[Portfolio] Charles Metze III, Character Artist

MrHobo

Hey everyone, I've spent the summer rounding out my portfolio (recent grad here) with some new work as I begin the job hunt.

Portfolio: http://www.the3dcharles.com/

I wanted to make sure that I haven't missed something major in terms of presentation, layout, spelling , etc.
So my question is what's hurting my portfolio?
Anything you think should be dropped or rearranged? I've done some pruning myself, but Im afraid I may have missed something.
What works and what doesn't?

Also fyi, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo piece will be updated as soon as the low poly is done.

Thanks for any feedback you guys and gals can give.

Tits

Hey there charles
Really like your portfolio! The only thing I can say is related to the template. A little mistake I did when making my portfolio is using wide thumbnails (but mine are really small and yours are way bigger but still). Wide thumbnails are really great are showcasing environment art but I think that it kinda always cut the image in a weird spot when it come to character art. So it's just a suggestion but maybe a longer thumbnails would help you showcase your work better?

No matter what, great work dude and the best of luck for your job hunt.

Luka

really splendid work charlie

MrHobo

Thank Luka
Tits, I never considered that so I mocked this up. I think this is a much better layout. A lot more compact and much more punchy.

Lee3dee

Great stuff Charles!! my only crit would be to put the laptop piece in the "old work folder" because you have more impressive work on the site now

Tits

Wooo
I love it charles I think it look really neat like that, It gives a way better preview of your character with the vertical tumbnails!

MrHobo

Lee3dee- Good call, I have officially retired it to the old work folder Thanks!
Tits- Thanks, everything's updated now.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

Brandon.LaFrance

Hey, man, its looking good to me. Straight to the point with a nice range from stylized to realistic. Just one tiny thing bugs me. On your beauty render of Lucifer whats up with that thing poking him in the ear? It pulls my attention right into his ear hole.

In any event, I'll definitely be taking a page out of your book when it comes time to overhaul my folio.

avagoyamug

Hey there Charles!

A well meant advice, I myself had to learn the hard way: Only show your best work!
It's true, it's important to show projects that cover the whole workflow, but man, Lucifer and the right one don't do you any favour! The thumbnails on the bottom (that no one hiring will look at, trust me) actually look way better than the top stuff!

I know you put a lot of work into those game-ready characters, but they really drag down the overall impression of your work! Kick them!

In general you'r on the right track though, just put the mileage in!

MrHobo

@Brandon.LaFrance It was a shard of glass. I missed it when i was cleaning up the scene, lucky you were not the only person to notice the oddity and it has now been fixed, thanks

@avagoyamug Thanks for the advice, Lucifer will be cycled out on my next update (all ready have a cool idea cooking) as will the work on the far right.

I was hoping you could clarify what is holding back the these pieces though, I want to make sure whatever mistakes are there that I do not repeat them in my upcoming work. Also I could be misunderstanding you but are you suggesting I drop off game res art from my portfolio?

MM

you made lots of progress from last year but i will get right down to the feedback.

first, never ever put wip pieces in your portfolio if you are in the job hunt. (untextured Noomi character)
employers wanna see finished work and work that you think are the best you can do. they dont want to see what you might be able to do (excluding some companies that leech on entry level artists and try to hire them cheap)

second, i think you made lots of improvement over the past year but your current portfolio doesnt reflect that entirely. you need to put lot of extra hours, sleepless nights into work and bang out few more fully textured characters. try including some props and environmental stuff. right now you are lacking quantity.

third, when working on new portfolio pieces, think in terms of showing your skills. try to show that you can create different surfaces properly in realtime. have examples of wood, metal, cloth, skin, rubber, plastic, concrete, foliage etc.
then think about showing off hard surface modeling (high/low/normal baking) cloth sculpting, etc.

i am not saying you have none of these, but right now you only have some of these and try to put out as much more as you can before you apply for jobs.

when you apply for jobs, first impression is critical. dont expect to improve your portfolio and get a second chance with same employer who was left unimpressed at first glance.

also, i suggest removing everything on the bottom row, the small thumbnails.
everything on that row just look wip and amateurish.