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Portfolio Feedback - Character Artist

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jhoythottle polycounter lvl 7
I'm moving to Seattle in a few weeks to try my luck in the competitive world of 3D Character art. I've only heard back from a few places with no offers, so I'm trying to increase my chances by moving to the area.

Please let me know what I should polish, move around, or completely remove from my portfolio. What are my strengths? Weaknesses? What can I add to my portfolio to make it stand out more?

Have at it! Thanks!

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  • jhoythottle
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    jhoythottle polycounter lvl 7
    bump. Any takers?
  • ValXVI
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    ValXVI polycounter lvl 5
    Hey there! I am more of an environment artist myself, but just by looking at your portfolio, looks like you have a variety of styles, is there one in particular that you take after most? I'm not sure how it is for character artists, but variety could be good or could be bad, not really too sure! I like the Danny Beck speed sculpt though, haha!
  • RobeOmega
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    RobeOmega polycounter lvl 10
    I am not a character artist either so I do not have too much input about the work itself.

    One obscure critique is that you could make the file name of the Resume less random and more relatable for you incase they want to save that image and find it again.
  • artofmars
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    artofmars polycounter lvl 9
    Hey man Im actually living in Seattle trying to the same right now. Ive learned a lot and can hopefully pass good information your way :]

    If your looking for more schooling this has been my go to choice: http://www.futurepoly.com/zbrushcore.aspx
    Its taught by actual industry professionals and is a lot cheaper than trying to go back to school

    Go to meet ups and game jams great way to meet people and so much of trying to get into this industry is networking (even though I hate it)
    http://www.meetup.com/Seattle-Unity3D/
    http://www.igdaseattle.org/wordpress/
    and PAX Prime

    As far as a critique, I feel like you need more work from other peoples concepts, because for the most part that is what you would be doing at work.

    Besides all of that keep at it, Ive been here for a year and change. It can get disheartening some times but stay driven and focused on you goals, you'll get there :]
    Hope this helps, good luck!
  • carlobarley
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    carlobarley polycounter lvl 9
    I like your stylized sculpts, keep rocking.

    think you should take out the retro space girl, WIP face head and anatomy study.
    the retro space girl could use better materials and texturing.

    my advice is to take a really good piece of concept art, and translate/execute the design, think of it being in-game and put side by side with in-game art work and your favorite character artists, and ask yourself is it same quality?

    keep rocking man!
  • jhoythottle
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    jhoythottle polycounter lvl 7
    Thanks everyone. My preference is definitely the stylized look. I have the more realistic stuff on there to show versatility, and I'm not opposed to making more realistic characters, I just love making cartoon-y stuff.

    Thanks for the links artofmars! Maybe I'll see you around when I get to Seattle! Ever since I modeled the Space Cadet, I vowed to never work from my own concept again. Every piece I've added since then has been strictly from concept (mostly the speed sculpts). I plan on jumping into a fully realized stylized character again in the coming weeks when I'm settled into my new home.

    carlobarley: thanks for the feedback. I feel bad taking down the space girl since she has the best breakdown at the moment (polys, uvs, etc...), and she took a huge chunk of time this past year. I think I'll keep her just until I create a better breakdown (my next character). But overall, I think you're right. I feel like she doesn't hold up compared to the "WIP face" that I'm currently working on. Speaking of which, is there a reason you feel I should take him down? There's still a lot I need to add to it, but I feel like it's one of my strongest pieces right now.

    Good advice on the side by side approach. I think I would fail that test for most of my pieces right now :(. I'll keep rocking, as you say!

    (Anatomy study removed-- Maybe I'll revist that idea again someday, but for now I think it's an eyesore.)
  • carlobarley
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    carlobarley polycounter lvl 9
    your correct, take it out for now and revisit the space cadet if you like and/or move on and create more stuff. i just feel that it doesn't match the quality of your stylized sculpts which is really good execution.

    as for the head, i think it has potential with texture and material, but i think you can push it further. the neck, ears, scalp could use the same love as the front portion of the face. sorry, what i really meant is take it out "for now" since its a WIP.

    my advice, you can definitely speedsculpt, but sometimes its good to slow down and execute and make production ready assets, market yourself as being "useful" to a studio.
  • BagelHero
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    BagelHero interpolator
    Alright, going to get straight to the point (and it will be blunt), there's a lot of clutter and irrelevancy in here that I just don't feel could possibly help someone to want to hire you.

    sAFfk1tg.png

    Red = Actively showing your weaknesses regarding characters.
    Blue = Sorta to highly irrelevant (2D section needs to go).

    Look, I've been biting my tongue on the WIP head sculpt for a while. You jumped into detail before the main forms were fleshed out enough, and it's really inaccurate for it. There's a lot of weirdness going on, and you shouldn't show WIPs on your folio anyway as a general rule.

    The bust doesn't really look like a Loish piece (a lot of easy things to pick up are glossed over, such as large shiny noses, shape of the lips and eyebrows, how much of the face the eyes take up and where they sit, general proportions), and the facial anatomy that is there is kind of weird and unappealing. That nose is so tiny and high up! And the paintover is really obvious which isn't ideal I think.

    The Steve Zissou sculpt isn't so bad, but combined with the Bust and the WIP head it gives an impression of not being able to hit the right beats regarding likenesses and having some weird anatomical quirks.

    The Retro Space Pinup I'm biased towards, but I still think it's one of your better pieces. The breakdowns and renders are probably some of your best, and at least the idea there is interesting, appealing and clearly "finished".

    I really like the mount (always have) and I find the boxer charming, fun and all-around well executed. I also quite like the hipster, though the face misses a few hints from the concept around the eye area.

    In the future I think you really need to work on your understanding of facial proportions and secondary forms, but also, you need to finish more game resolution work. I do look forward to seeing more of your stuff, I hope this isn't too brutal. I think you've got a decent portfolio if you strip out the stuff that does nothing for ya, all you have to do is keep making better and better work.

    Your website is pretty nice, too, don't forget to add a download link for your resume. :)
  • jhoythottle
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    jhoythottle polycounter lvl 7
    BagelHero: OUCH.

    Thanks for your honest feedback as always. I'll get back to work... heh. I agree about the irrelevancy of some of the pieces and I think I have blindness towards the Loish piece. Deep down, I know it doesn't really look like the concept, but I like it anyway. I see what you mean about the facial anatomy, though. I guess I could chop it.

    I hope to start replacing some of my less polished work with some more finished characters and overall presentations (like the space girl). I'll have more time on my hands in the coming weeks when I switch over to part time.

    When you get some free time, mind doing a paintover of what you're talking about with the WIP head sculpt? I've posted on here a few times looking for feedback and didn't get much, I'd appreciate your help! Here's the thread.


    Seriously, thanks for the brutal honesty BagelHero. I usually need a drink after one of your critiques, but you make some good points. This is exactly what I was looking for when I posted my site. There are no two words in the English language more harmful than "good job."
  • BagelHero
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    BagelHero interpolator
    I'm sorry! :(
    But I'm glad you find them to be the helpful kind of post as opposed to a straight kick in the gut. I'll see what I can do with breaking down what bothers me about the WIP. :thumbup:
  • BradMyers82
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    BradMyers82 interpolator
    Very cool work. Your styled stuff is a lot stronger than your realism. Its very obvious when you move to more realistic stuff, you simply don't have much experience in that area. I would work on more of that kind of stuff. I have no doubts you are a talented artist by your body of work, you just need a few more realistic pieces to actually show it imo. Keep at it dude!
  • jhoythottle
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    jhoythottle polycounter lvl 7
    Thanks Brad, If I've learned anything from this and my current head sculpt, its that I still have a lot to learn about true facial anatomy. I'll be dusting off my Loomis books. Like BagelHero said, I jumped into details way too soon. I should start back at the ground floor to really focus on proper proportions and relative distance to facial mapping and planes. Maybe I'll do a series of quick portrait busts to get more practice. I won't commit to 100, but maybe 10 or 20?

    I think my biggest issues with sculpting a head is always the size of the eyeballs. Since I love making stylized characters, I think I tend to make eyeballs to large. And then trying to size the irises on top of those big eyes, and molding the lids around them creates a distorted look. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to avoid this in the future?
  • jhoythottle
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    jhoythottle polycounter lvl 7
    I feel like I need a second opinion on deleting the bust of the african american girl. I removed the reference to Loish, since it doesn't really resemble the original concept. Am I just not seeing it? To delete or not to delete?
  • artofmars
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    artofmars polycounter lvl 9
    Keep the bust, especially that bust. You are really playing with forms and doing some very interesting things with proportions. You're changing the sizing of parts, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable which is the skill of creating stylized stuff.

    maybe crop out the shoulders, you can see that far more thought and work went into the head, so make sure that's all employers see :]
    Hope this helps
  • BagelHero
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    BagelHero interpolator
    To clarify, I think it's a safe piece to keep until you have more work and can replace it. It makes a fine filler piece for the time being, and it's by no means so bad that you need to delete it immediately. When you can, take some time to re-work it a little, maybe present it as a Marmoset render, and that should theoretically extend its stay on your page. Is it okay if I PM you with some notes?

    Additionally, eyes. I do have this problem, too, but I prefer to make the eyelids first as a proportional block out, so the eyes don't make me work around them. Using a lot of reference while sculpting (and really studying and comparing that ref) also helps.
  • WaYWO
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    WaYWO greentooth
    Hi , I love your work but there is some bad things regarding to the presentation of your finished pieces, even WIP on your folio must have decent backgrounds and stuff (that Bear Sculpt is amazing but the background is flat) + i think you need more pieces of ArtWork to show in order to : not only have xp but to also split 2d sketches and Sculpts into two categories.

    As BagelHero said you also need more lowpoly stuffs to showout , other than that i'm not a pro at the moment, but i give you some feedbacks to whats bother me :)
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