Reel & Portfolio - feedback please?

teeth

Hi Polycount, my first real content submission is my reel and portfolio. I just graduated university this past January and most of this is work done in my final semester. I graduated with a BFA but unfortunately my program focused more on traditional mediums. It wasn't a design program so regrettably, I feel like I'm quite behind my peers graduating from programs more geared towards video games and new media. My skills in Photoshop Blender and Zbrush are entirely self-taught. My school only offered class in Maya, and I would say my skills in that are competent at best.

I have a few questions regarding my portfolio/reel, but here it is first:
http://samluo.weebly.com/
(Reel is on the home page.)

First is, I have no idea what a good domain name is. I see a lot of either quirky domains, or just the artist's name. Which is better?

Second, what is expected of students freshly graduating? I've been applying for jobs somewhat casually, and have gotten a few responses saying that my skill doesn't fit their needs or I get no response at all. But I've been applying to internships and 'junior' level positions. Are they only seeking individuals with skill sets from design programs?

Third, knowing all of the above, do I need more education? Am I competitive? What can I do to make myself more attractive to employers?

Lastly, I've no idea what I'm doing as far as composing a portfolio XD What I've put together was at the advisement of my professor, but I'd like the community's heavy input. Please tell me what's good/bad/too little/too much.

CarlK3D

your name is normally best, keep it short, easier to remember and tell people. most portfolios I see just use there name since there portfolio is basically there brand.

As for what employers expect, They look for what there companies needs are. no point applying for a position as say...a character artist if they need Level designers. art style is also Important, what are the games they've made or worked on in the past, that will give you a good idea of what there looking for.

It's good to pick 1 area you enjoy the most and stick to it. while its good to have a general understanding of all area's if you try to do everything you'll be a Jack of all trades but master of none. they look for talent, something that stands out that will make you stand out from the rest. so I think its Important to specialize in your favorite area.

You seem to have talent in hand painting so it might be worth continuing with that, just keep working every day, fill out your portfolio and remove some of the thing that dont look as good when you add new stuff. I think your hand paints are good I dont think you need further education Unless you dont think your confident enough to learn on your own, but you said your mainly self taught so I think you all good there.

Mixing Images with your 3D models might not be a good idea, in the beach image I wasent sure for a moment if the pebbles where 3D or just an Image. your characters have fair less detail then most other things, mainly just color shading and the bikers anatomy seems a little off.

Also Wireframes? Are they Low Poly Baked? Diffuse only? these are Important questions to ask if you want to work in games, referring to the characters.

For just coming out of Uni i think your work is good, it was definitely better then mine when I finished, most things I did where rubbish since time limits combined with learning while doing it.

Tobbo

I'd remove your first 3 models in your portfolio and demo reel. These are no where near the quality that your hand painted stuff is at. Your hand painted stuff is really good. Is this what you enjoy doing the most? That's what I can gather from your portfolio and demo reel. If it is, I'd really focus on that and build your portfolio around that and cut out the rest of it.

Something that really bugged me while watching your demo reel was the awkward zoomed in camera movements. I'd keep it more simple and zoomed out so the viewer can actually appreciate the art without having it forcefully shoved in their face by the camera.

Really try and put Blender away and start using Maya, if you feel somewhat competent in that. There are plenty of tutorials and resources online, so there's NO EXCUSE not to. The only jobs you will find that might allow you to use Blender would be those from Indy teams. Which I guess is fine if you want to go for that. But you asked what would make you more attractive to employers, that is something.

No you don't need more education. You have got to take what you learned in school and dig deep into the resources of the internet and improve from there. It sounds like you have already done this some, which is terrific! I think at this point, you'll be far better off just trying to learn the rest on your own rather than relying on more classes.

Best of luck!

DWalker

Demo reels, in general, are really only useful for animators & effects artists. The best way to show off static models is with still images. Concentrate on setting camera angles & lights to best display all the facets of your art.

I'd put the navigation buttons on their own line immediately below the banner. With the current placement, they are off the side of the screen when viewed in a window or a portrait view (as on a tablet, for example).

If you're applying to game companies, then I'd recommend including renders in Unity or UDK (you mentioned both in the resume).

Most of your models seem to have only diffuse textures. Try to spend some time with simple objects (oblig. mention of crates & barrels) creating more complex textures - shiny & rusty metal, 'fuzzy' cloth. There's nothing wrong with hand-painted textures, but even those move beyond a single texture. (Check out http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125737 for some nice examples from World of Warcraft.)

In general, keep in mind that you will be judged by your weakest piece. You should constantly cull your PROFESSIONAL portfolio, removing the older stuff as you gain in experience & skill; it's certainly OK to have a separate site to showcase your entire artistic history, but the site you give to employers should only have your latest & greatest. 4-6 projects is probably a reasonable target, but you will be better served by 2 or 3 great images than by a half dozen mediocre ones.

As far as education is concerned, don't confuse education with experience. In art, as with most things, the way to get better is to practice.

teeth

Ok thanks for the feedback guys! So the general idea with this is to
1. Prune out some of my work
2. Focus on one style
3. Learn "pro" tools
Is that right and/or did I miss something?

I have another few questions about some suggestions that were brought up.
If I focus my portfolio on hand painted work will it "disqualify" me from jobs out of that style? I wouldn't say I enjoy one over the other. I just enjoy all of it in general.
If I have an art blog would it be a bad idea to link to the blog in my portfolio and vice versa?
What are good types of pieces for someone in my position to put in my port?

@DWalker: what browser and tablet are you using? I've tried the site on an iPad and on a portrait monitor in a few browsers without formatting issues.

slosh

yea, I would remove anything character related in your folio...it just doesn't hold up. Forget about a demo reel since that is only applicable for animators or fx artists. Definitely spend A LOT more time in maya, zbrush, and photoshop. If you are interested in both stylized and realistic, do both so you are better equipped for both types of jobs. If you only do stylized work, no studio doing realistic environments is even going to spend time looking at ur work. I would say you are best geared to be an environment artist. Do 2-3 scenes composed of a somewhat small environment with several props. And then do 2-3 advanced props...maybe complex weapons or vehicles.

teeth

By character do you mean humans and creatures, or just humans? My real interest is in creatures but I was told I'll never get a job just based on those alone.

smilodon

Yeah, I agree with the rest. That Zelda chick and the weird horse thing have to go. Also, the rhino thing and scene. The dude with the helmet is OK, but rhino and concept art aren't going to do you any favors.

You need to work on your realistic stuff before you include it in your portfolio. It's better to have a category poorly represented than represented poorly.

teeth

Thanks Dustin for the advice. I guess I've been feeling like I'm way behind but it's good to know I'm probably at the same place as most people.

I suppose I'll clean up my work and give characters another go before I take on environment.