[Portfolio] – Nick Dariano, Environment Artist

toxic_h2o

Hey guys its been about a year since I started doing game art so I made a portfolio to show off the things I've done in the past year.
I still have a year of school left so this is more or less a test portfolio.

Coming back from GDC I felt odd for not having a proper portfolio or resume although I'm not sure what the point of have a resume is when I haven't had any work experience yet.

Anyways I'm no good with web stuff so if something doesn't work or looks odd please let me know.

*note I'm still having some issues with IE but chrome and firefox seem to work.

Also any crits would be appreciated.

nickdariano.com



Thanks for looking!

jordan.kocon

You've only been making game art for a year?? Shit guy... I have to say your portfolio is awesome, and it's nice that you have so much stuff on it, it was a pleasure going through and looking at all your stuff. Really awesome work! My favourite is the evil plant thing in the 'Props/Assets' section, really nice presentation.

toxic_h2o

Thanks Jordan I appreciate it.

cdevens

You have some very nice work. I would move the anatomy study off of your excavator page.

toxic_h2o

Thanks cdevens! The intent of that page wasn't specifically for the excavator but just a page for hiPolys, wips, and misc stuff.

Visceral

This is basicly EXACTLY how i want my portfolio to look. Was this fairly simple to code? Could a guy without much HTML experience complete something like this?

Sorry for derailing, what can i say, this looks like the perfect portfolio setup to me. Very easy to watch your work, most of it speaks for itself, no need for much text.

biofrost

I can't believe this is only after a year of work! Making me feel left behind haha. I would personally move KokiriForest up so it will be the first thing people click on. Other than that, great work!

Wonkey

Amazing work, have you heard back about the blizzard internship?

chazzur

To echo what others have said you have a great portfolio. If you want to do environment art though I would take out the character models. I understand what your showing off but if its not environments or props I would take it off and focus the work. Once again though, amazing stuff!

cdevens

Ha, my mistake. I see your clearly labeled page correctly now .

Neolight

Nice meeting you at GDC, dude. This is pretty much what you want in a portfolio website, but you really should put your contact information somewhere on the index page. A portfolio is sort of a business card in this way. Make it very easy for anyone to contact you while they are looking at your stuff.

I will send you a pm regarding art crits.

Chazzur > I totally hate this rule. If it's good work, it's good work. The kid has more than enough stuff to indicate interest in his specialty, and that piranha plant is about as close to environment art a character asset can get. The other character works are pretty much studies he's thrown in the misc section. Frankly, i'm delighted to see a student who is simply trying to be well rounded.

toxic_h2o

Thanks guys for the comments!

@Visceral: it was fairly easy, I had my brother revamp my code. If you want I can send you my html files and you can mess around with them.

@wonkey: you mean the student contest? No there hasn't been any word on the winners yet.

@Neolight: good point, I'm going to redo the banner and include that info in there.

Joopson

I'll be honest and say that you are at the level I want to be at. Bookmarked your site in my "Competition" folder, haha.
You really have a wonderful amount of work for the amount of time you've been doing game art. Your drive is admirable.

Great work too. Personally, I'd leave out Cave Johnson's mailbox, though- doesn't shine like your other stuff does. Also, the skeleton doesn't look great. Those are the only things though. Seriously. Man, I wish I had your drive right now. If you keep it up, it'll be impossible for you to NOT get a job.

So, how many polygons were in the scene for the excavator, if you don't mind me asking? Even looking at the pictures made my computer slow, haha.

Barbarian

Nick:

That has got to be one of the best portfolios, based on one-year's worth of experience, I have seen. You must be packing in some long hours above-and-beyond your regular studies. The hard work will pay off. I also agree with Neo about variety, in a good portfolio, is not necessarily bad in and of itself.

konstruct

congrats. ditchin the ol tumbler image dump is a good move :P

Alberto Rdrgz

really nice and clean, like the work! really like the kokiri forest!

Iciban

oh wow! i totally love your stuff. Hahhaha gotta love zelda right? So inspiring!

megalmn2000

Presentation is excellent, simple & efficient. I think the 3 social buttons on the left side is distracting. Usually, if people are interest by you, they will look at how to connect with you after, not before.

Jessica Dinh

Wow, crap o.o I love your port, esp. the high poly piece! When I saw it, I was like asd;fkja;sdlkfja;lsdkfj !!!!

Lucas Annunziata

Looking phenomenal man! It was great meeting you at the PC meetup. I do agree that the 3 social buttons should be placed elsewhere.

toxic_h2o

Thanks everyone! This year I plan to work even harder. My goal is that next year most of this stuff will not still be in my porfolio.

@Joopson: you better get working then. The excavator was pretty hi poly, I want to say around 500 thousand tris. lol of course I made it a while ago so it wasn't as optimized as it could of been. :P

@Barbarian: Thanks I have indeed been putting in long hours to try and catch up with you guys. haha

@Konstruct: it was nice meeting you/chatting with ya at GDC, thanks I agree!

@Alberto: Thanks dude!

@Iciban: loz is part of my childhood. Thanks!

@megalmn2000: Thanks! I will do something about the icons!

@Jessica: Thanks Jessica!

@Darbeenbo: Hey dude It was nice meeting you as well! looking forward to next year! haha

Iciban

hahaha i know right? One of the main reason why I want to be a 3d artist.