Portfolio review

rickjragon

Hey guys and gals I seem to have hit a wall in my job search process. Basically, I've not gotten anything from any applications. Nada. So I am to assume it's my portfolio that's not up to par. I've beefed it up recently but it's not enough it would seem. So all I ask of you is to give me feedback on my stuff. What I should omit what I should rearrange or anything that can give me an edge. Thanks!

Jragon.carbonmade.com

I've asked people who work in industry and have gotten loose answers. So I assume the power of anonimity will get people to speak freely.

chrisradsby

Hey man! I'll try to be as honest as I can, for your sake. I don't intend to be mean or anything like that, I'm just trying to help. I've been in your situation as well and there comes times where you have to offer your whole life to something if you want to achieve your ambition and on polycount we have lots of these types of people. Even those who are already settled in the industry work hard everyday to level up and make sure that we can keep doing what we love for a few more years.

So to lead into the feedback regarding your portfolio.

I do believe you need something with more depth.The payphone is still just a payphone and from what I can see it's not like the most awesome payphone I've ever seen. (which it needs to be if it's going to impress employers).

From what I can see you need something more with substance, art with some depth. A fridge with an octopus arm is a very weird prop to have in your portfolio when it lacks context. I know it sounds harsh but it's a really competative and tough industry to get into. Like the "home is nowhere" environment, in the end it's just walls with a quick concrete texture slapped on it, basically it feels like an environment that you put together in one day. Even though it might not be so it feels like that since you never go the extra mile to make sure you have the polish and quality you want for portfolio material.

You are competing against everybody else out there looking for jobs. If you don't have an equally well-presented portfolio or better you won't get that interview. You also need to show you have the technical skills needed for the industry. So showing off lods, texture-flats and maybe some kind of modular/technical workflow of something would help. The bar for industry-juniors today is set ridiculously high.

Employers want to see an understanding of normal maps, specular maps, gloss maps and diffuse maps. How they work, used and different ways to go about making them. Great material definition, they want to see smart UVs, technical workflow and understanding.

I hope you don't mind me asking: How long have you been at it? Are you studying?

I believe that it would be good for you to sit down, take a serious look at your work and yourself and ask: "What am I good at?" , "What do I like to do" and just focus on that, become awesome at that. Specialize a bit more and try other things once you've come to a pro-level.

rickjragon

I've been out of school for about a year now. I'll take your suggestions about adding more depth to my work. As for showing off texture sheets, I've gotten mixed feedback about that since it doesn't prove anything more than my models and how they look. If a future employer wants to see how good technically I am they will usually offer an art test. As it stands, I have yet to get one of those. So something is missing in terms of them wanting to go further with me. Could also be the job market where I am now too. Bu I will consider what you said. Thanks!

Amadreaus

Chris's advice about specializing is sound. I'd show some more prop work from high poly through texturing to show your understanding of pipeline. Maybe tackle new projects with small scope to get updated work out there quickly.

tristamus

You must consider condensing what you have, man. The less clicks, the better. I don't want to click on a category and only find 2 pics in it! Put it all into 2 or 3 If you have enough work). At the moment, it's a bit skim, so that may be hard to do. Anyways, point of the matter: LESS CLICKS = BETTER.

Also, consider making it a scrolling page, so I don't have to click the images to get to the next one.

Archanex

Hey man, I absolutely agree with what Chris said. I think you need more substance. Your goal is to IMPRESS people and nobody is going to be impressed by some walls and a payphone by themselves. Look at portfolios that inspire you. Ask yourself how you can make your portfolio more like that.

One trap I think a lot of students and recent grads fall into is feeling like they don't have enough content for a portfolio, so they try to spread out their work into more images to make it seem like they have more than they really do, when in reality you need to be doing the opposite, how much awesome can you pack into a single image without making it overly busy, that's what you should be asking yourself. Anyway I hope this helps.

Ex-Ray

rickjragon wrote: »

As for showing off texture sheets, I've gotten mixed feedback about that since it doesn't prove anything more than my models and how they look. If a future employer wants to see how good technically I am they will usually offer an art test

My attitudes are to be open and transparent and show good breakdowns of your work, it's just a simple way to demonstrate you understand it all and where your skills are at. Why add doubt to potential employers if they can't see wireframes and texture sheets?

I also agree with Chris as well, if you are marketing yourself as an environment artist then you need to show examples of fully fleshed out environments right off the bat at the top. Having 2 content rich scenes would be a good start with the props off that as a spin off page to show off more detailed breakdowns of your 'hero' pieces, showing skills in HP modelling, high-low poly baking etc.