Student portfolio - What is expected?

Digital-Joe

Hi, i'm a student getting started on a portfolio to get an internship in my last year of college next year, but i have some questions about that.
What is expected from a student to show in their portfolio? How many pieces, what kind of quality, 1 subject or more?
for example, if i am focusing on 3D characters but also have a good quality weapon or vehicle, should i put it in there or just the characters?

thanks in advance,
Joe

LMP

Focus on Quality over Quantity, Every time. At this stage, a quality weapon or vehicle might not be a bad idea.

Remember, 1 "Amazing" piece is better than 10 "ok" pieces.

slosh

Quantity is not as important if you're a student but quality should be close to industry professional. I know this sounds crazy to some people just getting through school but with the market so saturated with talent, you have to stand out. The only way to get noticed is to produce high quality work. So, gather some inspiration and try to hit that quality with every piece you do. Granted you might not know as much about pipeline and tip and tricks to do stuff fast but you still need to get close. Good luck!

JordanN

I'm almost done college in a few months and so I'm following this.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/PortfolioContents

Since you want to be a character artist, do this.

• Ability to nail archetypes: tough man, attractive woman, badass monster, well-worn robot.
• Strong understanding of anatomy, organic proportions, biological structure.
• Low-poly edge-loop modeling, clean modeling, good edge flow, how to make good joints that can deform well.
• High-poly sub-division surface modeling, clean surface shading, good edge flow.
• High-poly sculpting (zbrush/mudbox/3dcoat), ability to extract good surface maps (normal map, displacement, ambient occlusion, etc.)
• Texturing, both realistic and stylistic (painterly). Material differentiation (metal, fabric, flesh, etc.), wear and weathering. Efficient UV mapping.
• An eye for color, value, composition, & lighting.
• Extra Credit: Rigging & skinning, prop modeling & texturing.

Don't bother with the weapons/vehicles since studios want specialized people unless you're getting into Indie games.

skyline5gtr

took me just shy of 2 years to get a full time game art gig, i worked my ass off. My portfolio was crap when i graduated yet everyone makes it seem ok partially cause they want the money from you and you dont really have anyone capable of giving good feedback.

In my own eye my stuff is still terrible and I have alot of work to do, but it was enough to get my first job

rino

slosh wrote: »

Quantity is not as important if you're a student but quality should be close to industry professional.

what he said

Digital-Joe

Thanks for the tips.
@JordanN Thanks alot for the link that some great info

X-One

As stated, your portfolio should not be categorized as a student work. As a student, you should aim to have a portfolio that can stand up to professional work and you should be comparing your work to the work of studios you're interested in.

Add3r

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

Literally could not have put it better.

Poinball

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

:thumbup: The rude reality !

GrungyStudios

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

That was great lol

Heather.Hughes

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

I could not love this more! I'm on step 6 now. Wish I had this list when I was on step 3, 4, or 5. !!

Digital-Joe

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

I completely understand that this is the truth for most people (except that one guy whose great at everything, and i'm sitting next to him in class damnit!!)
but that part of spending 1 to 2 years perfectgin my work is not an option (i wish it was) ofcourse it will take a long time untill i get a great portfolio, but i need to get an internship by february next year, so i have to try to make some good stuff in between school assignments.
luckily i've (finally) decided what to focus on so that's gonna save me a bunch of wasted tme and effort
but thanks for the advice, it's the best so far.
and now i have a checklist for after i graduate

PyrZern

Yeah, the best approach is to stop thinking 'but I am still a student'.

JacqueChoi

If you want a professional job, you need a professional portfolio.

ZacD

There's 3 types of portfolios a game artist could have:

Portfolio for college, used to apply to a college. A school has different needs and wants from it's students than a studio. The minute you get into college you will be working towards a professional portfolio, most of your student work won't hit the quality bar needed for a professional portfolio.

A professional portfolio for finding an internship or job.

And a personal portfolio just to have for fun when not looking for actual work. You could put up anything you wanted.

dry0n

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

I'm on step 6 right now... Thanks for the tip!

Heather.Hughes

Digital-Joe wrote: »

I completely understand that this is the truth for most people (except that one guy whose great at everything, and i'm sitting next to him in class damnit!!)
but that part of spending 1 to 2 years perfectgin my work is not an option (i wish it was) ofcourse it will take a long time untill i get a great portfolio, but i need to get an internship by february next year, so i have to try to make some good stuff in between school assignments.
luckily i've (finally) decided what to focus on so that's gonna save me a bunch of wasted tme and effort
but thanks for the advice, it's the best so far.
and now i have a checklist for after i graduate

Be careful with that "I have to get to x point by a certain date" mindset. You're going to put a lot of stress on yourself and burn out very quickly. The worse that stress/burn out is, the longer it will take you to recover. I've been there.

You need to prepare yourself for not getting an internship by February next year. If it comes to that, you may need to get a non-art job and keep improving your art on the side (which is what I'm doing now and yes, it's slow improving that way, but necessary).

Not trying to be mean or discourage you; I really do hope you get something by your goal. Just be careful with that mindset.

skyline5gtr

dustinbrown wrote: »

What's expected from a student portfolio is that it will look like a student portfolio. Here are the common steps:

1. graduate
2. apply at a bunch of studios
3. get rejected by all of them
4. realize your portfolio isn't good enough to get a job
5. mope for a bit then get back on the horse
6. scrap your student portfolio and spend the next year or two making a portfolio that doesn't look like a student portfolio
7. apply at studios again
8. get a job

Sounds exactly like my last 2 years lol, literally point for point

MiAlx

I want to echo what people said here. I don't have a lot of experience yet, so my words don't have a lot of weight behind them, but I have witnessed some things at the companies where I worked: For example, I had the opportunity to sit with the people who were looking at applications and deciding who to hire and listed to their opinions and so on. I am generalizing of course, but the general problem was that a lot of people used college portfolios and/or obviously rushed portfolios to apply, so when someone applied with a bit more experience, they overshadowed the college portfolio completely. Needless to say who got the job. Also, literally nobody cared what degrees the applicants had. The point is, there is no reason in rushing the portfolio or the application, since it is going to come back to bite you. It probably won't work out the first few times, 99,9% of the people are going to face that fact sooner or later, I of course faced it and had to learn that too. But it is all about understanding what you need to get better at, improving that and trying again, until it pans out.

Also, I did the same thing in the past, I said "I need to do x by then" but the only thing I managed to accomplish with that is to get stressed out (like Heather.Hughes said) when it didn't work out as planned. Getting a random job to pay the bills is a viable and normal thing too, it does not mean that you "failed" or won't make it, quite a few people I know did that as well before they got a job in the industry.

beefaroni

Digital-Joe wrote: »

I completely understand that this is the truth for most people (except that one guy who works hard at everything, and i'm sitting next to him in class damnit!!)

.

Digital-Joe

@Heather.Hughes & dustinbrown
that internship is not my personal goal, in my last semester at college i need to do an internship, so that's why i need it by then.
in the post you qouted i said spending 1 to 2 years perfecting my work is not an option, i don't expect it to be perfect (as far as that's even possible) even in that time, what i meant was just that i probably won't have a pro looking portfolio by the time i need an intership (for school), that's the reason i asked this question actually
also
i know a degree isn't really important and i don't care about a piece of paper that says i came to class like a good student, but since i'm in college for this, the degree is obviously the end goal of this stage, just to show myself i completed it

@beefaroni
believe me when i say i also work hard on everything, but there's only one thing that i consider myself to be somewhat good at. but that's ok cause i only really need to be good at one thing, as long as i can get REALLY good at that one thing, and that's what i'm aiming for
that part in the brackets wasn't meant to be taken too seriously

FelixL

I have personally hired a couple of students at crytek, and besides making a portfolio that hits a professional quality bar, I could offer this tip:

With students, for me it's not so much about the quality of the portfolio, but about the pace of improvement and learning, and the dedication they show. Of course, you can't really show this in a portfolio, and it requires initial contact to the people you send the portfolio to.

If you have the opportunity to make your work visible in this aspect, you should take it. If you're in the same town, try socializing in person, if you know someone at the studio, have them pass on your work and ask for feedback.

Students or up-and-coming guys get hired for different reasons than regulars or seniors. Their desired trait is talent and dedication above everything else.

Madwish

There might be a slight miscommunication here. What dustinbrown said is the pure truth which happens to most 3D Artist when they go out of school and start to apply to get a job. At that point, more often than not you will hit the wall hard. Only the ones who keep working and improving will end up finding the job they seek. It might be unfair, but that's how it works.

It seems the OP is talking more about a school internship which will have some weight in the end result of his degree. Of course, you're not expected to fail two school years to get that internship.

For your portfolio, you should simply follow the regular advices that applies for everyone. Get something clear, quality over quantity, focused on one specific part (don't sell yourself as the do everything kind of guy), ...

But overall, the aim here is just to get an internship. Do the best portfolio you can, apply, and go where you can go. There's always the possibility of getting hired by the studio you work for as an intern, but that's probably unlikely. I don't want to break the dream, but you might end up doing less than exciting things during the whole internship. I think it's pretty rare to find studios with a real internship program. Most will probably see a cheap if not free labour.

Also as FelixL said, for students the guy/girl himself/herself is probably even more important than the portfolio. If you make a good impression during the job interview, it's likely to weight heavily in the balance. There's no tutorial for that though.

To put things in perspective, I did my internship in a very small studio producing serious games. And in Belgium, you're not even paid for it, so I ended up actually losing money on the transport. Still, it was a nice experience and a first touch on the industry.

Then I hit the wall and spent two years and a half working my ass off on my portfolio/skills while working on not very exciting to downright terrible jobs. Until I got a job at Rocksteady, then Splash Damage. So yeah what dustinbrown said pretty much!

In summary: work your ass off. :thumbup:

Xoliul

Simple answer is really that it should not look like a student portfolio. All the students I know that got into big studios (some even as character artists from the go), had kickass portfolios.