/renderings, r/freelance_forhire, r/3Dmodeling, and more. Posting jobs on Reddit is free, and there are no platform fees when you actually end up hiring someone. It’s all direct hiring, and everything might seem informal. However, the discussions and the nature of direct feedback on artists can open the doors to realistic pricing expectations and transparent interactions.
Website: Reddit.com
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Let’s not forget the usual suspects like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You wouldn’t want to depend solely on them to hire 3D rendering experts and visualization artists, but it doesn’t mean you can completely ignore the possibility either. A lot of professionals use the platforms to spread the word about their services and showcase digital arts. Although they might not be comprehensive portfolios, at least you have a basic insight into their skill levels; use the direct messaging platform to inquire about the services, gauge the artists’ communication skills, and evaluate customers’ feedback, too. Instagram can be a good option, considering how the platform is image-heavy, making it easier to browse through artists’ sample art.
General freelancing platforms
The main difference between job boards and freelance marketplaces is that the latter often use a closed system where the job posting, the freelancers applying for the project, and the payment system are all handled by the platforms. Most (but not all) freelance marketplaces charge commission and payment processing fees. Some of the most popular are as follows.
Freelancer.com
As usual with online freelance marketplaces, the platform claims to offer an extensive database of skilled professionals with various skill levels in all industries worldwide. Freelancer (the site) is a bid-driven platform, where professionals have to compete with each other to try and offer the best services for the lowest prices. Its competitive nature makes it easier for you to find a balance between affordability and quality, for the most part.
Website: Freelancer.com
PeoplePerHour
One of the interesting features of PeoplePerHour is how it offers two pricing structures for projects: either an hourly rate or a fixed price. As for the hiring process, you’re allowed to browse through the freelancers’ profiles and engage in communication with them without any obligation to hire. The platform does a good job of compiling easy-to-understand information about each freelancer by attaching data on the number of completed projects, client ratings, and even certifications (if any) to help you make a decision. And applications for projects come in the form of bidding proposals.
Website: Peopleperhour.com
Guru
Freelancers on Guru also send bids to win projects that clients post to the platform. Project-based and hourly pricing are common, giving more flexibility on how their works are compensated. The biggest differentiating factor between Guru and other platforms is how it puts heavy emphasis on the freelancers’ credibility. Not only does Guru verify all the freelancers registering for the site, but it also publishes all-time transaction data and feedback scores. Everything else is pretty much the same: you post a project, review the bids, pick one you consider the best, and manage payments upon completion.
Website: Guru.com
Truelancer
There isn’t much of a difference between Truelancer and the aforementioned forums. It has the same formula of dual pricing methods (hourly and fixed-price) as well as freelancers’ bidding process for projects. After you post a project, the platform matches it with suitable candidates, who can then send their proposals to you. Remember that you have the chance to review the bids, the freelancers’ profiles, and actually interview them before you make the hiring decision. Freelancer also offers a 100% money-back guarantee with Safe Deposit for clients. The payment for a project is only released once you’re happy with the delivered work.
Website: Truelancer.com
Toptal
You’re spoiled with two big promises from Toptal. First, it handles the entire candidate selection process and matches your requirements only with the most suitable candidates after you post a project. Second, the candidates are supposedly the top 3% professionals of their respective industries, such as design engineering services. Once you make the hiring decision, the freelancer starts to work for you on a trial basis; in the event you’re not pleased with the work for any reason, you won’t be charged for anything.
Website: Toptal.com
Useme
Most freelancers in Useme are based in Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, and Serbia. The platform says that the rates set by the freelancers are much more affordable than what’s typically expected if you hire their North American or Western European counterparts. You can post jobs or search for freelancers directly using the filtering options. There’s no setup or subscription fee for clients. You can post an unlimited number of projects and get access to the freelancers’ database free of charge. However, the platform charges a commission fee on every completed project, but this is a percentage of the amount specified in the invoice.
Website: Useme.com
Kolabtree
One thing that separates Kolabtree from many other freelancing platforms is how it focuses mainly on projects of a scientific nature, for example, medical analysis, clinical research, data science, food technology, etc. Most freelancers have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, and it’s reflected in the hourly rates they set for their services. The search feature even has a filtering option to show only candidates with a PhD. While there are some freelancers who charge around $15/hour for CAD and 3D modeling work, many others charge $100/hour or more. Apart from that, everything else is a basic affair of posting a project, receiving bids, choosing your freelancer, and finalizing the project.
Website: Kolabtree.com
Upwork
Quite possibly the largest freelancing platform on the web, Upwork has been around for more than a decade, and it continues to be a dominant name in the remote-employment sector. The interface is pretty user-friendly for clients, with the platform providing an array of tools to find freelancers, filter the search results, and manage projects. For a general freelancing platform, it actually offers many professionals in the 3D rendering and photorealistic rendering services category. In addition to the Talent Marketplace feature, where you can post jobs and receive bids from freelancers, Upwork also offers Talent Scout, which is basically a recruiting solution to help you connect with the platform’s pre-vetted experts.
Website: Upwork.com
Fiverr
What makes Fiverr different from most general talent marketplaces is that it doesn’t actually offer a feature for clients to post projects. Freelancers can’t bid on projects. Instead, you have to search for freelancers in categories relevant to your project and discuss it directly with them via the platform’s messaging tool. The hiring process is straightforward enough. All services are pre-packaged, but you can always ask the freelancer to send a custom offer that meets the project’s requirements.
Website: Fiverr.com
RELATED: 12 important hiring tips for 3D rendering freelancers & 3D modeling service companies
Conclusion
There’s an argument to be made about the freedom of choosing your own freelancers or setting a design crowdsourcing platform against having the platform decide who’s the most qualified person to handle your project. That being said, most platforms that offer pre-vetted candidates and do automatic project-freelancer matching often provide some sort of guarantee (either in the form of a refund or replacement), which is actually a good deal considering the risk of getting subpar work and lengthy revisions afterward. Also worth considering is that specialized platforms tend to be overall better performers compared to the more generalized talent marketplaces.
This is why 3D-focused freelancing sites like Cad Crowd will always come up at the top of the list thanks to their robust crowdsourcing feature, rigorous freelancers screening method, and project management system. Get a free quote today.
