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[Portfolio] Jeff Parrott - Environment Artist

polycounter lvl 19
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Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
http://www.environmentartist.com/

I posted my website overhaul back in 2008. I changed it a bit since then and added a bunch of new work. Any feedback or tips to improve things would be appreciated. Thanks!

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  • crazyfingers
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    crazyfingers polycounter lvl 10
    My favorite scene of yours is the ancient statue model one, but the low res versions of those really kill the scene, even though the high poly versions look great. I'd suggest doing a version of that scene without the low res version, throw in the high poly version if possible or just ditch it. Other than that you have lots of scenes and props that just pull down the site as a whole. The building scene, some of the less than stellar props. You have enough "good" stuff that you can show you're versatile without having to throw in lots of the random other stuff. Also the first scene you see is certainly not your best. Your hand painted stuff is definitely legit too.

    I think you should create 2 main images, one showing hand painted and another showing realistic and people could click one of two images to see the work they're more interested in as you have good stuff in both disciplines and you don't want to scare anyone away looking for a specific style right off the bat. Hope that helps.
  • DDuckworth
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    DDuckworth polycounter lvl 6
    Personally I would put the Mayan scene at the top as I think it's your strongest piece, and the hostel scene I might remove entirely, it seems really subpar to your other works. My second fav of your work is the clean sci fi scene, and some of those sci fi props. They look really great. The Medieval House scene has some great texture work but the lighting makes it feel dull and boring, needs more contrast I think.

    There's my quick and dirty crit :)
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Thanks guys! Awesome feedback.

    I removed the Hostel building scene and reordered the work. I like your idea about splitting the work up for current gen and hand-painted crazyfingers. I can't think of a clean way to do it though. Having 2 images to click on the pages seems like it would be clunky.

    I'll drop in the high res statue and relighting the medieval house to my list of fixes. I've heard the soft lighting critique before on that scene.

    Aside from the work changes anything design-wise about the site that you'd suggest?
  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    Neat.

    You may be selling yourself short by not presenting the professional work up front. I understand that size a good chunk of shipped games is psp, and most of your personal work is newer tech that you'd want a balance of the two. I wonder if there's a way you can get them both on the same page.
  • Minos
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    Minos polycounter lvl 16
    cholden wrote: »
    Neat.

    You may be selling yourself short by not presenting the professional work up front. I understand that size a good chunk of shipped games is psp, and most of your personal work is newer tech that you'd want a balance of the two. I wonder if there's a way you can get them both on the same page.

    Was about to say the same thing. Your commercial work is pretty cool Jeff, I didn't know you worked on PSP games. You shouldn't be ashamed to put them on the first page at all :)
  • ScoobyDoofus
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    ScoobyDoofus polycounter lvl 19
    Website times out for me here.
  • PixelMasher
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    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    you work looks pretty good man. the scifi scene could use a bit more color to break up the grey, its a bit monotone. you could tint the lights and shadows a bit to add some more depth. here is a quick example.

    original scifi_01.jpg

    with a bit of color variation
    scifi_paintover.jpg
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Thanks guys! I'll try to work on that design cholden and Minotaur0. It seems like if I add everything on one page it's going to be giant. But I guess I can have thumbs up top that you can click on or scroll like the pro work is done.

    Edit: I mashed up the pages real fast. What's your opinion on the design?

    http://environmentartist.com/

    Scoobs I'm not sure why. It loads fine for me at home and work.

    PixelMasher THANKS! That kicks the crap out of my version. Amazing what just tinting lights can do.
  • [HP]
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    [HP] polycounter lvl 13
    Great website, and most of the feedback posted are exactly what I would have said! Keep up man, digging your stuff!
  • Minos
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    Minos polycounter lvl 16
    jeffro wrote: »
    Thanks guys! I'll try to work on that design cholden and Minotaur0. It seems like if I add everything on one page it's going to be giant. But I guess I can have thumbs up top that you can click on or scroll like the pro work is done.

    Edit: I mashed up the pages real fast. What's your opinion on the design?

    http://environmentartist.com/

    Scoobs I'm not sure why. It loads fine for me at home and work.

    PixelMasher THANKS! That kicks the crap out of my version. Amazing what just tinting lights can do.

    Yup, I think that's much stronger.

    Another idea would be to move these works to the bottom of your personal work block: Power transformer model, Giant gun model, Street lamp post model and Ancient statue model. You could maybe even condense all these props in a single image. The hand-painted scenes are definitely much more interesting than those props, so they should come first!
  • Rick_D
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    Rick_D polycounter lvl 12
    you use a lot of polygons and it's hard to see where they are spent, or why they are spent in some cases
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Made those changes Thiago.

    I'll try to make my polygon usage more apparent Rick.
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Been a little bit since this post. Reworked the site design and some of the art work on it. The image is one giant link to the site. Any crits or ways to improve the design would be awesome.

    jeffro_website_ver82.jpg
  • PixelMasher
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    PixelMasher veteran polycounter
    right now it looks a bit mish mashed, the worst offender being the models with the black backgrounds. all the thumbs are different sized and jammed together. I would space things out a bit, have apage for enviros and then one for assets maybe. right now its visual overload. or have it all one page, but with some space between enviros and assets to give your eyes some time to rest.
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Valid point as always PixelMasher. I can totally see what you mean with it being all jumbled. :(

    My main goal with the design was to have as much of the art work visible (without scrolling) when the page loads. You still have to. But it is a lot less than I had before. I suppose I could make all the thumbnails the same size. It just felt a bit...well done.

    I will play around with adding a border or spacing. That might work decently for the site.

    Thanks again for the crits man!
  • Tom Pritchard
    I'm not so sure I agree with PixelMasher on the visual overload, I like it, it throws are in my face, although I agree the black backgrounds look out of place. If anything, they should be the same grey as the models above them.
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Thanks Tom! Appreciate the feedback. I'll work on definitely changing the black background color of the model or just removing them (not sure I can rerender 1 of them I think the original file is lost).

    Anyone else have any input on the layout? Too busy or does it work?
  • MiAlx
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    MiAlx polycounter lvl 10
    Hey, i too feel that its a tad too busy.. I agree with adding some spacing, it would certainly
    add a bit of harmony. Right now it just slams everything in your face.

    Another thing: I have heard that some people that are responsible for hiring like to save images and send them around internally. How about adding your name in every image's filename?

    Like instead of "p007.jpg" you name it "Jeff_Parrott_Handpainted_Shack.jpg" or something similar. It could help.

    Anyway, I really like your work, especially said shack!
  • KennyTies
    Just wanted to say your hand painted stuff is awesome, some of my favorite stuff. I agree with putting the mayan scene at the top. Thank you for the inspiration as well. Keep up the awesome work!
  • Jeff Parrott
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    Jeff Parrott polycounter lvl 19
    Thanks MiAlx & KennyTies!

    Working on some cool new stuff that should add to the portfolio nicely.

    I worked in PixelMasher & MiAlx feedback. Mainly spacing of the images as well as naming conventions of all images (good catch MiAlx!)

    But also tried to keep the overall feel of the site I had before with it all in one page.

    I also added a resume page and Word download link since I've had a few people tell me to do that. Anyways here's where it sits now. Thanks again for all the feedback. Appreciate it a lot.

    jeffro_website_ver83.jpg
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