3rd Year University Student Portfolio Advice

Apex

Hi all,

I've been a polycount follower for about a year now but have never felt I've had anything good enough to show up until this point. I'm around a week away from a deadline in which I have to improve the content in my existing showreel which was submitted before Christmas.

Current Showreel (about 3 weeks old now):

https://vimeo.com/81619418

And here's my WIP website: http://www.nickpeckham.co.uk/

I'm striving to be an environment artist with a focus on hard surface modelling and texturing but would also like to have an emphasis on trying to be a lighter to open up employment opportunities.


Here are some far more recent stills of the improvements I've been trying to make to the Building Scene which is in the polishing textures stage:

Day time:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91009433@N03/11650015783/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91009433@N03/11649766365/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91009433@N03/11650019703/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91009433@N03/11650542636/

Night time:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91009433@N03/11650130844/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91009433@N03/11649762275/

I appreciate that some of the bricks don't tile properly and that some are much bigger than others which I'm addressing at the moment.I would hopefully like to have both a night and day time pass for this scene.

For the Hangar my lecturer and others have pointed out several times how they think the Hangar scene is too noisy and busy so I have tried to lower the emmissive area's along the walls to concentrate the focal point on the Gunship. I'm also trying to add in some more simplified wall panels to lessen the noise aswell.

I have dropped the anatomy studies as they weren't considered good enough.

Thanks for any advice or critique given.

A happy new year and belated Merry Christmas.

DWalker

The stones forming the arches above the doors in the lighting shots have some problem normals causing odd lighting effects; it's most obvious in the first daylight shot and the second nighttime shot. Look at the stones and you'll see that some are unnaturally dark over part or all of a face.

Demo/show reels aren't really important for artists other than animators & f/x artists. Concentrate on providing quality still images. For the same reason, I'd swap the 3d & showreel pages, and start on the 3d page.

I don't think the 2d pages are providing anything useful.

You seem to have problems with basic human proportions, especially faces, that's apparent in both the 3d & 2d sections. I'd recommend that you go back to the basics with humans, concentrating on the correct dimensions. Your faces overall are too long, giving a very cartoonish appearance.


I personally prefer separate project pages over galleries; I just find them easier to navigate. Your galleries also record cycling through in the browser history, making it harder to go back to a previous section.

Your hangar section seems to have equal detail EVERYWHERE, giving the eye no focal point or opportunity to rest. Ceilings overall should be almost devoid of detail, with only the occasional light or pipes providing any relief from a basic texture. The same is also true (too a lesser extent) of walls, especially as the wall approaches the ceiling. Use light to focus the eye on the central theme (presumably the mech) rather than having everything uniformly bright. Don't be afraid to use colors other than 'gray'; warning stripes, signs, and pipes can all add color, and there's no formal requirement for robots to be monochromatic. The following scene isn't perfect, but it does show some of what I'm talking about:


The white background is rather harsh; I'd recommend using a medium gray as seen on many popular art forums.

On your about page, I'd recommend using the names of the software rather than just the icons. The first people to view your site will probably be HR drones, and they're just filling out a checklist and know almost nothing about the tools. The "Click Here" box is rather large; I'd recommend looking at the layout for other artists' portfolios.

Your CV feels very busy. I don't think I've ever seen a multi-column one before, and the borders, excessive underlining, and multiple colors really detracts from a professional appearance. Again, look at similar resumes from other artists.

None of your employment history seems relevant to your goal; this is often a problem for recent grads, and I suppose other than an internship there's not much you can do.

"Referees" struck me as odd; it might be a British/European phrase, but they seem to be references.

Some of the details on the CV seem rather extraneous. Unless you're planning on driving as part of your job, why mention that you have a driver's license? The same is also true regarding your A-levels; unless they apply, why mention the specifics? (Granted, this might be a British convention...) Overall, given your experience, I'd expect everything to fit nicely with decent spacing on a single page with a single column.

Bartalon

DWalker wrote: »

Some of the details on the CV seem rather extraneous.

I agree here. Your CV is rather cluttered to look at, and reducing the content to only what matters for the job you are looking to get will clean things up. Some of this may echo what DWalker has already said, but below is what I would do to make changes if I were sticking it into my resume:

Unnecessary Content:

• Remove date of birth & driver's license info
• Remove entries under "Training and other related experience" that were part of the training at any university you've already listed. It's expected you can use Photoshop and other software if you list them as skills; you don't need a separate entry to prove that. If it is a certification, you might consider keeping it
• Merge remaining entries under "Training and other related experience" with "Education"
• Remove "Computer Skills" section
• Remove page number in corner
• "A level" and "GC SEs" sections
• You have a lot of divider lines that don't seem to make sense. The section listing the schools you attended has a divider right in the middle. Then they disappear and you don't see them again until all the way near the end of the document (inconsistent). An empty line followed by the next bold-underlined title is enough of a visual indicator to suggest a new chunk of information is ahead.

Consider Removing:

• Interests - this can go in your About Me section on your Website if you insist on keeping it. I personally don't think it has any functionality on a resume
• References (or rather, "Referees") - Another personal opinion
• The phrase "Curriculum Vitae"
• Your address
• Any software you listed that you aren't comfortable working in
• The logo seems just sort of thrown in there. It might work better as a watermark. This way it can be centered on the entire page and not draw a ton of attention as it does now.

Include:

• General title of the job you're aiming for under your name
• An "Applicable Skills" section that lists your specific skills relevant to the job you are looking to get. For instance, High poly character sculpting, low poly modeling, UV mapping, texturing, rigging, animation, etc. This should complement your "Software" section

Organization/Consistency:

• With the above content removed, you should have plenty of room to convert to a single-column layout.
• Order your categories by importance: The most pertinent things should be at the top, while the least at the bottom. My personal order is:
  1) Name/Contact Info
  2) Skills and Software
  3) Work History/Experience
  4) Education

• All entries should include the same information (date of employment, position title, bullet points, etc.) and in the same order. For example, your current CV has the year as part of your title for the colleges you attended, but for your jobs it is not.
• All entries should include bullets of your responsibilities/achievements during your time working there, not just the name of the position you held. For example:
  
  Generic Studios
  Lead Designer
  * Four shipped titles
  * Managed small team and ensured all art assets were delivered on time
  * Designed and constructed ten unique full environments from team's assets

• Try to keep bullets succinct enough to fit on one line. It's a waste of an entire line for a bullet point to have a single word on the next line.
• Don't be afraid to format your document for the sake of alignment and spacing. If you're still crunched for space, try formatting font sizes of inconspicuous areas like blank lines. Drop the size down 3 or 4 points on all spacer lines and it just might win you a whole extra line!

Sorry it may seem like a lot, but it should be a quick bunch of tweaks.


As for your Website in general, DWalker summed up most of my thoughts. One other thing I noticed was you have a lot of text bodies that are still templates like "This is a paragraph." Seeing things like this gives me a negative impression about the owner of the page, like they don't really care. This should be a simple fix on your end; just delete the template text.

Hope this helps

Vertrucio

Also remove all the flash or scripting, or limit it to very sparingly in the form of lightbox style image prep.

Remember that any recruiter or art director is looking at dozens to hundreds of portfolios in a very small timer period. They spend very little time looking at a portfolio, the number is in seconds worth of time, not minutes. Their standard web browsing software will almost always load pages and images faster than your fancy scripts, and the milliseconds saved is more time that they look at your work. No one is impressed by your scripts either, focus on putting good work up to see, not transitions between them. Lastly, those scripts can drastically slow down or completely bug out trying to view your portfolio on mobile devices, and you will be surprised how often you will need to show your work, or something extra you have online, to a potential employer.

Kazperstan

Regards to the Sci-fi scene in your showreel, I know you don't want to be an FX artist, but you might want to edit that hologram effect in the center, its quite a well know tutorial and kinda looks a bit odd that it explodes into the room. Might be worth just having the sphere bit rotating and drop the Explodey bit.

The modular building scene seems a bit flat texture wise, mainly from the images its the things like the traffic lights. On the road and pavements it would be cool to see more street clutter, maybe decal spam the buildings a bit to. In the words of Lewis, MAKE IT DIRTYYYY XD.

Website wise in the 3D section you have some character stuff, if you want to be an environment/hardsurface artist, just drop them and concentrate on the environment stuff.

Best of luck with the deadline, I need to get back to re-rendering mine to WEEEH *flail*

Apex

Thanks a lot for the great and indepth feedback.

@D.Walker
I’ve sorted out the normal issue on the arches somewhat, some kind of artefact in the normal map, must not have set the smoothing groups on the edges to be hard when I baked.

We have to create a showreel for a module but I also thought it was important that you show your environments in real time to prove that you haven’t just edited a bunch of it in photoshop.

I think the lifedrawing is relevant for traditional skill examples and it shows that you can observe well so I’ll probably keep that, no offence.
Yeah, almost all of the character work was created purely because they were required for modules and I’ll likely be taking it out although I would like to keep the self portrait as I spent quite a long time on that. Guilty pleasure somewhat

I’m using wix.com and I did want to change my current template to one with project pages but I’ve already paid for the domain with this template and I’m not sure I’m able to switch it. I’ve been looking through their ready-made ones and can’t seem to find one like that either, probably need to look harder.

It’s one of my biggest regrets is that I spent so long on trying to detail everything that it’s taken so long to do everything else. It definitely was a mistake and one that I’ve learned from but I don’t want to throw away all that work when I’ve put so much time into it. I’ll be trying to keep the ceiling and walls more in shadow as you suggested although it’s certainly a cruel mistress when preview lighting takes 45 mins to bake alone! I’ve tightened the specular a heck of a lot on the wall and ceiling meshes so it should have better contrast now.
Noted about the software icons, I’ll move them somewhere else and keep them in writing on about me.

@ D.Walker and Bartalon
I agree about the need to change the CV and make it more organised and relevant towards Games. I’ve taken most of your tips about making it more organised to. I’m trying out the single column suggestion and re arranging it a bit towards the

@ Vetrucio
Thanks for the advice, I’ll probably change it. Wix has a mobile editor aswell so I’ve been using that to check how it looks. I know they can be a bit buggy but I opted for the slideshows because otherwise my 3D and 2D work pages will be insanely long and they are such a pain in the ass when you need to make more space by move everything else in the page down. Need to find a new template for sure.

@ Kazperstan
Hey Karen, Thanks for the advice. I’ve definitely wanted to change the explodey hologram because it dosen’t fit but I’ve tried a few times and I’ve found a lot easier saying it than doing it. The same goes for the signal lost holo because that’s from another tutorial but I’m not sure I have time to change them if I want to make all the other edits. I’ve been thinking about making a disclaimer so that it dosen’t look like I think it’s my unique work. Like you suggested I’d quite like to have that sphere type hologram that slowly spins like the one in Prometheus and holds its shape the whole time.

With the modular scene I’m getting my hands dirty now and it’s certainly looking a lot more interesting. Decals are going EVERYWHERE and I’d like to vertex paint the ground too.

Agreed about the character stuff, they’re going to the bottom.
The same to you! Not long now… :O

Apex

P.S. I wish I had your X-wing model to replace that sorry excuse for a ship that's currently in the hangar

nfrrtycmplx

Apex wrote: »

Thanks a lot for the great and indepth feedback.

@D.Walker
I’ve sorted out the normal issue on the arches somewhat, some kind of artefact in the normal map, must not have set the smoothing groups on the edges to be hard when I baked.

We have to create a showreel for a module but I also thought it was important that you show your environments in real time to prove that you haven’t just edited a bunch of it in photoshop.

I think the lifedrawing is relevant for traditional skill examples and it shows that you can observe well so I’ll probably keep that, no offence.
Yeah, almost all of the character work was created purely because they were required for modules and I’ll likely be taking it out although I would like to keep the self portrait as I spent quite a long time on that. Guilty pleasure somewhat

I’m using wix.com and I did want to change my current template to one with project pages but I’ve already paid for the domain with this template and I’m not sure I’m able to switch it. I’ve been looking through their ready-made ones and can’t seem to find one like that either, probably need to look harder.

It’s one of my biggest regrets is that I spent so long on trying to detail everything that it’s taken so long to do everything else. It definitely was a mistake and one that I’ve learned from but I don’t want to throw away all that work when I’ve put so much time into it. I’ll be trying to keep the ceiling and walls more in shadow as you suggested although it’s certainly a cruel mistress when preview lighting takes 45 mins to bake alone! I’ve tightened the specular a heck of a lot on the wall and ceiling meshes so it should have better contrast now.
Noted about the software icons, I’ll move them somewhere else and keep them in writing on about me.

@ D.Walker and Bartalon
I agree about the need to change the CV and make it more organised and relevant towards Games. I’ve taken most of your tips about making it more organised to. I’m trying out the single column suggestion and re arranging it a bit towards the

@ Vetrucio
Thanks for the advice, I’ll probably change it. Wix has a mobile editor aswell so I’ve been using that to check how it looks. I know they can be a bit buggy but I opted for the slideshows because otherwise my 3D and 2D work pages will be insanely long and they are such a pain in the ass when you need to make more space by move everything else in the page down. Need to find a new template for sure.

@ Kazperstan
Hey Karen, Thanks for the advice. I’ve definitely wanted to change the explodey hologram because it dosen’t fit but I’ve tried a few times and I’ve found a lot easier saying it than doing it. The same goes for the signal lost holo because that’s from another tutorial but I’m not sure I have time to change them if I want to make all the other edits. I’ve been thinking about making a disclaimer so that it dosen’t look like I think it’s my unique work. Like you suggested I’d quite like to have that sphere type hologram that slowly spins like the one in Prometheus and holds its shape the whole time.

With the modular scene I’m getting my hands dirty now and it’s certainly looking a lot more interesting. Decals are going EVERYWHERE and I’d like to vertex paint the ground too.

Agreed about the character stuff, they’re going to the bottom.
The same to you! Not long now… :O

Everything is easier said than done. Do it. That's the difference between people with jobs and those who are still looking for one.

You're going to end up spending a lot of time explaining away your work, rather than talking about what you can bring to the studio you're interviewing with. If you have to have a disclaimer about any part of your portfolio, it's worth considering not having that item in your portfolio. (by considering I mean absolutely not having it in your portfolio)

What's interesting is this. You say a couple of times you're not interested in reworking something because you spent so much time on it. You also mention that your life drawings are something you want to keep because you spent so much time on them. Pro-tip: Don't be precious about your work. I've been doing this for a long time now, and I've had to rework things I've spent several days on, multiple times. Either because the project needs changed, or the execution was poor. I learned from these revisions. You should take the time now to make the necessary adjustments to position your portfolio above those analogous to you. Currently, your portfolio doesn't do that.

You're not only fighting for a job with those just entering the job market, but you're also competing with people who have been doing this for a few years. These people have practice presenting their work and interviewing, which means you're behind the curve. I assume you have another year of school? If so, that means you have a year to make stuff to go in your portfolio, and I suggest you use that time wisely.

Do what you have to do to get the coursework done and learning the material, but take extra time to do the passion projects that really show what you want to be doing and what you're capable of.

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in tutorial results either. Tutorials are designed to teach you a skill/idea that you can apply to your own creative work.

Also, I would normally agree that life drawing is a good thing to have in your portfolio. But this applies to two types of artists: Those who are doing character artwork or animation as their primary focus, and those who do it well. Neither of which are true in this case.

The life drawing stuff is enough to make any prospective employer not consider you for a position. The anatomy is some of the worst I've scene, the line work is week, and the rendering does nothing to inform the form/underlying bone/muscle groups.

You have a lot of work to do, and I don't want to discourage you from doing that work, but rather discourage you from ignoring valuable and valid criticism from others.

Some of your models are decent. Your work does show potential. But you have a long way to go.

Don't put yourself in an awkward position to have to defend your work all the time. And don't think for a second that what you think is important actually is. Ask people who have jobs (like you already have) what's important, and take notes. These notes should be a roadmap/bible to getting a job in the industry. Polycount is full of a bunch of people who are usually right about this sort of thing. Odds are, if you disagree with the majority (on polycount) you're likely wrong.

I truly hope this is helpful, and I wish you all the luck in the known universe.

I agree completely with everyone else on this thread on every single point. And so will people looking at your portfolio/demo reel considering you for employment.

p.s. My portfolio is garbage, and should not be evaluated for purposes of validating any point made in this post.

Apex

2 weeks of blood, sweat and toiling at the computer and here’s an updated showreel and website:

https://vimeo.com/83732284

http://www.nickpeckham.co.uk/

For myself and so others know I’m aware of it these issues:

To finish the Hangar piece I really think I need to make some of the textures have more dirt and wear on them which I’ll try and do over the next few weeks.

The Modular buildings need some major improvements on the pavement and road, polish for the street props, the banners need to be calmer and those bricks need to tile properly and scale at the same size. Also, more dirt wouldn’t hurt and maybe some graffiti even on the sides of the building might look good to grunge up the scene a bit.

The splash damage art test could really do with something to make it more original so
I’d like to add some sort of function to it, possibly as a fuel pump or generator or something to make it stand out and original.

As a little heads up, for a couple of future environment pieces I am currently working on a survival horror cutscene type trailer with a friend at the University for our 3rd year project. The two concepts at the end of the current showreel are the visualisation for two of those environments.

Here’s the pre-vis for the trailer:

https://vimeo.com/79980992

@ nfrrtycmplx

Thanks for the advice!

I’ve removed all the tutorial holograms and models and made the new Earth hologram with the knowledge I gained from them. I much prefer the simplicity of it to the city type thing in previous versions that was a mess to be honest.
It’s very true what you said about re-iterating and I am trying to be less precious especially with all the new things I’m learning workflow wise. I like to think my efforts to simplify the walls and ceiling and haven’t been completely fruitless to heighten the contrast.

If that’s some of the worst life drawing you’ve seen then you should see my pre-university stuff, it’s likely to induce a stroke! Duly noted though, pencil has never been one to create strong form so I should move on to something with more definition and I’ve removed them from the showreel.

I’m definitely open to all the critique I can get and hopefully it’s coming through that I’m trying to make those changes in this latest update.

Thanks for any future advice or feedback given

stevston89

Don't put Splash Damage's concept on your site. Link to the concept, but it's kind of misleading to show other people's work on your site especially if I have to look at it before I see your work.

Apex

Ok thanks, I generally thought you placed any concepts before the 3D work but I'll remember to change that for the next update.

Apex

Hi all,

I'll keep it short and sweet. I finished my degree course in Games Art around 2 weeks ago and have been adding final touches to my website as of then, I think I'm finally at the stage where I can start applying for a junior position or internship and hope to be considered but would like to hear from anyone willing to give their opinion on improvements I should or could make before sending off any applications.

Here's my portfolio website:
www.nickpeckham.co.uk

Thanks for any feedback

ed_3D

Looks cool! I think you should remove that helmet wip that you have at the bottom though. It's not finished and imo you already have more than enough examples of your work on there, don't need to show everything you've ever done, only your best work

You could maybe create a blog (e.g. blogspot) if you really want to post wip pieces, and then just link to it somewhere on the portfolio site. That way if someone wants to then they'll be able to check it out, and it won't clutter the portfolio.

Also, this might be personal taste, but if possible I would put the showreel video on the main page as well, above all of the work, instead of having it on a separate page. That way there's less clicking

edit: something like this

DWalker

I'd also remove the art test. While the basic silhouette is fine, I think the hi-poly/normal map needs some work to bring out many of the details - the subtle curves at every edge, the indented panels, etc. You've also lost the distinct tri-tone color scheme of white/light gray/dark gray, and the clean matte paint broken only by a few small scratches. Most employers - and potential employers - want you to get as close as possible to the concept.

Keep in mind that you are always judged by the weakest piece in your portfolio; it's better to have 2-3 great pieces than 2-3 great pieces and 1 or 2 mediocre ones.

Having just suggested removing both of your individual objects, I think you should have one or two props demonstrating advanced materials and a good hi-poly to low-poly bake.