Portfolio Critique

Villain

Hello Polycounters. I just finished taking out all the old work on my portfolio and replaced it with my new stuff. Initially I want to be a texture artist, but since that's not an entry level position I figure the best way to break into this industry to do props.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

http://www.ericdickersonarts.com/

Joltya

It kind of annoys me that I can't open up each page in a new tab. I don't know what is causing that, but I would look into it and try to change it. It isn't super important though.

I'd also like to see a your high poly models getting a decent render (instead of a zbrush render).

You also have lots of empty space around your images. You can fill these up with other angles of your model. It's also a bit jarring to see your textured shots in one position, then your wireframe shots in another. You had it right with the baseball assets, but not with the other ones.

The textured lamp picture bothers me a lot as it's almost hanging off of the edge. I also feel like the glossiness is a bit too high. This is where it would really help to see it from more angles.

The model of the tiger statue looks pretty cool, but the textures feel a bit off. I can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but I think it would help if you added some moss. It looks like you tried to do it, but it doesn't feel right. If you did, make it more green.

Same thing applies with the baseball set; model looks cool, texture needs some work.

It would help a lot if we could see your maps.

PyrZern

I wonder if having some scene/envo pieces will be good for you, instead of just props.

RasmusBagner

I would like to be able to get a much closer look at the props without zooming my browser.
I am not really a fan of the background in the final renders.
I do like that you have put some time in the texture, many artist end up making amazing models and bad textures.
The texture on the baseball and glove need more definition.
I would also agree with PyrZern that a enviroment scene would be cool, you seem to have a grip on the rock and stone texturing so why not make a mayan scene, not a large one.
Would be nice to see the maps too

Villain

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have been told that my modeling is better than my texturing so I'm trying to even that out. I'm going to decimate my models from zbrush and see If I can render them in marmoset or unreal 4.

As for making an environment I recently took my old one down that I made 6 months ago because my props looked way better and keeping it would have lowered the quality of my portfolio. But I think if I were to make one now it might be better so I will give it a shot.

Joltya

Villain wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have been told that my modeling is better than my texturing so I'm trying to even that out. I'm going to decimate my models from zbrush and see If I can render them in marmoset or unreal 4.

Do you only use Zbrush, or do you have access to Maya / 3DS Max? If you do, you should look into using Mental Ray. If you don't, you could look into Keyshot. Both of these will make your high poly look way better than Marmo / UE4 / Zbrush can.

Villain

I have access to both Maya and Max. I haven't rendered anything out of there for a while. I still remember how to do Gobal illumination and final gathering. I'll try it out and see what happens. Thanks @Joltya

DireWolf

For such a simple layout, your website is using tons of javascripts which I think is very unnecessary. As a tech guy I have most scripts blocked by default and your site was showing as blank page.

Probably won't be a problem for most other people, just want to let you know.

As for your work you have some good stuff going on. I suggest for next piece try to create them in a small set and give them some nice display. For example you could do a corner of a kitchen and put a chair, some knives, a few table wares and other other props in 1 piece. That not only makes your page much more interesting, it would give you models a better display how they look in real environment too.

Villain

DireWolf I have no idea why it would be have a lot of scripts going on. I don't remember ever messy with them. But I'll look into it.

As for a display that's what I'll be doing next. I probably could still make a display for the baseball set I have.

Sukotto

I would just create some nice PBR renders from Zbrush, or Mental Ray if you know how to use it. No use in dropping a load of money on Keyshot just for a fancy renderer when what you have if perfectly fine

Shyralon

I like the layout of the site, it's very clean and simple.
The props itself are good, but feel a bit lifeless the way they are presented, especially the highpolys, they feel like a quick screenshot, take some more time and render them out properly. Maybe do several angle of the model as well and put them together, right now there is a lot of empty space around the model.
Personally, I would put my name and website/email on every piece.

Joltya

I believe I have the same script blocker that Direwolf has. I didn't mention it at first because if a site is not working, I usually check there to make sure that it's not a script thing, although it is extremely bizarre for a page to just be blank. Normally, most sites load just fine with the exception of an error here or there.

The problem seems to be with something called "parastorage".



Here are some other things that I have set blocked by default. I'm not sure if they actually do something, but I can navigate the website just fine without it. I also don't know how much this would benefit you, but I figured you'd like to know anyway.