Another Environment Artist Portfolio Critique

Ostraga

Hey guys,

I've been seeing a lot of portfolio critiques being posted today and was curious as to how my portfolio holds up.

A little background about me, I'm currently living in Montreal and had joined the Age of Conan team at Funcom as a Junior Environment Artist before the layoffs. Unfortunately I only accumulated roughly 5-6 months of industry experience there. I've been having a hard time finding a position at a new company due to what seems to be a lack of work at the moment. I haven't made any new additions to my portfolio in quite awhile but am going to start working on some new pieces in my spare time.

I'm looking for any type of critiques from the quality of my art, portfolio layout, presentation, etc. literally ANYTHING! Thank you very much in advance =D it is much appreciated.

http://www.coreybastos.com/

beefaroni

The Age of Conan works looks good; however, when I first get to the website, I don't see it instantly.

Your two personal works lack any type of wear.

Ostraga

The Sci Fi wall was originally part of a larger environment I had started awhile ago. I was aiming at a cleaner sci fi art style.

I was conflicted on whether I should have the Age of Conan section as my first image since the initial image doesn't show any work.

dissonance

I think you should replace the initial image with something that does show your work, and move it to the top.

Ostraga

@dissonance - Will do!

CarlK3D

- Site is Simple and easy to navigate.
- Your Resume seems a bit blurry possibly due to the decreased size
- Since all your work is on the front page I don't think there's much point having a drop down box
- Castle Scene looks Clean & nice to look at, not many renders though
- Age of Conan stuff looks good.
- I would either Finish the Sci-Fi environment or Remove the Wall it doesn't show much compared to your other Work

Ostraga

@CarlK3D - Really appreciate the input. I'll probably go ahead and remove the drop down. I'm probably going to start a new scene fairly soon and replace the wall with it eventually. I'll be making all the changes addressed by everyone hopefully tonight.

Alphavader

/signed with CarlK3d

- in the scifi scene you can see the small mirror line - i would fix that.

Also sign your work! (at least the main images) - cant say this often enough

Optinium

I viewed it on my 2nd monitor @ work (1280x1024) and e work appeared huge and went of page due to the resolution. I'd try and make it more low res/mobile friendly.

Harbinger

Some suggestions -

- Put the Age of Conan stuff up front and center, it's your best work. Show it first!

- The Cathedral environment looks pretty good but it seems unfinished. You need trims around the bottoms of all of your walls and pillars so they blend into the floors better. Add some pews to help the visual interest and balance between the floor and ceiling. Add a different texture to the aisle leading to the altar area to help break up the tiling floor texture and to create a leading line into your composition.

- I can spot some shading errors on your sci-fi wall around the vents. In a larger scene I probably wouldn't notice, but since it's a lone asset that you're showing off I'd expect it to be flawless. It's in dire need of some more detail as well. Even if you're going for a nice clean look, it needs some variation in the specular pass and some minor dirt/grunge. Get some text, numbers or logos on there as well.

JustGarry

Your work is good but it does seem unfinished, your cathedral needs a wow centre piece such as a statue and the items suggested by Harbinger. The sci fi wall needs to be made into a whole scene, using modular peices and again needs a point of interest. Age of Conan stuff should be higher up and doesnt need to be separate from your other work.

Hope this helps

Good luck!

Rurouni Strife

Fill up that cathedral! You clearly know what you're doing and are good at it so just finish it! Pews and flags and pews and flags and pews!

And maybe an altar and candles and stuff.

Ostraga

@Rurouni Strife - It's funny you mention it. I was just thinking about adding some sort of torn hanging banner / flag on the empty wall.

@Harbinger - I absolutely agree that the cathedral environment does indeed feel unfinished. Your comments along with other people's have inspired me to go back and really finish it up. I'll be adding a trim around the base of the pillars.. along the walls and I'll be doing something down the middle along the lines of a trim or a torn carpet leading up to the door/some other main focal point piece I may add.

GOBEE

My initial impression is it's quite boring. Where is the color?

I would definitely, like others suggested, move the Conan to the top. If that image you're using isn't yours, place the Age of Conan title on one of the renders you have there and use that instead. It shows you have experience and you're hire-able.

The Sci-Fi wall, I totally get it, but it just being alone isn't very strong. If you can throw in more of that environment, maybe add just a little bit of wear (look into the Borderlands art style) it will go along way.

The cathedral is mostly where I get bored. The work you have in general is a lot of brown and gray. Throw in some color. Someone mentioned banners/flags, even just a simple orange hanging flag on one of those walls will help. Some shields, swords etc. Throw some more props in there to populate it and you'll have a better portfolio piece.