Portfolio Feedback - Environment Art

Axemeister

Hey guys. I've recently been applying for a few junior environment art jobs with little success.

I was wondering if anybody would take some time to have a look at my portfolio and give some feedback for where I can improve and any tips going forward. 

Thanks in advance!  

https://www.artstation.com/aquiney

JordanN

I believe you got some good materials, but where a lot of junior artists get distracted is when you fill your portfolio up with small props. While it's not 100% the case, consider that studios now a days do outsource their assets. That doesn't mean you shouldn't model them but if you want to stand out, you need to build actual environments out of them, or make props that have a lot of depth to them (i.e mechanical robots, inside of a camera, jet engines etc).

This is what the benchmark for a junior environment artist looks like today.

https://www.artstation.com/coreyhill

Your Roman Rotunda is a start at putting your assets together but also start focusing on composition. Right now, that scene is just too bland. I can see the same tree repeated throughout the scene, the background is also just left empty.

My last tip is that it would help if you do find a studio you want to work for and nail down their artstyle completely. I saw another user on Polycount who is making a Gears of War environment aimed at the same Studio who is working on it which is genius. After all, you're being hired to work on another person's game. Imagine the reaction when an art director sees you have a complete understanding of their pipeline.

Since you're in the UK, there are a lot of studios you could target and do something similar. Like Rareware for example, you could make stylized scenes that match Sea of Thieves atmosphere. 

Axemeister

Thanks for the great feedback. 

I definitely agree that I need to work on an actual Environment, rather than just a small building and some materials like I've already done. 

I have been meaning to start one but I always end up changing my mind about what the environment is going to be, so I never end up actually making one, which i'm sure you can relate to, everyone has had that at some point or another. I've been thinking of making some sort of Egyptian style scene as I've been working on those sand materials. 

And the tip about aiming my art at a specific company isn't something I really thought about. I think I have been focused on having a kind of neutral style that could fit multiple companies, so that's a really useful thing to think about. 

Thanks again, that was really helpful   

FULGORE

Agree RE materials

I'm looking at the Rotunda, but I think I see 2 main things that could really help your chances:

• Lighting & Composition - seems like there should be something important in the middle, also better lighting - look at cinematography that has much the same objects/materials of the era
• Methodology - right now I don't know how you've made the stuff in the Rotunda scene. If I was hiring/not hiring someone, I'd like to know how they approach terrain, large assets Vs small assets, etc... Otherwise unless it's obvious I'd have to assume they try to apply basic 1 to 1 texturing to everything, which won't cut it

And +1 to the targeting your work. My portfolio when I applied at Ubisoft included a French guillotine and a house in the style of Chicago suburbs. Coincidence? Hell no

Axemeister

Thanks for the addition! 

Seems like I definitely need to focus on composition. I think the main thing is I tend to rush into making the models rather than planning out the whole environment. I kinda rushed the Rotunda just so that I had some kind of environment on my portfolio rather than just assets. I'll definitely take my time and carefully plan out my next project. 

I'll also try to show the creation process for my next environment with a breakdown of how everything was made. 

Thanks for the help!  

FULGORE

np

No idea how you feel about composition, but I've struggled with it for ages - what I found helped was cinematography breakdowns - e.g. https://medium.com/tommystv/sicario-cinematography-breakdown-e9f267a3fd48

VladV95

JordanN said:

I believe you got some good materials, but where a lot of junior artists get distracted is when you fill your portfolio up with small props. While it's not 100% the case, consider that studios now a days do outsource their assets. That doesn't mean you shouldn't model them but if you want to stand out, you need to build actual environments out of them, or make props that have a lot of depth to them (i.e mechanical robots, inside of a camera, jet engines etc).

This is what the benchmark for a junior environment artist looks like today.

https://www.artstation.com/coreyhill

Your Roman Rotunda is a start at putting your assets together but also start focusing on composition. Right now, that scene is just too bland. I can see the same tree repeated throughout the scene, the background is also just left empty.

My last tip is that it would help if you do find a studio you want to work for and nail down their artstyle completely. I saw another user on Polycount who is making a Gears of War environment aimed at the same Studio who is working on it which is genius. After all, you're being hired to work on another person's game. Imagine the reaction when an art director sees you have a complete understanding of their pipeline.

Since you're in the UK, there are a lot of studios you could target and do something similar. Like Rareware for example, you could make stylized scenes that match Sea of Thieves atmosphere. 

Oh man if this is an Benchmark for Junior Environment Artist then I think I need to retire and pursue something else in my life My portfolio: https://vladislavkaragodin.artstation.com    10 months and not even some type of Art test from any company... Sorry for going Off Topic.