Portfolio Critique
Hi
Not quite if this is the place to post this one, but seeing as I do 3D art I thought it suited, apologies if I'm wrong.
Based on some recent advice, I'm asking if anyone here could give me some feedback on my portfolio:
How it is as it stands, the look, layout etc, and how I can go about improving it?
As well as the content on my portfolio, what it's lacking, where I need to improve etc?
Here is the link: danielsquire.wix.com/portfolio
Note: there are shadows on the chair in the hallway scene, they just aren't that visible in those shots, due to the location of the chair in relation to the sunlight being projecting into the hallway, It's going to be corrected in my next portfolio update.
Thanks
Daniel
Not quite if this is the place to post this one, but seeing as I do 3D art I thought it suited, apologies if I'm wrong.
Based on some recent advice, I'm asking if anyone here could give me some feedback on my portfolio:
How it is as it stands, the look, layout etc, and how I can go about improving it?
As well as the content on my portfolio, what it's lacking, where I need to improve etc?
Here is the link: danielsquire.wix.com/portfolio
Note: there are shadows on the chair in the hallway scene, they just aren't that visible in those shots, due to the location of the chair in relation to the sunlight being projecting into the hallway, It's going to be corrected in my next portfolio update.
Thanks
Daniel
Replies
website layout, stop doing the lightbox automatic slide, it is distracting and hard to navigate. A lot of people who ask for critic always have that on and everyone always tell them the same thing about it. it only looks cool until you try to navigate it and use it. than it's a pain for people who want to look around.
Your art seems like a good start right now. I think you need more dirty textures in your portfolio right now. Everything seems to clean and repetitive when it comes to textures and tiling. Escpecially behind that brick wall on the Tardis image. This can be done in UDK and UE4 through adding images on color channels and painting on the vertexes. Other ways are available.
Overall I think you have a good start and you're site and artwork will get better and better over time. good luck and keep up the good job.
Using the technique is awesome, but using the same scene idea too looks bad for me
+1 to what everyone else said.
Thanks for the feedback so far.
@tahakitan
The words are supposed to be upside down that's the way it was on the reference, eventually the Tardis will be phased out of the portfolio once I start getting more content up there.
The sideshow is something I only recently added and I was never set on keeping it, I was tying out new ideas so I will most likely be removing it in the next update.
More dirty textures, ok I will be working on that, I personally prefer clean environments, but I see your point, as it will help show that I can do a more wide range of texturing.
I will be looking into a domian for my site at some point, however until I can get a job it's not financially feasible for me right now.
@onera
Indeed koola's work has inspired me quite a lot, I choose to recreate it as I was looking for something easy to do as my first real start into ArchViz, the same with the Tardis it will be phased out eventually, but I will add some text on my folio to say where this came from.
@BagelHero
A project I'm about to be starting is going to be from a concept I find online and I will start a thread up here, it's one of the things I'm going to be doing with every project I start, as it's the best way to gain a wide range of feedback. When you say "Make sure your images aren't so visibly lossy" what do you mean by that?
@ScottMichaelH
Could you clarify what you mean by "define a material well"?
Thanks again
Daniel
And here is the corresponding Polycount thread: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39516
Sure. Ask yourself if you can look at the material by itself, without the context of the models/scene and be able to read what it is made out of? Its difficult to define clean materials. The temptation is to leave it plain. Preferring clean environments is fine, but even the cleanest things in real life have variation. Do you have maps for highlight information? You will need to paint a roughness/glossiness map to show the highlights on the surface. Without it, your materials look "blah". They are very cg graphics looking ... its a common issue with portfolios. Is it brick? Stone? Wood? Cement? Plaster? Vinyl? Ceramic? Metal? If you place a very clean flat color (ex. that telephone building) it looks fake, like it was done on a budget and didn't have time to make it "good", but this is a portfolio. The textures need to look like a substance from the real world. Again that doesn't mean you need it to look really dirty in the diffuse, but definitely need some roughness detail at least. The hallway Viz is the only piece that comes close to this. You have Unreal 4 correct? Walk around in these environments (they are free to download):
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Tegra-K1-Unreal-Engine-4-Living-Room.jpg
http://i2.cdnds.net/14/12/618x442/couch-knights-image.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/jotmDq6.jpg
Look closely to how they really read as the materials that they are. Look into how they are made that way and post your efforts on Polycount.
Thanks for those links, quite a good read.
@BagelHero
Ah ok, I'll look into that.
@mike670
I'm going to start looking into a domain.
@ScottMichaelH
Thanks for clarifying that, I understand more what you mean now. Texturing is my weakest area, so I'm looking to focus more on that. I will be posting more on polycount.
Thanks
Daniel
That's of course with the current gen workflow, not the PBR workflow.
I've updated my portfolio so take a look: http://danielsquire.wix.com/portfolio
What I've done:
Got rid of the slideshows on frontpage and moved all artwork to the frontpage now, so everything is viewable straight away.
Uploaded renders of my latest finished project.(Link to forum post.)
Added email to the very top so instant contact (might turn into a link, but I hate those things as I dont use the desktop outlook).
Re done the About page, looks more cleaner now.
Removed the Tardis page, as I think it drags my work down now (the page is still up there just hidden).
General cleaning up of stuff
Still to do
Update the Hallway scene with a few changes (means re-rendering etc)
Sort of out domian, I've been looking into it, and am just working out the best way, as I've been thinking about going back to coding my own site again.
I will update this when I next update my portfolio.
So thanks again.
Dan
Put the text below the image, so its not distracting from your act, maybe choose a nicer font.
I was going to say there shouldn't be any spelling mistakes, but I went back and checked and there are a couple on some of the tech renders, I thought I got them all back when I did them which was back in uni. I am going to be going back and bringing the older stuff up to scratch with the newer renders (the archviz stuff is the newer stuff).
As few text on images, the beauty renders don't have text, only the tech renders, I need to find a better way of doing tech renders, if anyone has any tips I would appreciate it.
Link: http://danielsquire.wix.com/portfolio
What's been done:
All work has been put into 2 categories, Freelance and Personal with projects separated under those, best work is on main portfolio page.
Sci-Fi hallway has now been added
Ludum Dare 32 game has been added
Hallway has been removed
All renders have now been updated (before I had an old render style).
Custom banner has been added.
About page has a bit more info on there now
I've looked into having a paid domain (with hosting and website builder), can't afford it right now, as soon as I can I'll be sorting it out.
Thanks
Dan