I understand the sentiment of what you're saying. I wanted to work on this thread as something beyond my portfolio. That's why there might be confusion right now because you might be thinking if I'm going to be using this stuff to apply for jobs. But I still want to make stuff like this even when I'm in the game industry.
If you then wonder "how am I improving my art?" I still want to have the stuff in my thread match the movies. The suggestion and critiques may then lead to this goal as I can read opinions and remind me that not everything can be perfect. It also motivates me to aim for higher quality because critics will expect more of me from the last art piece.
You should be posting the work you're doing for your portfolio as well. Since those are the things that will get you jobs, they'll need the critique more, and besides, we're more fit to give it relevant critique.
I understand the sentiment of what you're saying. I wanted to work on this thread as something beyond my portfolio. That's why there might be confusion right now because you might be thinking if I'm going to be using this stuff to apply for jobs. But I still want to make stuff like this even when I'm in the game industry.
You first need to have a portfolio to "go beyond it". Your single barrel is not a portfolio. You're not going to even get into the industry if you keep doing this kind of stuff. Just take a step back, pick a proper concept made by someone who knows what they are doing and follow it 1:1. Don't do that after finishing this project, do it now.
All that these kinds of threads are doing is making you look like a joke. It's not helping you and you're certainly not getting any better from these projects.
This is why I suggested going back to the tank. Done well, it will contribute to both aims.
The tank was actually designed with different requirements in mind. I didn't think of reworking them because they were mostly one shot (to fit a scene when I needed it).
You first need to have a portfolio to "go beyond it". Your single barrel is not a portfolio. You're not going to even get into the industry if you keep doing this kind of stuff. Just take a step back, pick a proper concept made by someone who knows what they are doing and follow it 1:1. Don't do that after finishing this project, do it now.
I want to get started on it but I want to make sure I'm ready first. I've been looking at other portfolios and trying to get ideas on what I should be doing. I realize it's going to take a lot of effort because I have to "make art that can stand out".
I got started on the cartoons while I was still thinking of this.
How the hell do you plan on making sure you're ready? By doing personal projects you don't even 100% understand yourself? You're perfectly ready right now. You know the basics of 3d so you're pretty much set. Stop making excuses and just do it. It doesn't matter what concept you pick, just pick a damn concept and do it. Don't worry about other portfolios and trying to stand out because right now you're not going to no matter how much you look at other peoples work and "get ready".
While you're goofing around here with your hand drawn pbr art there are people all around the world working their ass off, pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and networking like hell. Guess who's going to get hired when that awesome job opening appears: you or them?
I'm not suggesting ditching what you're doing, like others seem to be, in favour of a "standard" portfolio. I'm suggesting that concentrating on an easy to understand asset (one you've already started) can be a valuable learning process if you approach it correctly, which (can be) attractive to certain types of studio as well as helping to nail this style you seem somewhat obsessed with and presumably hold close to your heart. Keep it focused, work on improving each element of the model and the style, figure stuff out for yourself, decide what you're doing and why, WHY you're doing it, develop, be critical, apply, think, think, think.
getting a natural and intuitive grasp on that is going to be super important for many different jobs in the sphere of art/visualisation. You need to decide whether it's just games you're aiming for first, I guess. It might well be that you're better suited elsewhere.
Here's a little bit of real talk for you Jordann. This is specifically aimed at the "Make sure I'm ready for it" towards your portfolio thing. Hypothetically... You're "Ready" to start your portfolio, you start it and you knock out one good piece... Okay, one piece done and dusted buddy congrats (Y)... now you move onto the next, another good piece, congrats! fast forward, 3/4/5... by the 5th piece Jordann, your first piece is most likely going to look like shit compared to the 5th one, by the 5th piece you would have picked up something new, a game changer method or technique you realized you should have been doing all along... 100% guaranteed. The point is that your portfolio will cycle and cycle until infinity's end as an artist... the only time you'd probably get consistency on portfolio is when you're finally a senior or a lead artist but even then that's very likely not true... The point is that Pigart saying "You're perfectly ready right now", is so unbelievably true that it hurts my face.
Have some faith in yourself and step over to your portfolio. If this is a hobby for you, then sure... do this, no-one will judge you... but if you plan on getting into this industry you're better off not wasting your time building a project like this.
Im not sure why Im even writing this...but here we go xD HI Jordan, you've been here for a while now, I have one question for you:
have you ever had a thread/project where you dindt have to explain yourself? why is that? seriously think about that, and see what you can change to make things more clear, because (no offense) its definitely on you, nobody is this confused in other threads.
secondly; Im not even gonna go into your art, but you need to take a serious look on how you present yourself and your projects. you have like 5-6 threads going on at the same time, and in every of those projects you are working on 3-4 scenes and at least 10 props at the same time. since you joined here you have managed to make about one finished prop. You have posted sketches and grand designs of so many things, but they never lead to anything. sure, you might have a problem with your fundamentals, but your biggest problem is that your not doing anything really.
This is you, you might think your doing work, but your actually procrastinating, tricking yourself that your working, but your really just "dreaming big".
have you ever had a thread/project where you dindt have to explain yourself? why is that? seriously think about that, and see what you can change to make things more clear, because (no offense) its definitely on you, nobody is this confused in other threads.
I can answer this.
It's not really true all my threads on Polycount had me explaining myself. It's actually been just a few threads where it happen and they all tend to be related (i.e work on hobby stuff).
As for why it happens, I think it would be too controversial to post. I think the best action is to say nobody is wrong in this.
Finished the 3rd scene. There was going to be more content but I cut them. I thought this scene was getting too crowded. Edit: Removed the black shadows.
The funny thing is I still tried sticking to my references to the end. I only textured things that the references only allowed even when I thought of disagreeing.
It's a challenge trying to match 2D artwork but it's that aspect that inspires me to keep working on this. It gives me a goal to keep making something better than the last.
I have to disagree on this one. The proportions are bigger but it was because I was following what Skankerzero said. To avoid having too many models that looked unmodified from real life. I also thought of making the body bigger to counterbalance the lamphead (so it didn't look like it would tip over).
Ok, got to ask directly: Did you understand, what Pedro tried to tell you?
Your `finished scene` is nothing more than a blockout, maybe less. And there´s no hand drawn 3D art either. Don´t take a poor concept to excuse your art. After all, the finished 3D art is what matters and a bad concept can´t be the excuse for the final piece. Of course, taking a (2d) concept into 3D properly is surely a skill you want to have, but then you should at least work from a concept that is WORTH translating into 3D. Your scene is very simple and, in my opinion, not as stylized as you may wanted it to be. There is no texture work, no proper shading and the modeling is, well, at a blockout stage.
Again, as everybody said, slow down, choose an object (car, house, weapon, anything) and model, texture and shade it until you are happy with it and get some critique on it here. If you manage to create solid single props, you eventually can start on scenes and I bet this way you will learn much faster and have more fun as well. Nobody here wants to dishonor your work but you really go a hard way the way you attend 3D.
I mean, I do want to. But at the same time, I always wanted to strike a balance of being able to output this art at a faster rate. It's why I've been stressing I wanted to treat this as a hobby thing versus an actual AAA project. As much as I want the later, it would really require a lot more time to get everything professional looking. It's something I can do down the line though.
Now that I made 3 scenes in Unreal Engine 4 and started familiarizing myself with movie artstyles + shaders, I do want to step back a little and spend more time making a more polished scene. That includes working on some single props first before jumping back into a diorama.
So there will be a Scene 4 I want to make with higher quality in mind. I'll start posting more about it after or during the time I start making my SEGA Genesis prop.
Replies
If you then wonder "how am I improving my art?" I still want to have the stuff in my thread match the movies. The suggestion and critiques may then lead to this goal as I can read opinions and remind me that not everything can be perfect. It also motivates me to aim for higher quality because critics will expect more of me from the last art piece.
All that these kinds of threads are doing is making you look like a joke. It's not helping you and you're certainly not getting any better from these projects.
I want to get started on it but I want to make sure I'm ready first. I've been looking at other portfolios and trying to get ideas on what I should be doing. I realize it's going to take a lot of effort because I have to "make art that can stand out".
I got started on the cartoons while I was still thinking of this.
While you're goofing around here with your hand drawn pbr art there are people all around the world working their ass off, pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and networking like hell. Guess who's going to get hired when that awesome job opening appears: you or them?
getting a natural and intuitive grasp on that is going to be super important for many different jobs in the sphere of art/visualisation. You need to decide whether it's just games you're aiming for first, I guess. It might well be that you're better suited elsewhere.
Hypothetically... You're "Ready" to start your portfolio, you start it and you knock out one good piece... Okay, one piece done and dusted buddy congrats (Y)... now you move onto the next, another good piece, congrats! fast forward, 3/4/5... by the 5th piece Jordann, your first piece is most likely going to look like shit compared to the 5th one, by the 5th piece you would have picked up something new, a game changer method or technique you realized you should have been doing all along... 100% guaranteed. The point is that your portfolio will cycle and cycle until infinity's end as an artist... the only time you'd probably get consistency on portfolio is when you're finally a senior or a lead artist but even then that's very likely not true... The point is that Pigart saying "You're perfectly ready right now", is so unbelievably true that it hurts my face.
Have some faith in yourself and step over to your portfolio. If this is a hobby for you, then sure... do this, no-one will judge you... but if you plan on getting into this industry you're better off not wasting your time building a project like this.
There's still a few more scenes I'm pushing through but I'll be posting the portfolio stuff alongside this thread very soon.
For now, here's a second scene I've just finished work on.
HI Jordan, you've been here for a while now, I have one question for you:
have you ever had a thread/project where you dindt have to explain yourself? why is that? seriously think about that, and see what you can change to make things more clear, because (no offense) its definitely on you, nobody is this confused in other threads.
secondly; Im not even gonna go into your art, but you need to take a serious look on how you present yourself and your projects. you have like 5-6 threads going on at the same time, and in every of those projects you are working on 3-4 scenes and at least 10 props at the same time. since you joined here you have managed to make about one finished prop. You have posted sketches and grand designs of so many things, but they never lead to anything. sure, you might have a problem with your fundamentals, but your biggest problem is that your not doing anything really.
This is you, you might think your doing work, but your actually procrastinating, tricking yourself that your working, but your really just "dreaming big".
It's not really true all my threads on Polycount had me explaining myself. It's actually been just a few threads where it happen and they all tend to be related (i.e work on hobby stuff).
As for why it happens, I think it would be too controversial to post. I think the best action is to say nobody is wrong in this.
I'll get some modeling started soon as I finish off more of my gas station.
The scene is pretty damn big. So big, I put in my Canadian Battle Tanks here as a test. I think you could hold some nasty tank battles here alone.
But not right now
There was going to be more content but I cut them. I thought this scene was getting too crowded.
Edit: Removed the black shadows.
The funny thing is I still tried sticking to my references to the end. I only textured things that the references only allowed even when I thought of disagreeing.
It's a challenge trying to match 2D artwork but it's that aspect that inspires me to keep working on this. It gives me a goal to keep making something better than the last.
????
Everything in this scene is measured in centimeters. I think I even made them a bit shorter than the real life reference I used.
It makes yours look huge and hulking in comparison.
The proportions are bigger but it was because I was following what Skankerzero said. To avoid having too many models that looked unmodified from real life. I also thought of making the body bigger to counterbalance the lamphead (so it didn't look like it would tip over).
You have to develop an eye for simplification. It's not a blanket rule that applies to every asset, just the ones that need it.
Ok, got to ask directly: Did you understand, what Pedro tried to tell you?
Your `finished scene` is nothing more than a blockout, maybe less. And there´s no hand drawn 3D art either. Don´t take a poor concept to excuse your art. After all, the finished 3D art is what matters and a bad concept can´t be the excuse for the final piece. Of course, taking a (2d) concept into 3D properly is surely a skill you want to have, but then you should at least work from a concept that is WORTH translating into 3D.
Your scene is very simple and, in my opinion, not as stylized as you may wanted it to be. There is no texture work, no proper shading and the modeling is, well, at a blockout stage.
Again, as everybody said, slow down, choose an object (car, house, weapon, anything) and model, texture and shade it until you are happy with it and get some critique on it here. If you manage to create solid single props, you eventually can start on scenes and I bet this way you will learn much faster and have more fun as well. Nobody here wants to dishonor your work but you really go a hard way the way you attend 3D.
Anyway, have fun : )
It's why I've been stressing I wanted to treat this as a hobby thing versus an actual AAA project. As much as I want the later, it would really require a lot more time to get everything professional looking. It's something I can do down the line though.
Now that I made 3 scenes in Unreal Engine 4 and started familiarizing myself with movie artstyles + shaders, I do want to step back a little and spend more time making a more polished scene. That includes working on some single props first before jumping back into a diorama.
So there will be a Scene 4 I want to make with higher quality in mind. I'll start posting more about it after or during the time I start making my SEGA Genesis prop.