Karma just taught me not to write a book

latitudeclear

because any time I try to go for more than 3 paragraphs in a forum the cookies expire before it goes through.

Let's try this again!

Hey everyone, I want to make 3D design a full time occupation but not sure how close I am to that goal as so far have merely been staying inside my own bubble.

A lifelong issue has been avoidance of failure in never finishing hobbies involving art; traditional, 2d, animation, programming, scripting, and countless others but as I see the years fly away I realize this is costing more and more in a cascading loss of opportunities of what could of been.

The introduction to 3D involved the usual reluctant slogging through tutorials, digitaltutor memberships, and abandoned projects but then came a tipping point where for the first time ever it stopped feeling like a choir and now I model because of the joy and unique challenges.

After joining a collaboration for a scifi turn based strategy, the intention was to find a small 2 week project then turned out the programmer had a massive game engine 80% complete so now I'm involved up to my knees but if we see it through could possibly end up on kickstarter and my status as a real artist would for the first time ever be... what’s the word... realized?

The question is, does this portfolio belong in the professional artist seeking work section, or are there glaring weaknesses I should be addressing first?


https://sketchfab.com/models/df83f0a4b22c4aaa9dc3942da2a1ed8c

Kdawg

Well I'm not a professional, but as a fellow beginner I can offer some feedback.
First, I don't think this site lends well to actually being a portfolio, find a better site to present your work. Having everything on the same simple gradient background really takes away from your work, in my opinion. You also don't want people clicking away to another page through the "suggested models" section.

Some of the textures are just flat colors. I think if you are going for diffuse only textures, you need to paint in those shadows and highlights. Work on your modeling and texturing, spec maps, normals, all that stuff.

Don't give up, and don't rush though it. Check out the amazing work on these forums for inspiration!

DireWolf

What you have isn't bad. Like Kdawg mentioned, simple website showing stills would be better.

What I can say is that it's not about becoming a "real" artist. From my own experience, as you keep improving, there will be a point where your own creation becomes good enough you can start to be proud of yourself. When that happens, it feels so good. I'm not too good with words hope you understand

latitudeclear

Thanks, interesting suggestion, I believe sketchfab can add a background and even well lit cube map but my own portfolio website would be a good direction to go.

Some of my assets have an emphasis on texture while the sorceress and weapon models do not. I was thinking about finishing them and releasing for free on the unity asset store to get my name out there.

Doesn't seem like a lot of single assets sell well. Usually have to release them as a package.

DWalker

Sketchfab is fine, but it's really not ideal for a portfolio.

Your portfolio should showcase your best work, which means that you'll need to constantly update it as you create new pieces. It also means that you should only include only finished - i.e. textured - pieces.

Keep in mind that it's not uncommon to spend more time creating the textures than creating the model.

I think that texturing is currently your weakest skill. I'd recommend creating a few simple objects - the oft mentioned crates & barrels, but street signs also work quite well. This will allow you to focus on creating the textures, rather than modelling or mapping.

Deathstick

Yeah I'm basically just going to recap what everyone else is saying but whatever.

I wouldn't fall into the trap of spending so much time on your models just to rush through the texture part. It really is at least 50% of the process if not more, and can make or break your models.

That said, there are some solutions specifically designed to help artists with texturing who spend alot of time making high-poly models before low-poly, such as Quixel Suite or allegorithmic substance. I'd first recommend getting used to doing alot of your texture work by hand/in photoshop or whatever first before going batshit crazy in Quixel Suite though because I've seen alot of people use it as a crutch rather than a tool (I've been guilty of this myself, can't help the shininess of playing with new software!).

It's always important to go back and do your own manual touchups whenever dealing with computer-generated content to combat the whole uniformness of its algorithmic nature.

Basically staring at textures of different artists whose work you admire can help you analyze how you can improve, and eventually if you'd like you can develop your own variant style.

latitudeclear

Thanks for the pointers.
Funny Deathstick mentioned Quixel Suite, I just started learning it recently.

What about the Battle Axe and Sci Fi Research Center - a lot more emphasis went into texturing, is this on par with what you'd expect from a freelancer?

latitudeclear

Sorry for the bump but to be more specific;

https://sketchfab.com/models/df83f0a4b22c4aaa9dc3942da2a1ed8c
https://sketchfab.com/models/fd6e786416f34ebcbceeb5840f6126c2

If a studio was surfing around for assets and commissioned to have a techy alien ish research center created or a fantasy style battle axe, would this be satisfactory?

I'd really like to make a side income. A wacom tablet is on the way and my portfolio will be completed with maps.

AlecMoody

This sounds harsh but if you have to ask the answer is usually no. You get hired when your work impresses people, not when it is satisfactory. Also, during the interview or any communication with an employer you need to be confident in your skills.

You have the basics down, you just need to keep pushing yourself. Also, employers don't want to look at work in a sketchfab browser scene. You need images of your work on a page that requires little to no navigation.