Home 3D Art Showcase & Critiques

[Portfolio] - Brad Myers, 3d Artist

interpolator
Offline / Send Message
BradMyers82 interpolator
Hey guys!
I'm posting my portfolio up again for crits, since it's undergone a lot of changes in the past year.
I'm currently working as a freelance artist, but I still would like to get a job in-house at a studio somewhere.
Specifically, I'm looking for a job as a 3d artist generalist, so that I can apply to a wider array of jobs.

One thing I have been considering is changing the format of my website to a single page full of images, which many people seem to like. I'm actually thinking that my index page could be in the single page setup, and I could call this "Quick view", but also leave an option for my website as it is now and call it "Gallery View". This way, the viewer can choose how the art is organized and viewed, but by default they would get the all one long page setup.

So I'm interested in what you guys think of my idea.
I would also like crits on everything and anything that has to do with my portfolio, the art, the layout, everything.
Feel free to crit is harshly as you like, I have a thick skin. :)
http://www.bradm3d.com/

Replies

  • Junkie_XL
    Offline / Send Message
    Junkie_XL polycounter lvl 14
    Did you hear anything back from you know who?

    You have nice stuff there dude. Morgan Freeman, wow spot on. You don't even need to mention who that is.

    I really wouldn't waste time on a news section. If it even takes 1 minute of your time it is more than needed. Employers I'm sure don't care. If it is there to keep your friends updated as to why you are locked in your room, then that is a different story, heh.
  • makecg
    Wow you can paint amazing!

    nice 3d work aswell...
  • MRico
    Offline / Send Message
    MRico polycounter lvl 10
    Morgan Freeman came out great!...

    But you know what would be more awesomer? If you did a low poly and textured his head. And made him as photorealistic as you could.

    ...I'm not a fan of random zbrush sculpts like that hand you have. It is a nice hand, but as a character artist it should be given that you could sculpt hands. Which I'm guessing is your goal seeing as it's mostly characters on your portfolio.

    Get that girl finish, she's looking hot!

    I would get rid of the news section...especially with updates like this "11/18/09 - I haven't been keeping up with my news section, but I have still been working hard..." lol.

    I would also get rid of your "about me" section...especially those damn pictures, seeing your face as your avatar...more pics of you on your portfolio...we get it, you love yourself, lol.

    Anyways, sick work man, I wish you good luck on the job hunt!
  • Cody
    Offline / Send Message
    Cody polycounter lvl 15
    Ya buddy looking good. I think one page scroll for images is the way to go! With the Runic Games guy, put the high spec one first, I almost didn't go down that far, maybe get rid of the low poly one all together, not really liking how that one looks. Keep it up holmes.
  • mLink
    Offline / Send Message
    mLink polycounter lvl 10
    Nice layout to the site, though I'd remove the news section.
    Your sculpting/modeling has improved a lot since your first posts, they're really good now and you are able to get a likeness.
    Personally, I'd say remove your age and pictures from the About Me section.
    Those are two things that don't really add to knowing who you are.

    Your 2d is good...but when I first looked at Brad and Megan, my first impression was that they were traced. I saved them, put them in photoshop and overlayed them, your painted ones seem to be just a barely scaled up version of them. Because once I scaled them down and nudged it into place, every crease in the eye, fold on the shirt, hair on the head lined up. That's not really something you would want potential employers to see. Yeah, you did paint in all the shading and colors, and it's well done. The pastel of your gf is really good, great colors..but after seeing that brad and megan were possibly traced, I felt like that one might have been as well.

    You're 3d art is good, and so is your attitude toward constructive criticism, keep at it. I'm sure you'll land something.
  • crazyfingers
    Offline / Send Message
    crazyfingers polycounter lvl 10
    Sup Brad, got some random crits for ya, all personal opinion take from it what you want:

    -Don't dig the grey backgrounds, if they were black or a more suitable color the portfolio site would look more slick and professional. A quick magic wand selection and fill combined with a soft very small outter glow in layer properties is a quick easy way of doing this without redoing renders.

    -Ditch the bruce willis, or put him out of the way, he's a real eye sore among your higher quality work. Not saying he's bad, for low poly he's great, but when you put him next to your other work it just brings it down. You definitely want to take him out of the header, maybe replace him with a scaled down version of your gun.

    -The wrench would look better if it had shiney parts to it, probably best suited for the top of it, maybe it's been used as a melee weapon and there are lots of scratches revealing shiney metal beneath, or that area simply hasn't rusted yet. It would add interest to the object and give it range in tone and spec, something you need in portfolio pieces. Right now it suffers from "quake brown" syndrome. Needs some pop, deserves it, it's a great asset. The red painted areas are money, don't touch 'em.

    -Your header doesn't meet flush on the left with the rest of the site, where it says "brad myers: 3d artist".

    -The horse: By far the best shot of the horse is the in game source engine shot. I'd ditch all the shots above that one and possibly link a cropped version of that for the main site. In fact you might want to blow it up a bit and have it take up more realestate, along with a larger shot of the wrench, just to have some really kick ass eye catching stuff right on the front of the site to pull people in right away.

    -I have really mixed feeling about your monster. You obviously put lots of time into him and the high poly looks pretty good, the low poly version just doesn't seem portfolio quality to me, and the high poly version, without texturing I want to say the same. Any chance you could throw more polys on his fingers, put him in an environment and just do a really high quality render of it, just make him look as cool as possible? *shrug*, tough call on this one. Oh and hte texturing on the bones seems to noisy overall, might want to clean up the texture on those everywhere but where they first emerge from the skin.

    -You probably want to ditch the clone wars girl. Just doesn't look like game art and it's an exact copy of something that isn't too complicated to begin with. Pulls the portfolio down, this is the kind of work you see from artists who can't do their own good art, exact copies of simplistic art, (not saying you are, your other work is better than this).

    -Your Mexican dude is actually quite good, just needs a new face and hair. You should make a new head and take some really nice shots of him, put him in your main portfolio area. Would be great to have a full color shot of him next to a full color shot of your horse.

    -You probably want to ditch the 2d section, as well as the tutorials. They're just more buttons that might prevent someone from seeing your 3d work.

    Hope that helps. Good luck with the site, rehashing old stuff can be a pain in the arse but it's worth biting the bullet.
  • A-Train
    Offline / Send Message
    A-Train polycounter lvl 15
    Solid gun and wrench man!
  • Junkie_XL
    Offline / Send Message
    Junkie_XL polycounter lvl 14
    crazyfingers...really? He should lose the 2D section? Does it matter so long as the 3D is the first thing you see anyway?

    I dunno, the 2D work is just very cool. I'd think there is some cross over there, especially the digital painting stuff demonstrating a handle on photoshop.
  • nfrrtycmplx
    Offline / Send Message
    nfrrtycmplx polycounter lvl 18
    if the 2d isn't related to the game stuff... it's good to take it out... if it were concept art that you did that got you to the final product... maybe it would be good to show. ultimately,if you're applying for a 3d job... why have 2d stuff in your portfolio, unless you're trying to get a senior/lead position and need to demonstrate how you can do 2d to help communicate your ideas to the people working below you or to help flesh out some concepts for design or something...

    if you don't expect it to be part of what the company pays you for... don't show it to them. that's my opinion anyway.
  • natetheartist
    Offline / Send Message
    natetheartist polycounter lvl 9
    I don't make a habit of it, but i'm going to have to disagree with crazyfingers.
    That wrench is really solid. One of the more believable things i've seen. I wouldn't change a thing other than to make it a more pronounced piece in your 'folio.
  • Junkie_XL
    Offline / Send Message
    Junkie_XL polycounter lvl 14
    if the 2d isn't related to the game stuff... it's good to take it out... if it were concept art that you did that got you to the final product... maybe it would be good to show. ultimately,if you're applying for a 3d job... why have 2d stuff in your portfolio, unless you're trying to get a senior/lead position and need to demonstrate how you can do 2d to help communicate your ideas to the people working below you or to help flesh out some concepts for design or something...

    if you don't expect it to be part of what the company pays you for... don't show it to them. that's my opinion anyway.

    Right but I'm saying the work-flow demonstrated in building up Brad Pitt has crossover with how some people build up their textures. I just think it shows a great deal of competence in layering to get an end result. That and it just looks damn cool. :poly124:
  • vj_box
    So some solid works there Brad! Wish u good luck!
  • achillesian
    i dont like the monster, it doesnt read very well in low poly, the high poly reads somewhat better so it may be the diffuse, i dont know, it could just be an overcomplicated concept or execution.

    Finish the girl as she seem to be the most powerful character piece so far. I also really really like your theron guard and think it deserves a top spot, its better than bruce willis,

    also if you're planning on the 3d generalist thing, shouldnt you have an environment?
  • BradMyers82
    Offline / Send Message
    BradMyers82 interpolator
    Junkie_XL: Thanks, yeah the news section is now gone. I'm getting rid of 2d art based on others advice also. Its hard to let it go, but if it can only hurt me, why bother? BTW sorry, no word yet.

    makecg: Thanks!

    AutopsySoldier: lots of good points there. About the random sculpts like the hand, I'm going to work those off my portfolio eventually. As I get more art in, I'll move it to the Old art section, (now called prior art) or completely remove it.
    more pics of you on your portfolio...we get it, you love yourself, lol.
    ha ha, man this is honestly far from the truth, lol. I just know that I personally always like to see the artist behind the work, so I posted that stuff up. But since some people don't think its professional or necessary, it's gone now.

    The avatar pic stays though. It's a man bear pig reference and even if I am the only person who gets it, its still worth it. ha ha.


    Cody: Hey man what's up?! Got the scrolling setup down now, thanks for your 2 cents. Interesting thing about the Runic character, I get all types of feedback on him, some like version 1, some version 2, some love it, and some think it sucks. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with him, but for now I still think it's one of my better pieces. I might change my mind tho, who knows, heh.

    mLink: Thanks for the advice! Regrettably, you are absolutely correct about the tracing thing you mentioned with the 2d art. I did those purely as a study for painting (and using pastels, in the one piece), and I sort of took a short cut by tracing from the original photos. I didn't think this was a big deal at the time, but enough people seem to think this is cheating that I wish I hadn't taken that shortcut now. I still feel that if I hadn't traced, I would eventually get the same results, but it would take a lot longer, but in any event, lesson learned, and I'm taking down my 2d art section anyways.
    Thanks so much.

    crazyfingers: Lots of good points you have in there, and it's especially helpful to hear your views on what you think is best and what is worst. I'm planning on re-visiting some of the work you mentioned, but it might be a little while till I can get to that. Got rid of the 2d art section also, but I'm going to keep the tutorials up for now, since I have people email me from time to time saying that the tutorials helped them. Awesome crits there, thanks!

    A-Train: Thanks, :)

    nfrrtycmplx: Yeah, you convinced me to get rid of the 2d art there. It's hard, but I know it's for the best so I appreciate the honesty.

    natetheartist: yeah, I'm with you on leaving the wrench as is. But like crazyfingers said, some of it boils down to just personal preference. But yeah, the wrench is one thing I plan on leaving alone.

    Junkie: Yeah, I thought about that too. The whole crossover with painting 2d and hand painting textures. But It's probably better if I just show it on 3d verses 2d anyways. I sort of wish I could still share this sort of work some way, but at this point I'm all about doing what I have to, to get a studio job. Oh well.

    vj_box: Thanks man!

    achillesian: Yeah, I definitely don't feel the same way about what pieces are strong and weak, but I always appreciate hearing how others view my work.
    About environment work, yeah, I do want to do something like this. However I'm still learning and building skills, so I'm trying not to do too much since I only have so much time. I do have a really good idea for an environment though, and I do hope to work on it in a few months or so.


    Wow, so thanks so much for all the feedback guys, it's all been far more helpful than I could have ever imagined.

    As you will see, I have made quite a few changes.

    Mainly, I re-organized my gallery section, and I made my main index the "Quick View" page so all my work can be seen as quickly as possible. And of course, I cut a lot of stuff out, based on feedback, namely the 2d art section.

    One issue I noticed though:
    I'm not sure what I did, but my Main gallery page jumps a little to the side now, compared to all the rest of the pages. I still haven't figured out what is causing this, but if anyone has an idea I'm all ears.

    As mentioned I also plan on re-visiting some older work, possibly messing with the site design as crazyfingers pointed out.


    I hope you guys like the changes, thanks again! :)
  • roosterMAP
    Offline / Send Message
    roosterMAP polycounter lvl 14
    wow, the first model looks familiar. good job!
  • BradMyers82
    Offline / Send Message
    BradMyers82 interpolator
    roosterMAP: Much appreciated! :)
    I'm not sure what I did, but my Main gallery page jumps a little to the side now, compared to all the rest of the pages. I still haven't figured out what is causing this, but if anyone has an idea I'm all ears.

    If your wondering what I was talking about here, I fixed the problem now.

    Again, I hope you guys like the changes, and thanks for the help.
  • rollin
    Offline / Send Message
    rollin polycounter
    Ok the "single page all images" solution works (ok it is difficult to make it NOT work ;) )
    but this tiny bit of "web-design" the top part could look way waaaaay better.. esp. compared to your work.

    And I would also remove this lowpoly head from the top.

    Also use a more unique type face for your name (but not such a strange-crazy one ;) )

    Your work is really good. So I would say. Design the top und you're fine!
  • Baj Singh
    Offline / Send Message
    Baj Singh polycounter lvl 9
    Hey Brad, I think the only thing that bugged me was that it defaulted to Quick View rather than Gallery view on my PC. It seems more of an inconvenience to me to have to scroll through that large list rather than simply click each image.

    Personal preference of course. Cool stuff though.
  • seforin
    Offline / Send Message
    seforin polycounter lvl 17
    you get a jerb yet?

    :p

    Your stuff is looking ace man , I really think a quick catagory type would be nice, not so much making each individual sections but on your splash page where you have all your art load at once.

    in example

    1st few images that load are your completed next gen based props, and then your high rez sculpts and then after that your low poly work.

    right now its just randomly layed about. Thats a minor thing though :)

    Get a jerb so we can celebrate already! Also whatever happened with the master plan? Still thinking of heading our way?
  • BradMyers82
    Offline / Send Message
    BradMyers82 interpolator
    Rollin: I agree, and thanks for the kind words and crits!
    I re-did the top "banner". Hopefully it's looking better now.
    I still haven't gotten around to the type face, but once I get the major things ironed out (the art) I'll play around with that for sure.

    Baj Singh: Yeah, at times it is nice to simply have the Gallery. Although, I believe that this setup is indeed best for H.R. when looking at my site, so that's why I have gone this route.

    Seforin: Hey man, I got close to getting a job several times now, so it's probably only a matter of time. I think I have been growing a lot as an artist lately, so possibly I will catch someone's eye. In the meantime, I'll just keep cranking away on freelance. ;)
    I like your idea about categorizing stuff. I'll probably play with that some soon.


    Alright, so I have been doing a lot of my real-time rendering with Xoluil shader lately, and I think my skills have jumped a little, so I have been recently updating my portfolio again.
    My top two models on my website (the dogs) were done as professional freelance art. I have been fortunate enough to get the O.K. recently to show these pieces so I'm really happy to put them on my portfolio.
    One thing though, I have been asked to not reveal any information about the company I did these for, so I'm not going to mention the company just yet. And if you know somehow, please DO NOT mention on this thread.

    I have a very specific plan with what I'm going to work on to get my portfolio looking better art wise. But basically, I plan to re-work a lot of the textures, on my older art, and re-render with Xoluil shader.
    There are also some new characters in the works, as personal art, but it might be a while before they are finished with how busy I have been lately with freelance.

    Oh, and just to be clear, I am working freelance right now, but I am still trying to get a job in-studio somewhere in the U.S. or Canada.
    I hope you guys like the updated work, and expect to see a lot more! :)
  • Slum
    Offline / Send Message
    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    Lookin' good man. Your work has vastly improved in the last couple years since you started posting here. I love the German Shepard.
  • brandoom
    Offline / Send Message
    brandoom polycounter lvl 15
    Nice work Brad. Really nice work on both of the dogs.

    Best of luck on the job hunt! :)
  • Timothy_graybill
    That zombie pug scares the crap out of me dude! good job on the dogs
  • MainManiac
    Offline / Send Message
    MainManiac polycounter lvl 11
  • OBlastradiusO
    Offline / Send Message
    OBlastradiusO polycounter lvl 11
    Damn that pug scared the shit outta me! Good job on that!
  • CJE
    Offline / Send Message
    CJE polycounter lvl 13
    Brad, you got some great new work, I really like the Shepard.

    I do think however your portfolio might benefit from a cleaner layout. It's a bit awkward as it just having all your images scrolling down a single page atm.

    you should invest in a simple thumbnail design to really help show off the good work you've done.

    Some examples.

    http://www.ashleyjukes.com/
    http://www.thomasmahler.com/
    http://rodriguepralier.com/

    Cheers.
  • Nizza_waaarg
    Offline / Send Message
    Nizza_waaarg polycounter lvl 15
    wow dude, where did all that come from :P

    awsome progress man, love those dogs and freeman especially.
    kinda seems like theres too many shots per 'character' tho which makes the one page scrolling thing loose a few points to the gallery view layout imo (which took me a second view to find... might just be me tho :P).

    But yeah, really great work man. If you've got time, might be an idea to throw some textures on morgan freeman (similar to sebcesoir's high poly's). Would sell it a bit more i think.

    Let us know how the job searching goes :)

    edit: maybe drop the prior art thing too? keep things simpler mebbe :P
  • ZacD
    Offline / Send Message
    ZacD ngon master
    I personal prefer no thumbnails, it allows you to look at everything out out clicking or waiting on stuff to load.
  • Michael Knubben
    Yes, I agree, one long list of full images is the most elegant solution.
    edit: cje, he has a thumbnail gallery. The link with the arrow up top points to it.

    Although, I must say there are too many images per project. Try to use the width of the page and to limit your shots to only the best. If an employer doesn't like one of your projects and has to scroll past a lot of images, that might be a bad thing.
    Make an impression with only a few shots.
    aaalso (this is my fourth edit. I am the king of ninja edits), a lot of your pictures won't show fully (vertically) on smaller resolutions.
    edit: now that I'm ninja-editing anyway: take out the reference for your girl warrior. She looks nothing at all like any of it, and that's sending a bad sign. I like the character she has, mind you, it's just that you haven't hit the reference at all and you don't want to show a prospective employer that.
  • woogity
    nice work man amazing growth since this time last year, the dogs are fantastic! really enjoy those two pieces.
  • Canadian Ink
    Offline / Send Message
    Canadian Ink polycounter lvl 12
    That dog is beyond kick ass. I agree with mighty pea that you could really take down the number of pics per project, when i see the final render, a wire frame and your texture map..I think I get the a pretty comprehensive amount of info bout the project. I also wish that your site defaulted to gallery view.,,,Solid stuff though Brad!
  • vcortis
    Offline / Send Message
    vcortis polycounter lvl 9
    Those dogs are TOP TOP notch work. The specular might need a little work in some areas but overall wow man. You really nailed the concept, good job!
  • roosterMAP
    Offline / Send Message
    roosterMAP polycounter lvl 14
    i like the zombie dog. u know any tuts wth how to do gloss map?
  • BoBo_the_seal
    Offline / Send Message
    BoBo_the_seal polycounter lvl 18
    Very solid work Brad! Just a matter of time before you're snatched up by someone.

    - BoBo
  • crazyfool
    Offline / Send Message
    crazyfool polycounter lvl 13
    man that dog is awesome, Great job,
  • OrganizedChaos
    Offline / Send Message
    OrganizedChaos polycounter lvl 17
    Hey, great work on those dogs! That's the best 3d German Shepard I've seen :)
    It's probably already been asked but, do you think you'll ever finish your aspen model?
  • Avanthera
    Offline / Send Message
    Avanthera polycounter lvl 10
    Wow, those dogs are amazing.
  • ghost-d
    Offline / Send Message
    ghost-d polycounter lvl 17
    Hey, Brad. Great work on the shepherd. I´m glad to see some of your new stuff.
  • ivanushka
    Great updates. I've actually been following your art off and on ever since last spring/summer when I noticed you took an art test for a character artist position over at Cryptic Studios, I believe. I also took this very same art test! Just want to say you've made wonderful progress and I really dig the special attention to realism and accuracy in your latest set of models.

    Not wild about the layout/design of your website. It's just too cut and dry (for my tastes), although I understand that you probably just want to make the actual work images the priority of the presentation. I do appreciate that you provide everything pertinent on there, like the texture maps, hi-res models, and final low-res "game-ready" models. Good job over all. You work very hard to achieve your goals, so just hang in there, as I'm sure something will turn up for you eventually.
  • Chclve
    You have some really awesome stuff in there man.
    Would love to see a lowpoly and textured version of the aspen character.
  • BradMyers82
    Offline / Send Message
    BradMyers82 interpolator
    Slum, brandoom, Timothy_graybill, frell, OBlastradiusO, woogity, Canadian Ink, vcortis, crazyfool, shrew81, ghost-d: Thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate all the kind words!

    CJE: Yeah, we already talked about the thumbnail vs. the long web page deal. Pretty much, I'm just doing what HR people seem to prefer, and hopefully having the thumbnails "option", gives the best of both worlds. :)

    Nizza_waaarg: Yeah, I think I might consider dropping the prior art section, or possibly just leaving it to only a couple of pieces. I agree, short and sweet is the way to go. As for personal art, making a low poly and texturing Morgan Freeman is at the top of my list. :)

    ZacD: Yup, glad you agree dude.

    MightyPea: Thanks for the advice. I actually ditched the Low Poly grabs and I think it made things a lot more simple. I totally agree with you. I definetly want to stick to my current presentation setup (that main image with the textures). So I might have to work something out if I want to condense things even more. But, I'll play around with some things and see if I can make it even more condensed. Oh, and got rid of the aspen references on the main page as well. It was supposed to be sort of a mix of all those references, but if it's not clear to you, it might not be clear to others. So no harm in just axing it I think.
    About the vertical scrolling. I might just make more of my images smaller with the option to expand. I would like to keep things as big as possible, but there is a sweet spot I think that works well with lower resolutions. Got any tips there? Thanks for all the great tips dude, and I dig the ninja edits, lol.

    Canadian Ink: Thanks for backing up what MightyPea said earlier. You guys convinced me. :)

    Bobo_the_seal: Thanks man! I still have plans for a personal project to impress you guys down the road. I hope to get started on that soon!

    RoosterMap: Thanks dude. I don't know of any tutorials, but I can just tell you cause its really easy. White value is a very, super tight shine or gloss, and a near black value will give you a really broad shine. So, eyes will have as tight a gloss as you can get, and stuff like fur, would be a darker grey (more broad in shine). Hope this helps!

    Organized Chaos: Hey, glad you stopped by, congrats to you again! Let me know how the new job goes for sure! As for the Aspen model, I would like to finish her, but it's at the bottom of my list to be honest. Its one of those things where I feel I can spend my time better working on other stuff. But who knows, maybe one day I'll just up and finish her.

    Ivanushka: Always awesome to hear people have followed my work. Thanks man! Thanks for crit man. Always important to hear things from both sides about pro thumbnail, and pro long web page. Thanks for the words of inspiration as well, I won't let you down buddy.
  • JonathanF
    Offline / Send Message
    JonathanF polycounter lvl 13
    WOW MAN! great looking work! I love the zombie pug! really freaky! You have amazing work! For sure going to follow your stuff!
  • rawkstar
    Offline / Send Message
    rawkstar polycounter lvl 19
    the GSD looks kinda off, I don't know what it is exactly, I think the front of his nose looks too big/squarish/wide and the ears are too small, I think the head overall just looks a tad big also :) doesn't quite look like a shepherd.
Sign In or Register to comment.