Environment Artist Demo Reel

BMarshall

Hey every one, I was wondering if I could get a critique on my current demo reel. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzkF2dT15bI

Here my website
http://brendanmarshall.ca/

Jeff Parrott

Make it a website.

Work is solid. Nothing really jumps out as OH SHIIIZZ!! I would rework the lighting on your sidewalk cafe scene too. Black shadows are really harsh and distracting.

RogelioD

-Everything looks really "Last-Gen" with big blocky faceted shapes and too many baked out shapes.

-Using more geo is going to get you a better look and with specs of all systems getting better and better, the cost is almost nothing.

-Some of your texel-density is just really bad.

-You focused way too long on that first part.

-No one wants to see your texture breakdowns in the video, that's terrible. Save that for your portfolio site or blog.

-I agree with @Jeff Parrot though; create a site that has lots of high-res dynamic shots of your scene and provide breakdowns there. Unless your scene has some dynamic elements or objects that needs to be panned around to be appreciated; I see no reason to even bother with a video. An employer, from my experience, is a lot less likely to check out your video. He is, however, a lot more likely to flip through some awesome high-res shots.

djoexe

as mentioned above, what is jumping out right away is that it looks Last-Gen.
Your thread also said that you prentend to be an environment artist, but the 2/3rd of the video is 2 construction vehicule...where is your environment ?

Make it shine ! Use more poly and work those shaders. Music is not fitting for a portfolio demo reel aswell, just my opinion.

Overall...room for improvement for your environment part.

Harbinger

Agreed with the others. Also, you've got some good work, but I'd add at least one more piece. Two vehicles and a diner scene doesn't make a modern day environment artist. A modular environment built using modern construction techniques would help push you in that direction.

Also, you spelled "Detials". Make sure you focus on the details...

Zh4ngZ13

Wow this thread is kinda cool... Just to soften the crits, I love your stuffs!

Maybe they are kinda "last gen" but perhaps they work for mobile? Just my thoughts.
And yeah texture breakdown is a terrible choice if you watch it again... i made the same mistake too. Why put stills when you are doing a video?

Abdullah

you have got the skills man, keep up the good work.

Laughing_Bun

I liked the camera work in your reel. It was easy to focus on what was being shown. Most environment reels are very jarring.

BMarshall

Thanks for the tips, i forgot to post my site, here it is. http://brendanmarshall.ca/

Swarm22

Your portfolio looks a lot like mine when I first graduated from College. They made us all make demo reels and told us to make a section for life drawing. Thing is, if you want a job as a 3D environment artist, nobody cares about your life drawing. Also, forget the demo reel thing. Unless you are doing animation, there is no need for it. People want to skim through your work at their own pace, not wait for a video to decide when they get to see stuff. Also, is there any way to get rid of those small little icons that appear when you mouse over an image? It'd be better if I could click anywhere to enlarge it.

EDIT: After reading through your bio I noticed we went to the same college and probably the same program, no wonder it stuck out to me.

Miguel_Oses

Drop the selfie in the bathroom.

JamesArk

Pretty much just echoing what has already been said, but:

- I would remove the demo reel entirely and make your 'Portfolio' page the default page
- Condense Resume and Contact into a single page
- Remove the life drawing section
- Remove the ability to have people 'Like' your images
- Remove the two options that appear when you hover over images and just have the thumbnails redirect when you click on them - it's a little awkward at the moment
- Remove the ability to filter you work by type (Environments, Props, etc..), but maybe that's just me. I can't foresee a situation where somebody would use this.