[Portfolio] - Fouad Karam - CG Artist

tekmatic

Hi polycount people,

Well after a long time deciding, planning and creating my site as well as some content, I have put together my portfolio (growing at the moment). I am ready for your criticism, suggestions, comments and everything in between.

Please do not hesitate to say the truth on how to improve my work and the site of course.

I understand that I don't have much content yet, but it is something that will be addressed shortly. My aim is to join the gaming industry for environmet/props modeling and texturing.

Looking forward for all the posts.

http://www.fouadkaram.com

Snowfly

Nice site design, straightforward and clear. No clutter, I like that.

Why are you using PNG's for your images? They load incredibly slow for me on broadband, and I don't think you'd lose a considerable amount of clarity just using 80-quality JPG's.

redhart

Hi

I think its a good start! If your goal is to work in the game industry i think you should put more emphasis on low poly art.

For you traffic light model 18 k poly seem high. If the wireframe you show are for the low you have a lot of poly that could be taken off. You could also add dirt to your texture it will make the prop more interesting to look at.

The website is simple and to the point so keep it up and add more work!

tekmatic

Hey guys. thanks for your comments.

@Snowfly: You are right, I did notice jpg open faster, my images have already been converted! Thanks for the tip

@redhart: The high poly models were done earlier, and were intended for showing modeling techinque. I am in the process of getting low poly assets on the site soon. Thanks for the advice!

tristamus

Hey there man,

I'll start with your Road Barrier.

It's extremely noisy...and the texture is the same throughout, making it bland. Try to add more variation and depth using your diffuse and normal map. The normal map doesnt even look like its really doing anything, besides some very slight insets in the overall shape. Maximize the potential of your textures man!!

Texture your microscope!!

The streetlight and ammo box are the best pieces there so far. However, they too need lot's of work as well. It comes down more-so to your texture work than anything else. You've GOT to get better at making textures. Read up on as many tutorials as you can and furthermore, look at some of the art in the pimping and previews section here to see what I mean.

And I also think you should get rid of that very noisy blue background you are using in displaying your models with...it's killin' ma eyes meng!

Biggest thing, don't give up. You've got a great site layout, and everything else is fine. Just need better texture work!

Dylan Brady

IMO, you should start over/scrap the road barrier.
Its really blobby and malshapen.
the texture is bland.
It reads like shot up or damaged concrete, but for that to be the case you need to show the original hull in places (corners and areas that have been undamaged)
and you need to have specific damage sources (bullet holes, burn damage, shattering)

just model a perfect, clean road barrier, and "damage" it in Zbrush with specific brush strokes that have intent to them.

Everything else looks great lol, thats why Im tearing this up, because I know just from looking at everything else you can do way better.

Jonathan

Your website is easy to navigate.

As for your art, I'd remove the road barrier, it looks very odd. Really, I think the only thing that should stay on your portfolio is the redlight, the other stuff needs some attention.

-ammo box has the looks of oxidized fiberglass rather than metal,
-the high-poly microscope looks just like a few cylinders, etc.

tekmatic

Thank you people, your comments are great :thumbup:.....I am biased at times looking at my own work and I know my weakness is texturing!! I am always on the lookout for tuts about the topic.

The content definetily needs more attention....will post back updates.

tekmatic

Hi again PC people,

I have done some more work on my site and also fixed one of the assets (concrete barrier) that I had gotten comments about.

Please feel free to critic the work/site. I know it's not much now but more is coming as well as some more retouching is planned for the current ones.

http://www.fouadkaram.com

samcole

@tekmatic, if you want a good texturing video buy the Eat3D video "Next Gen Texturing". It covers a wide range of materials, concrete, metal, cloth, wood, etc. That would help you a lot.

Laughing_Bun

Your lightpost is unwrapped really poorly. You need to think a little more creatively about how you can reuse pieces to make it more efficient and easier on yourself. There is no purpose for having everything unwrapped if you are going to use the same bland overlay on everything.

samcole

Your road barrier, on the bottom..the dirt I believe would be darker as it reached the base of the barrier, also the dirt is removed too much at the bottom. Yes, people would likely kick it/hit it/rub against it...but what your showing is very clean removal of dirt on the bottom..I would maybe soften the removal...make it look like someone rubbed against it, and not like it was chipped off.

Also make that dirt a bit darker...the dirt would be running down the side..and pooling at the bottom before going to the ground plane...so darken up that dirt.

tekmatic

@skuee, thanks for the tips, I will look into the adjusting the dirt level on the barrier. Also I will check out the DVD from Eat3D. It looks very interesting!

@Laughing_Bun: I got to admit unwrapping is a pain in the arse. I will see how I can optimize that part of the model. Thanks for the crit.