Game Artist Portfolio site

timwiese

I put my portfolio site up a few weeks ago. I'm looking for honest feedback on what should be changed, or what I need to work on.

Currently I only have characters on my site but I am working on a couple environments and props to show off.

I don't graduate until December so I want to make sure that I make my portfolio the best I can make it by that time.

www.the3dartist.net

Thanks in advance for taking the time to comment.

Sage

I hate your website man... LOL No really as it stands now it's a real pain in the arse to view your work. I really think you should have a separate page for each of the models when you click on the thumbnail. Right now I click on a thumbnail and have to scroll down to see what happened. If the person isn't really paying attention they will think the thumbnails are broken.

As for the work itself, I think you need to work on the modeling a bit more. I like the normals on the dog but the texture seems fake. Part of it is the huge white sections of the dog which can be white fur, but it seems off, it's not really reading that way. For the spec there needs to be some contrast in there so parts read as dry and some as wet, right now it seems like everything is more or less the same intensity so it looks wrong. The red colors suggest moist and drying tissue where the red is darker, looks like drying blood. Some of it must be blood, muscle and dried rotted muscle and dried blood. Go in there and tweek the spec so it reflects the different stages of the skin and blood.

I really liked your sketches in your reel but because how they are shown in front of several 3d models it's a let down that the 3d model doesn't match the sketch in quality. I think you should model those concepts. Also revisit the models and push them further. Spend a bit of time modeling humans from scratch and just practice your anatomy.

Keep at it.

timwiese

wow, I've actually never got a critique as harsh as this. I thank you for being honest.

I can change my site so that each page is separate from the main page. Your right it may be hard to tell for some that the page has actually loaded.

The pictures of the dog doesn't really read like the spec map has much contrast but it actually does. I just think it may need even more to read correctly.

The funny thing is you say you liked my sketches and thats the one area I have never felt confident in, I really just added them in the demo reel to break up the monotony of one 3d model after another.
Currently I am modeling one of my gun concepts for "Make something Unreal", then I will probably move on to making another one of my concepts.

Thanks for the advice.

Unleashed

I agree with the separate page thing, or make the thumbs much much smaller for each subpage. I was clicking and just wondering if there wasnt any content or popups being blocked for a good 10-15 seconds before I realised I had to scroll down

renderhjs

first off imo. you need way more content: 4 pieces all 3d/normal mapped is a little bit few.


The portfolio as website:

I suggested this already a few other portfolio guys but have a look here:
http://www.dafont.com/
the fonts you picked are in my oppinion not unique enough, - it resembles copperplate a little bit. Also the sub sized fonts for the button titles are imo to big this effect gets even worse as the font has a big kearning and wide characters. Perhaps take a sub- font face of the familiy that is less wide or just a different font.

The rounded corners on your thumbnails (way overused these days) have no Anti-aliasing it looks unprofessional.
Persoanlly I hate the drop shadow effect because everyone can pull it off with just 1 click and its the first most newcommers do,- if you insist on using shadows vary them - make them dark brown with a different blend more or give them a different direction (45° is always suicide in design when it comes to shadows, bevels,...) and a different strengrth and bleed setting as the default.
A professional CG artist will notice it right away,- and it takes you only a few sliders to tune.

The text at the very first page here in Opera has a different block width as the upper part of the thumbnails and the menu- looks odd to me. Perhaps put it as well in a block element (css) or a oldschool in a table.


the portfolio itself:
most of the textures have a very high contrast- there isn´t much variety in the colors and tone shading- try not to play to much with levels, curves and or contrast & brightness in the end you loose alot of vital texture color spectrum you can´t get back later on.

Modeling is solid and it would be nice to see some more technical skills in that area. Dunno what your current direction is but I´d suggest modeling some things without normal mapping because sometimes normal mapped models look somewhat muddy and blurred- so perhaps some clean perhaps more technical objects would be a nice contrast to what you have already.

hope some of this helps you on your way

Thegodzero

Sage wrote: »

If the person isn't really paying attention they will think the thumbnails are broken.

BTW i did that, and even closed the tab then opened it when i saw that post.

As for your art... i take it that you want to be a character artists? At this point i don't see anything that wows me. You REALLY need to work on your diffuse texturing skills. All i see on your models are flat colors with overlays of rot. Make some textures for one of the SDK's around here to push your diffuse texturing skills. For the most part the only difference between a last gen diffuse and a current gen is the lack of a painted in light source and spec.

You have time, you can get good enough by December if your work hard.

slosh

i have to agree with the separate page thing. i totally clicked on that first image 3 times before i realized it was loading below. but thats an easy fix. as for the art, i think ur modeling looks pretty good...could use some polish. the main disappointment for me is the diffuse texture. ur technical knowledge seems to be there with the normal mapping and the spec(albeit could use more polish). but the diffuse texture needs a lot more work. maybe u can make a couple characters that are more stylized and only have diffuse to show some serious painted textures? i think this would also help to show u can do various styles of characters...esp if u want to be a character artist. i look forward to seeing more of ur stuff though cuz its obvious u have talent and technical ability!

pangarang

Agreed with everything said so far, particularly on the texturing and I've nothing more to add. I'm not sure if anyone's said this yet, but the modeling in on the armored officer need to me a touch more poly-efficient. Those pie faces take up more tris than neccessary.

timwiese

Thanks everyone, as for the pages not being noticeable after loading, I am going to change it so when a new page loads it will be already scrolled down a little bit so at least one model sheet is in view directly after the click. (this way is just less work for me then making a whole new page for each model).

the portfolio itself:
most of the textures have a very high contrast- there isn´t much variety in the colors and tone shading- try not to play to much with levels, curves and or contrast & brightness in the end you loose alot of vital texture color spectrum you can´t get back later on.

Modeling is solid and it would be nice to see some more technical skills in that area. Dunno what your current direction is but I´d suggest modeling some things without normal mapping because sometimes normal mapped models look somewhat muddy and blurred- so perhaps some clean perhaps more technical objects would be a nice contrast to what you have already.

I agree with the high contrast thing. The only reason I did this with my last two models; the dog and the zombie, is because I kept getting people saying to me "it needs more contrast" so I may have over done it a little.
I am working on a high poly gun at the moment that will be the normal for a low poly. I know its another normal mapped object, but I feel its a good departure from the characters I have done so far.

As for your art... i take it that you want to be a character artists? At this point i don't see anything that wows me. You REALLY need to work on your diffuse texturing skills. All i see on your models are flat colors with overlays of rot.

The characters are a starting point for me, because for a while I felt like I wanted to be a character artist. But the more I model the more I find myself interested in props and environments, so I think that will be the direction I take. It just took me time to realize that I don't have the passion for characters that I thought. I do need to work on my diffuse texturing though and have relied quite a bit on the normals to do the job.

i look forward to seeing more of ur stuff though cuz its obvious u have talent and technical ability!

Thanks

the modeling in on the armored officer need to me a touch more poly-efficient. Those pie faces take up more tris than neccessary.

Yeah everytime I look at that I cringe, but I haven't gotten around to fixing it up.


Thanks everyone for the advice, It definitely helps me to focus on what I need to improve on. I wish I could go and fix my site right now, but at the moment I have finals to finish up.