[Portfolio Review] Chris Stone - Environment Artist
sublime tool
Hi everyone.
I'm 23 and graduating college in May of 2015. I'm looking for some critique of my portfolio. I'm mainly curious about what kind of projects I should add in these last few months. In addition, I'm wondering whether or not I should begin heavily applying to studios or wait until I have some more personal work finished. I've been getting a bit anxious about graduating but I'm hoping with some help from you guys I can put something decent together.
Any other critique is appreciated as well.
www.chrisstone3d.com
I'm 23 and graduating college in May of 2015. I'm looking for some critique of my portfolio. I'm mainly curious about what kind of projects I should add in these last few months. In addition, I'm wondering whether or not I should begin heavily applying to studios or wait until I have some more personal work finished. I've been getting a bit anxious about graduating but I'm hoping with some help from you guys I can put something decent together.
Any other critique is appreciated as well.
www.chrisstone3d.com
Replies
I can't speak much on the industry side of things so I won't be much help on that end. Really the only comment I can make is maybe consider moving the helmet guy up one image. I think it shows off your modeling skills and definitely has some complexity to it.
I feel like having the helmet come after the environment highlights your modeling skills while the camera and the Overwatch hammer really show off your material definition. I think having those two really awesome and detailed models first might encourage viewers to want to continue looking through your work and you can finish with some really strong materials.
Those are just my thoughts so take them with a hearty grain of salt!
Overall man, your work looks really sharp. Really good stuff in my opinion dude.
If anything, I would note that you are missing more organic work - such as rocks, vegetation, etc. - and texturing breakdowns for your current work, so I can see your UV layout proficiency and attention to detail.
Additionally, you should start applying to studios as soon as you think you are ready. Some studios will accommodate your school schedule to a certain extent. When I started at Crystal Dynamics, I was able to get one day off a week to finish out my final semester, and made arrangement with my teachers if I had to miss class for work.
Your work is very high quality, and I would not be surprised if you are picked up quickly. Apply often, and everywhere.
As for what could be added, I'd recommend another environment. Particularly one that shows you can do more than sci fi, like maybe a nature scene or something like that with more organics. This would show more range.
With the applying thing, I think your portfolio is already solid enough to apply to most places and have a good chance at an entry level position. I remember reading somewhere that most places don't mind you applying more than once, but that some places will only look at an applicant once a year or so(I don't remember where I read this, but it was in one of these threads). Your portfolio's already strong enough for you to apply to places. So if you needed to apply to places right after graduation, you'll be fine. But, if you have time to squeeze in another solid environment/prop or two, it'd increase your chances.
+ Solid work for graduate level.
+ Well presented, clean and clear website.
+ Very easy to navigate.
- 'About Me' page is very bare. Add more or perhaps remove entirely?
- Not enough breakdown on environment piece; textures, wireframes etc.
- Needs at least one other environment piece ideally for environment position.
Get rid of your about page. Its useless. No one is gona read that especially since your not well known. Its about the art. Not about you.
Camera- Would turn the camera more to make it a real 3/4 view in perspective mode. Right now, its mostly all the side still and not a lot of the front. I like the details but I cann't see them very well. I wish I could zoom in or something
You've got environments, props, and characters in this thing. What are you getting into? To be safe, I would call you a hard surface modeler/Prop artist. But, you need more props. You need more stuff. You have some very basic props too. The camera and the hammer are okay but, they are crazy random. Oh, and the hammer, I had no idea what that was till i read the description. Is it referencing something? Maybe put the reference in to give the viewer a better sense of what they are looking at.
That scifi room. Gosh, what else is there? I like it, but its like teasing me. Whats behind the camera? Whats in the corner area? Add more to this piece to make it a complete room. Not one thats half finished.
You need more pop in your work. Its very clean which is good, but you need to make a ton more to make this work. Pick a interesting environment that isnt empty and just make everything from it. It'll give you a lot more props to show off for sure.
Also, show me your work from BlackMath. Its the only thing you have actual industry experience on and itll be the first thing I asked "what did you do there" if i were interviewing you.
Another thing!
I thought there was something wrong with the disaturated images until i scrolled over them. It might be taste, but do it the other way around. Pretty pictures is the first thing i want to see when I go to your sight. Not desaturated ones. You can desaturate after i scroll over it or something else, just, first impressions are always important.
If you're going for environment art position you need something that shows of that skill though. The spaceship is basically a bunch of props in a room. You definitely needs something that's bigger scale.
Think about what kind of studio you wanna work for and create art that fits their style. Not only art style but also scope and scale. Think open world game vs. FPS game. Big good reads on 100 yards vs great details up close for example. Or war game vs kids animal game. It's always smart to have a specific studio and style in mind when you're create new pieces.
Merge your resume and about page together. Add more to your about paragraph. Tell us more about yourself. Who your are, where do you come from, whats your latest educational background, what relevant experience do you have, really sell yourself to the person reading it. Keep your list of skills on the about page but move all the other details (except the contacts) onto a CV DOC or PDF. Allow for the viewer to download your CV. They'll read the important details from you introductory paragraph and about page. If they like what they see and what you write, invite them to download your full resume. The last thing they will want to see is a wall of text to read through to find what they are looking for. This is why you have a small paragraph pointing out the key points about you. The rest follows once you have got their attention.
One last thing. I highly recommend you get a linked in account and feature a link to it on your website along with you email. It a great way to network and share details about yourself.
Merge your resume and about page together. Add more to your about paragraph. Tell us more about yourself. Who your are, where do you come from, whats your latest educational background, what relevant experience do you have, really sell yourself to the person reading it. Keep your list of skills on the about page but move all the other details (except the contacts) onto a CV DOC or PDF. Allow for the viewer to download your CV. They'll read the important details from you introductory paragraph and about page. If they like what they see and what you write, invite them to download your full resume. The last thing they will want to see is a wall of text to read through to find what they are looking for. This is why you have a small paragraph pointing out the key points about you. The rest follows once you have got their attention.
One last thing. I highly recommend you getting a linkedin account and feature a link to it on your website along with you email. It's a great way to network and share details about yourself. Kinda like an online CV.
Merge your resume and about page together. Add more to your about paragraph. Tell us more about yourself. Who your are, where do you come from, whats your latest educational background, what relevant experience do you have, really sell yourself to the person reading it. Keep your list of skills on the about page but move all the other details (except the contacts) onto a CV DOC or PDF. Allow for the viewer to download your CV. They'll read the important details from you introductory paragraph and about page. If they like what they see and what you write, invite them to download your full resume. The last thing they will want to see is a wall of text to read through to find what they are looking for. This is why you have a small paragraph pointing out the key points about you. The rest follows once you have got their attention.
One last thing. I highly recommend you getting a linkedin account and feature a link to it on your website along with you email. It's a great way to network and share details about yourself. Kinda like an online CV.
Dmellott- Hmm, that's a good point. I'll probably switch those around when I re-do.
dustykhan - I've been back and forth on the about page. If I do keep it I'll definitely need to write some more. Reading over it again it is a bit lifeless.
MooseCommander - Yea, organic stuff is one thing I am definitely really weak at right now. In addition, I'll upload some breakdowns (UVs, etc) for stuff when I get the chance. I should probably add more info in general to my pieces.
CharlieD - Yep, def organics as mentioned above. Yea, I'm a bit hesitant applying right now as I know my organic stuff is weak.
JamieRIOT - Yea, I'm leaning towards removing it. Will add breakdowns and work on more environments
@ Brygelsmack - Will do.
@ whats_true - It's really really really small.. Alright, I'm leaning towards getting rid of it.
For the camera, I will change the render angle and also add a few more zoomed images.
You're spot on about the hammer. A lot of people seem to not know what it is. I'll grab an image that I used for ref so it's a bit more clear.
For the sci-fi deck, I did intentionally hide some things as to not make the scope of the project too large. I do agree that a full environment would be much better. I agree what you mean with the more pop though. All in all that sci-fi deck didn't have that many props. That's definitely something I should work on in the future.
I don't really have any great work from Blackmath. I fear that it will detract from the overall quality of my portfolio. I keep on hearing people judge by the worst piece of work in a portfolio and the work from Blackmath isn't even worth mentioning.
Alright, I'll try to get that desat/sat thing reversed soon.
sltrOlsson - Yep, as said above, I completely agree. I didn't think of targeting my work for a specific type of game though. That's something I will have to consider.
@ DKeymer3d - Ah the variety again
I also looked at other pros in my field and took notes what stood on to me, the main points I took were: Vehicle/Weapon/Prop. I then did even further research as to what gun/what vehicle and what prop, I choose a gun to showoff the most I could from my modeling skills to my texture separation. My vehicle I wanted it to be military, I seen a ton of tanks and nice sports car's so I branched myself out with a helicopter seen in CoD/Battlefield/Arma 3 to fill that role. My prop was simply a combination of what would be something interesting to model that is a daily household appliance, the ddo intro video chainsaw was nice so did the next best thing
You can apply the same procedure and look at portfolios of environmental artist find some good organic ones and find a good scene to showcase that. That one scene of that office is great, you can add potted plants or a window of trees outside to practice vegetation doesn't have to be a full forest. Say you want to work at Star Citizen model a nice diorama of a landing pad room