Ian's Portfolio

hobodactyl

Hey everyone, I'm gonna be looking for a job in a few months (going on a trip after graduating!), so I put together a portfolio site:

http://www.naixela.com/ian

I'm planning on adding some pieces but I just wanted some feedback. Oh, and please try out the game we are currently working on, http://www.gammontrigger.com! We are looking for feedback as we've just released our first demo. Thanks!

JDinges

White backgrounds hurt the eyes ><

Go with something more neutral.

I like your low poly stuff, nice style. Ditch the horned demon.

aesir

I've gotta ask, why does the bottom right guy have so many abs?

Overall I like your portfolio. Your low poly stuff is good. All the projects you've worked on is impressive for a student. Your 2d art and stuff in your misc section are kinda... meh.

What I think you need to do is a next gen enviro. Just a small scene with nice shaders and normal maps and shiny-ness. That would pull your portfolio together imho.

The horned demon picture at the very least needs to be changed to one without a closeup. That closeup is not flattering. It also could really use some nice textures.

TWilson

Nice badger you've got there.

Your site is missing some important things though ... like a way to contact you! A resume and a job title you'd like isn't a bad idea either.

MoP

Your site is loading really slowly for me.

The lowpoly stylised stuff is pretty cool, but from the sculpts you make it very clear that you don't really know human anatomy very well (some muscles is in the right place but mostly it looks like fudged guesswork and blobby strokes).
If you want to show next-gen character sculpts, either take more time learning human anatomy (take up life drawing maybe) or just do sculpts that are purely alien and made up, or covered in clothes (again you will have to research and really understand how cloth folds etc.).

I'd recommend sorting out your images a bit more, it all seems fairly random at the moment. Also as mentioned the white background is probably best avoided. Go with a light grey, it'll have the same visual theme but will allow your images more eyecatching contrast.

Stuff like this image here:
http://www.naixela.com/ian/images/misc/sloop.jpg

The treasure chest in the middle is cool, keep that, but in higher-res, not pixelated, and on an image of its own. Either texture the ship or drop it completely, an untextured lowpoly model is not much use prospective employers these days. Lose the head on the right of that image, it's just not very good.

Remember that a portfolio is only as good as the lowest quality piece in it, so really prune out the old/unnecessary/unfinished stuff - only show things which are your best work, and things which at least look vaguely finished (or fully sculpted out, that's ok).

Either way, it's not a bad start, it just needs a bit of a prune out of the dead wood and a slight reshuffle for better presentation and it will be better already.

Mark Dygert

or covered in clothes (again you will have to research and really understand how cloth folds etc.).

Knowing the underlaying anatomy is key also I don't see how anyone can expect to be a character artist without learning it? It's like trying to eat a ham sandwich without the bread or the ham.

I like the stuff you've got, the other crits are dead on. I'd like to emphasize that the white background needs to go. Light/dark gray would be good. White is a high contrast color and washes detail out of things. See what it does to this image?

hobodactyl

Thanks a lot everyone, I appreciate the crits!

MoP: Thanks for taking the time to look at it, I'll be working on it

Vig: Thanks for the example, I'll be changing the color scheme.

TWilson: I really like your site! I haven't put contact info up or any details because I'm not looking for a job quite yet. I'll make sure I've got all that up

Thanks for all the help everyone!