Portfolio Critique request.

dwgagner

dustingagner.com

Critique requested, I was previously pursuing character art but have recently switched to environments. Which is why there's a bit of everything atm until I get enough new environment stuff to possibly drop my character work entirely.

Spoon

Super portfolio, Dustin!
It's simple, fast to get through content, and consistent. I really like the layout of the site. No funky splash screen and stuff like that
Also, you have some great content in there
Can't really see any way to improve the site itself.
Good job!

CarlK3D

Your Concepts are amazing. Your Characters are really nice, except maybe the last one. textures seems a little basic compared to the rest.
Your Environment piece is really nice. only thing that throws the scene off is the flag on the floor is self illuminated and doesn't connect well with the scene. but over all it looks nice
In terms of design. There's no need for a Gallery button if the header takes you to the gallery anyway. its redundant. also your social Links are broken but im sure you know this.

Natland

Your environment and hunter character are the best by far, I like that you had them first. I found the site loaded fast and was easy to access. The only negative thing I can think of is that your art still needs improvement overall (as does everyone's when you are a artist haha). I found your environment good but your foliage could better and you should have areas of "rest" for people's eyes? But hey I mean I don't really have a realistic eye for things, so take it with a grain of salt!

dwgagner

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback so far.

dwgagner

Bumping this.

cholden

Looks good, but this site is broken up too much, hiding your art and reducing visibility.

Remove "GALLERY" as a choice. It's fine as a start page, but is redundant to the other 3 sections being there

Normally, I'd suggest all portfolio content on a single page, but this tri-split is "ok".

I didn't notice the image navigation buttons before, so I thought it'd be nice if all the full size images were on a single page just so I could scroll. The nav buttons are nice, though add more clicks to content. Some like it, some don't

Merge "ABOUT" and "CONTACT" into a single "RESUME" page.

Having a blog is cool too.

Logithx

I'd remove the extra page in the beginning, instead just put two columns of your best work next to eachother on the home page (characters next to environment art) until you have enough environments to fill up an entire page, at which stage you could move your characters to a seperate page (assuming you are interested in environment art jobs only). Give concepts a seperate page. Use your best image to represent the project then people can decide to click on it for more pics (for a break-down etc.). Make it clear what kind of area you are looking to get into. '3D artist' is too general, it could mean any field that involves computer graphics.

As far as your work goes, the environment piece is pretty good, but fairly small and simple at first glance. Make more of them, with a different setting for each. Also, why is there a ship and weapon on the environment page? Move individual props to their own section unless they are part of the environment itself. I'd remove the ship because it's WIP and doesn't have the same quality as some of your other work (I'd also remove old work). I wouldn't post any WIP clay renders at all (only finished pieces that are shown as clay renders for an environment break-down) or at least move them to a seperate page.

If I was you I'd focus on making an environment piece that would serve as your 'flagship', something that really shows off your skills and makes people wow. It would be the piece that you'd put at the very top of your site, often you can tell whether someone is skilled just by looking at the first screenshot for a few seconds. If you can impress people on that first impression, they will be motivated to continue looking further and perhaps look at the break-downs.

I prefer to have at least one of these big complex 'flagship environments' (as I like to call them). They can take months to make, but they will always stand out. Compliment this by making smaller pieces that can be made with more frequency so that you can show off your ability in making environments for different settings (sci-fi, landscapes, fantasy, western etc.). Just remember that in the end it's quality > quantity.

Good luck!