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3D Environment Portfolio Critique ( Got rejected...)

greentooth
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tythomas063 greentooth
Hey everyone,

I'm in the third year of the college and studying to become 3D environment artist for the video game industry. I have been applying for the internship which I got rejected from ALL of them. I will really like to know what I'm doing wrong with my portfolio. Is there any project that I should remove from my portfolio? Or my portfolio is simply not impressive enough?...

I definitely believe my work is not up to AAA quality yet and I still have a long way to go. I'm planning to make either a modular exterior environment or diorama environment for next project. Will that be a good idea to make it?

Unfortunately, I could not email them to ask for the feedback and/or reason why I was rejected because the emails were automated or have "noreply...@gmail.com.


I will really appreciate any help and feedback to be on the right track to becoming 3D environment artist by the time I graduated. 


My Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/tythomas063


Thanks,

Tyler

Replies

  • JordanN
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    JordanN interpolator
    Is there any project that I should remove from my portfolio? Or my portfolio is simply not impressive enough?...
    This may be the tough answer you'll have to swallow. 

    Check out this post in the Careers & Education section, from a person involved in hiring. They have to screen through many artists a day, if you don't have the best work, they quickly go for the next artist to consider for a position.

    With school, you have to take the extra initiative to bring your work up to industry standards as opposed to just handing in an assignment just for the teacher to mark it as submitted.

    Regarding your actual portfolio, I previously made a post to another person also looking into getting into environment art, and I think my answer might be the same. There's a severe lack of presentation. Don't fill your portfolio with images that are mostly blank or don't convey a sense of purpose of why they're there. 

    For example, looking at your rocks, you don't need 5 seperate images showing different rock variations. That's too much to scroll through when you should compile them altogether, describe what they are, and showcase a proper breakdown of how you got to the final step of rendering an environment. I also notice the final render looks very low resolution.I'm not sure if it's just because the texture quality is less or if the final was rendered below HD resolutions and then blown up. 

    On your 3D Cabin scene, the idea is there but the execution is still lacking. I take it you only made 1 tree and cloned that all across the scene? That's way too much repetition. It also needs more story. Why is it just a single Cabin in a forest? What is its purpose? 

    Your post apocalypse scene seems like your stronger piece, although I would work on the lighting to get it closer to the concept art. The concept art tells a better mood whereas everything in your scene is brightly lit and takes away from the "apocalypse" element.

    Your watchmaker scene also looks a bit stronger but how you present it right now still needs more work. You only show a wireframe and texture breakdown for just one prop?

    Don't be let down by this. There's still a lot more work for you to go but now is the time for you to go all out and create a far more impressive portfolio. Definitely start looking at some already existing AAA portfolios and aim to match their quality in both presentation, impressiveness and quality.
  • tythomas063
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    tythomas063 greentooth
    Hello, @JordanN

    Thank you so much for your constructive feedback. It gave me a fresh eye on my projects and the progress of hiring an artist. I agree about how I need to take extra initiative to make projects up to the industry standards which is why I only posted my personal projects on Artstation rather than my school projects. I could see all of your points about my portfolio. 

    I've decided to remove the Cabin scene from my Artstation because I realized I'm not really proud of that project and it was the project that I was learning how to make hand-paint assets and import it into UE4 for the first time. 

    Lighting has always been tough to make in the environment which I'm still learning how to improve it. I will keep working on it to improve my lighting in the post-apocalypse scene. 

    As for watchmaker, I definitely will add more breakdowns photos with all of the props I've made. 

    I will keep that in my mind to look at AAA portfolios and match their quality to my next project!  

    It's really is disheartening to receive rejection letters from the studios that I always admired but at the same time, it motivated me more to work harder on making more badass environment. 

    Thanks, Jordan
  • Ashervisalis
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    Ashervisalis grand marshal polycounter

    Hey bud, don't take rejection very hard. It's a super difficult industry to break into. Just keep chipping away at your portfolio, updating LinkedIn, attending networking events, and posting on here.

    Your stuff looks great! You obviously know what you’re doing. You do need to keep improving through. Keep working at improving yourself as an artist. I see that you have themes in your work, but I want more story.

    One of my bigger pieces of advice is to find where you want to work, and create your next environment tailored to that studio. Find a concept artist from there, and create something they’ve drawn for one of their games. Then, find an environment artist from that studio (on ArtStation or something) and ask them to critique what you’ve made.

  • tythomas063
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    tythomas063 greentooth
    Hey @Ashervisalis,

    Thanks, man. That really means a lot to me. I'm definitely going to improve my works by adding more story to it and details.

    That sounds really fun idea to create next environment that is similar to the studio where I want to work at(The Coalition). I definitely will get started on that which I'm very looking forward to it! 

    Thank you so much and I really needed to hear that advice. 
  • Ashervisalis
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    Ashervisalis grand marshal polycounter
    Oh, The Coalition! That's right near where I live in Vancouver. Good luck man!
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