Portfolio Review - James Diab

TwoSuns

Hey Polycount!

My name is James and for the past year I've been studying video game art at a graduate program.

I'm a long time lurker on here and finally decided to post my portfolio and get some feedback from you all, since this community has contributed so much to my development as an artist!

My site: www.jamesdiab.com

So far I've been trying to tailor my site towards employers based off what I've been finding to be the most common layout.

Also I haven't really been sure on what to keep on my site and what I should take down, so I put everything (short of my old embarrassing work) up so you can all help me decide .

** Update **

I decided to remove all links to the Concept Art page for now and temporarily made it hidden from any would-be employers, yet I would still appreciate it if I could get your feed back on whether or not it should be part of my portfolio.

Direct link to the Concept Art page.

ElementsOfIceAndFire

Looks good

Maybe change the order of the sections on the frontpage. I would put "Professional" before "Personal"

Joopson

Looks good, but the amount of personal work is a little lacking, in my opinion. Your scenes are good, but I have no idea if you can do, for instance, an individual prop really REALLY well.

And, I'd disagree with ElementsOfIceAndFire. Your personal scene is considerably more complex and polished than the professional work you've posted, so I think you'd be better off leaving "Personal" first on the list.

Personally, I'd recommend removing the "concept Art" section entirely, if only because it doesn't quite live up to your 3D art; but that could just be me.

Alphavader

looking good - i agree with Joopson.. one thing, that your signature and the udk sign are a bit distracting - i personally would choose a bit more decent way.

TwoSuns

thanks for the feedback so far guys!

@ElementsOfIceAndFire thanks . concerning the order, I might agree more with Joopson mainly because it better shows what i'm capable of compared to my other work. also checked out your indie game's trailer and the art is looking stunning . Hope you get green-lit!

@Joopson glad to get constructive feedback from a fellow student . You raise a strong point concerning individual prop-work. I might make my next piece a diorama just to address that concern. About the concept art section, I also feel they might be lowering the overall quality of the site. Also checked out your site and the individual pieces look really good! Only thing that kind of stood out to me was the glossiness of the blood on the Ax which is looking a bit like plastic. Other than that you've got some great work

@Alphavader thanks . You also make a good point about the signature. At first I tried to place anything on there that would lead anyone who stumbled on my images back to my site, but I should defiantly create a less distracting one. I checked out some of the images on your site and might go with the simple and clean contact info under the images. Also great job getting that classic strategy game feel in your work !

DWalker

The menu bar should fit on a single line, and the title banner should be at the top, above the menu bar.

Joopson

TwoSuns wrote: »

Also checked out your site and the individual pieces look really good! Only thing that kind of stood out to me was the glossiness of the blood on the Ax which is looking a bit like plastic. Other than that you've got some great work

Hey, thanks; I've got a ways to go, but it's nice to know I'm on the right track.

About the blood on the ax, I totally agree that it looks like plastic; but the gloss is all the way up! I think it's a limitation with Marmoset's image-based lighting environments. I was going to render it in the dDo previewer, but I couldn't get the textures to load, as buggy as that program can be, haha. Maybe it's time I try again.

TwoSuns

DWalker wrote: »

The menu bar should fit on a single line, and the title banner should be at the top, above the menu bar.

Thanks for the recommendation! got it fixed.

Joopson wrote: »

About the blood on the ax, I totally agree that it looks like plastic; but the gloss is all the way up!

I was actually thinking you might want to turn the gloss down on the blood. Here's a good reference a stumbled on from S

Tomiajayi

Looks great! You just need more projects. I saw only 2?