Portfolio Feed Back

Imasho

Hello Polycount I'm a long time lurker on the forum and I'm aiming to stop that and ask for some help.

I'm looking to get back into the games industry and I'd like to know where to go next with regards to improving my work and adding pieces.

If you could take the time and let me know your thoughts

Folio - http://www.philmccabe.com/

Workblog - http://philmccabe-3dartist.blogspot.co.uk/

-Phil

Shrike

The layout is fine (maybe a png for the logo), work is decent but I would advise to sit down for 2 weeks and push out some new things, your latest stuff is always your best stuff.
Then do a hard selection, only show the best work.

Also do you want to do characters or environment ?
For the characters, definitely cut the lizard man, the low poly of the soldier is also kinda dated , the guy in snow is better, but in general the lowpolys are not on the level of your highpolys. The highs are definitely presentable, but rerender them in a consistent way with good lighting and no grey background.

For the environment page, id cut anything but the first, but you see there are huge steps between the projects, thats why i say push out new things . The iOS things do not compliment your portfolio, I would cut that, maybe mention you can rig and animate as bonus, but dont think thats a real benefit for most positions.
For the props, the wall is really nice, the axe and the tree are good, sofa is a little soft but alright, grass looks fine, the chairs have chubby proportions same as the chalkboard and dont look that great, the stones look organic and not like stones, also the form is strange. Lockers do not look like metal, the door is alright, but either put such things in a composition in one picture, or leave them out, they are mere rectangle shapes and not really worth a full image presentation.

The splash damage art test hurts a lot, since its not accurate, definitely cut that
It dosnt really make sense critisizing all those things, the best objects show that you are on a good level, all you need is new things that represent your current, the best state of you
So think what you want to do, may it be hard surface or characters, then push out 3-4 high quality assets that show that you can handle complex surfaces, texturing the whole workflow, and cut all that is dated and not good enough to be shown with the new things

CarlK3D

Here are my thoughts.

Layout: Fine, Cargo Collective works fine. its clean and easy to navigate.

Sketchbook: I think its good that you have traditional art. some of them though are not as complete as the others even though they show different studies. I would remove 4 & 6

Mobile Work: most of it looks good. I'd remove the 2 Large Buttons, there already in shots you've detailed as GUI you've done. The shots with broken textures (Pink) don't compliment the scene well. I'd remove them or paint the pink area black.

Characters: Love the Orc Warrior Sculpt & the solider. most of the others have really deep Normals and AO to the point were there almost black mainly on the skin. Again I'd remove some of the weaker peices (The Star Wars Guy & Maybe the solider low poly) it might just be a weak render but the soldier doesn't have much in the way of lighting

Shaders: I'd replace the Shader network with something like a GIF of the water, I cant really see much of what that shader is doing. For 2D Textures I wouldn't show every different map on its own, I'd Mask the 3 together so you see a sample of each map in 1 Image. the leave normals are kinda pointless they show near to nothing. you already have the lockers in an Environment I'd remove them from the Texture section

Props: To me the Marmoset Plane looks bad. I'd remove it or put the tree in a small scene with grass. the rest looks good just same things again, remove the less impressive things (The sign), make all your textures 1 & Remove Already existing props that are in Environments.

Environments: most have good quality its just some images show very little difference I'm not sure its worth showing them since you have so many there already.

Final Notes:
* Quality over Quantity.
* You don't want your best pieces being overshadowed by your weaker ones.
Hope this helps, remember these are just my opinions based on past experience

Imasho

Thanks very much guys.

Shrike - I hear what you're saying I want to do environments thats where my focus has been lately and where I'd like to be job wise.I enjoy making characters and it sometimes dilutes my time and focus jumping between different projects. Actually thats true of my whole career. I definitely need to pick one! Perhaps I should remove the characters section altogether?

Environments - The top images of the corridor were obviously my latest work and it shows from what you've both said I'd needed to prune this section removing older pieces that I've just been attached to. Picking a new piece to work up is the way to go.

Props as well I'm going to be harsh and edit it right down and as you and Carlk3D suggested to create a few more at my current level and present the current ones better.

I've started removing a few more of the older pieces you've suggested also.


CarlK3D - Thanks for the detailed feedback also. I think what's coming through loud and clear is the quality over quantity and presentation of assets aren't the best. thanks for the positive feedback hopefully the folio will come across as stronger for it.

My thanks again this is just what I needed to hear!

-Phil