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Portfolio Review

AndrewHelenek
polycounter lvl 6
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AndrewHelenek polycounter lvl 6
So I've been on polycount for a little bit, and took part in the DOTA 2 polycount competition. Only now have I finally built up the courage to post my portfolio. I recently graduated and am now going crazy looking for all the work. I have gotten some positive feedback from potential employers but no luck landing the job.

Hopefully I can gather some beneficial feedback from you guys to strengthen my portfolio and reels. You can view everything here;

http://www.andrewhelenek.com/

Cheers guys! :thumbup:
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  • IchII3D
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    IchII3D polycounter lvl 12
    What position are you looking for?
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  • AndrewHelenek
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    AndrewHelenek polycounter lvl 6
    IchII3D wrote: »
    What position are you looking for?

    I would like to focus on my animations. Since that is what I am most passionate about.

    I've been getting conflicting information, some people have been telling my I need to focus on one thing specifically, others say I need to be more of a generalist capable of doing multiple things in the pipeline. I'm starting feel that it really depends on the studio.

    I have recently decided to focus solely on my animation.
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  • roosterMAP
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    roosterMAP polycounter lvl 12
    i like ur animations, but I think u have a lack of bipedal anims.

    plus, you should def focus on getting really good at one thing. if u want to focus on games, make a few amazing walk cycles (bipedal, since most games have humans in them). If you prefer film or cinematics, then do 11sec of acting.

    http://www.11secondclub.com/
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  • IchII3D
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    IchII3D polycounter lvl 12
    As a general rule of thumb a small team/game would require more a generalist, but a good way to think about it is how often do you see a job titled 'generalist' even on a smaller developers website? At the end of the day the majority of company's out there look for people for a specific role, anything more than that is just icy on the cake.

    Your animation work seems pretty good, the main issue with your whole portfolio is I had to ask you what your specialization was. It confused me.

    I recommend focusing your portfolio, including your CV on selling yourself as an animator. Add in those modelling skills etc.. as misc. The second I open your website I should know that your an animator and I should be one click away from seeing your work.

    Moving forward I recommend getting some advice from an industry animator on what they want to see from your portfolio. It could also be helpful to know a little about rigging as a nice foundation, although a technical animator is a specialization in its own right.

    One bit of advice I would give is if you find your getting conflicting direction check who is giving you advice. Then go with the professional animators. I'm an environment artist so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

    I recommend finding an animation community that will give you better feedback and direction.
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  • AndrewHelenek
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    AndrewHelenek polycounter lvl 6
    IchII3D wrote: »
    As a general rule of thumb a small team/game would require more a generalist, but a good way to think about it is how often do you see a job titled 'generalist' even on a smaller developers website? At the end of the day the majority of company's out there look for people for a specific role, anything more than that is just icy on the cake.

    Your animation work seems pretty good, the main issue with your whole portfolio is I had to ask you what your specialization was. It confused me.

    I recommend focusing your portfolio, including your CV on selling yourself as an animator. Add in those modelling skills etc.. as misc. The second I open your website I should know that your an animator and I should be one click away from seeing your work.

    Moving forward I recommend getting some advice from an industry animator on what they want to see from your portfolio. It could also be helpful to know a little about rigging as a nice foundation, although a technical animator is a specialization in its own right.

    One bit of advice I would give is if you find your getting conflicting direction check who is giving you advice. Then go with the professional animators. I'm an environment artist so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

    I recommend finding an animation community that will give you better feedback and direction.

    Thank you for the feedback. I know the 11 second club is a good animation community but, to my knowledge, they focus on more cinematic animation outside of the gaming environment. Time to go searching!
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  • praetus
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    praetus interpolator
    I took a look at what you had on your site. I really like your animations. There was so much secondary motion on the couriers (especially the chicken while flying! HA! Awesome.) BUT- your animation for humanoid characters left a bit to be desired. The character animation you show 45 seconds in feels very...basic. While I wouldn't say it's bad by any means I don't think it holds any energy to it. His motion feels very slow almost floaty at times. Point being, it doesn't stand out.

    Also the telekinesis attack- I had a hard time seeing what exactly was going on for that one. Almost as if the motions of the attacker didn't quite match the motions of the victim.

    I think your courier stuff looks great, but I think the humanoids need work.

    As for the modeling reel, while your objects weren't poorly made, there is nothing that stands out for them. If you're going to show untextured objects I think they had better be some very specific high end models. The quality I see in them now is closer to what a 3D generalist would make but if you're a generalist, you'd be responsible for UV unwrapping and texturing as well in most cases. As it currently stands they don't feel complete.
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  • AndrewHelenek
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    AndrewHelenek polycounter lvl 6
    praetus wrote: »
    I took a look at what you had on your site. I really like your animations. There was so much secondary motion on the couriers (especially the chicken while flying! HA! Awesome.) BUT- your animation for humanoid characters left a bit to be desired. The character animation you show 45 seconds in feels very...basic. While I wouldn't say it's bad by any means I don't think it holds any energy to it. His motion feels very slow almost floaty at times. Point being, it doesn't stand out.

    Also the telekinesis attack- I had a hard time seeing what exactly was going on for that one. Almost as if the motions of the attacker didn't quite match the motions of the victim.

    I think your courier stuff looks great, but I think the humanoids need work.

    As for the modeling reel, while your objects weren't poorly made, there is nothing that stands out for them. If you're going to show untextured objects I think they had better be some very specific high end models. The quality I see in them now is closer to what a 3D generalist would make but if you're a generalist, you'd be responsible for UV unwrapping and texturing as well in most cases. As it currently stands they don't feel complete.

    haha, thanks! That chicken courier should be implemented as soon as I finish redoing the flying animations. They didn't translate well in game, they weren't exaggerated enough and a lot of the secondary motion was lost because of the distance. I have some good ideas after getting feedback from posting it online, I think the new ones will be better.

    All of those humanoid animations were done before I started working on DOTA, I think it's time for be to get away from these couriers and animals and move back into bipedal animations. Using what I've learned these last few months working on them. I should be able to create some good things.

    I don't tend to view myself as a modeler. I do understand the process, but animation is where I love being. I'll probably be stepping away from modeling as time goes on. I could probably fit a 3D generalist role since I can UV, but my texturing is a bit on the weak side.

    Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
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