Character Art Portfolio Advice
polycounter lvl 4
Hey guys! I just graduated from a 3 year video game development course, and I'm hoping to get some opinions on the ease of use and visual appeal of my portfolio thus far, as well as any other comments you can throw my way. 
jh-art.demographyplus.com
I still need to invest in a proper url, my full name is already being used (by another artist, go figure) so I have to figure something else out. Anyway there's definitely a couple kinks that need to be worked out, particularly with the contact page, but any input would be appreciated.
jh-art.demographyplus.com
I still need to invest in a proper url, my full name is already being used (by another artist, go figure) so I have to figure something else out. Anyway there's definitely a couple kinks that need to be worked out, particularly with the contact page, but any input would be appreciated.
Replies
With a portfolio, quality ALWAYS trumps quantity - 3 good pieces are better than 5 mediocre ones, or even 3 good ones and 2 mediocre ones. Once you have 4 or 5 good pieces, then post them, then cull the worst ones as you add more.
Add your name & contact information to each image.
Over all, I think that your poses could use some improvement. For the first character, I'd expect the giant hands to have some relation to the character's hands, or to be doing something; at the moment, they're just sort of there. On the second character, I'd expect the water to be flowing from one hand to the other, and her eyes should be following the motion; perhaps something similar to a juggler would work:
The faces on both the the first two could also use some work. The nostrils are quite wide and prominent, and the philtrum is quite dark (perhaps the angle is too sharp?), giving the area under the nose a dark and rather masculine appearance.
Girlie's (2nd character) hands seem malformed; the hand itself looks swollen, while the fingers look almost boneless; each finger should have 3 distinct segments, with wrinkles around the joints and a minor bulge at the midpoint on the inside of each segment. Her toes are too distinct, appearing more like claws then toes; unless your feet are quite different than mine, then only the big toe is distinctly separated from the others; the little toes are pretty much squished together.
I feel that fishie is probably your strongest piece as things currently stand. His arms are much thicker than in the concept, and his hands have a swollen look. I'd lose the black outline, especially around the bubble, and change the bubble from purely opaque to a highly refractive sphere.
As far as the site it'self goes I'd say include a method of navigating back to your home page, it's nitpicky but I don't like to have to use the back button.
In terms of content I have to agree with what the other guys are saying. A small amount of solid work presented right at the front of your page works very well for me and entices me in to explore more. but if you have a couple more high quality pieces get them in, in fact if that is the case you might consider dropping the water girl, personally I feel she is the weakest of your three pieces (though by no means a weak piece)
I'd also look into the poses for the characters, think about a strong line of action and purpose of movement even in a static image. I know the fish monster is based on a concept in a similar pose but even so, personally I feel it could be pushed just a bit further.
also concerning the fish, I'd like to see a render from a more interesting composition. Flat side on is good for getting a feel for your technical capabilities but it's such an interesting scene it's a shame to a miss an opportunity for your artistic flare to shine through.
DWalker, I really appreciate all the thoughtful advice.
I will try revisiting the posing on my first piece, the idea with the pose I have now was to show that the hands have a mind of their own and are protective and gentle with her (ie. her holding one of the hand's fingers while the other looms over her), but if that's not reading well then I'll figure out something else.
I see what you mean with the hands on my second piece, her fingers turned out noodle-y because I think I overcompensated a bit trying to make them slender and feminine. She really needs an overhaul, honestly, I made a lot of mistakes with her.
Will try to address the outline on the fish, I'm not even sure why it keeps adding that in. As for his arms, I had a lot of trouble figuring out how the arms in the concept worked so I did end up improvising a bit...
ArtUnitFive, thank you so much.
I also agree wholeheartedly about the water girl, she is by far my weakest piece and I'm probably just going to toss her or maybe redo her in the near future, depending on where inspiration takes me. I kept her up because I think the topology is fairly strong, but it's pretty obvious that she's my least favourite.
Also: Should I bother having a demo reel up? I had to make one for school, but I've been hearing talk that they're really only for people who need to show movement in their pieces.
Your wireframes are not really helping show what you want them to show, which is good use of topology. If the edge doesn't help the silhouette or deformation then there isn't a reason for it to be there. The models have a much higher tri count than they need.
For your next piece I think you should focus on strong topology and showcase that then remove the wires from the rest. You don't want to show anything that would hurt you.
I appreciate the advice on the wireframes too.
DWalker, that makes sense! I wouldn't want to bother watching reels either.