Portfolio feedback

Maxilator

Hi guys, I just finished school and made this portfolio, I should have started working on this earlier but this is what I got so far and I would really like to know what I should change and what you think generally. I am aware that I should focus more on a particular subject (such as characters, environments, etc.) but this is pretty much the work I think meets my current skill level and i deem worthy to share.
I will most likely add some stuff in the coming days that I had no time to add before when I initially created the portfolio.

I am currently using portfolio box as a host and think it works well enough but I am open for suggestions when it comes to alternate hosts as well.

https://www.artstation.com/artist/maxilator

Thanks beforehand!

Veezen

Make a margin between images smaller, you waste a lot of space!
Also that hover effect doesn't look great, you should also here lower the opacity so that after hover cursor on image you still can see something.

Keep working on it

DireWolf

Really like that barbarian on your home page. The rest, not so. I think the barbarian is the only one worth showing. Definitely keep working and create more work with that quality

Popol

I don't think any of the assets in your portfolio are at the level needed to get a junior position but I think you have some potencial and are heading the right direction. So keep working.

Some tips:
- work on your anatomy/proportion knowledge. Check out Rafael Grassetti and Ryan Kingslien.
- work on the material definition. For example the skin of the orc looks as shinny as his metal belt.
- make better posing, most of your characters look so stiff.
- show textures and wires. It's super important to show that you know how to optimize.

So start a new character and make a progress thread on Polycount to get crits.

I hope that helps.

Maxilator

Popol wrote: »

I don't think any of the assets in your portfolio are at the level needed to get a junior position but I think you have some potencial and are heading the right direction. So keep working.

Some tips:
- work on your anatomy/proportion knowledge. Check out Rafael Grassetti and Ryan Kingslien.
- work on the material definition. For example the skin of the orc looks as shinny as his metal belt.
- make better posing, most of your characters look so stiff.
- show textures and wires. It's super important to show that you know how to optimize.

So start a new character and make a progress thread on Polycount to get crits.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the feedback, while it is a bit disheartening to hear I am aware that the portfolio needs more well done and complete works. Do you have any recommendation as to how I should get works like those done? As I am more or less in the position of "need experience to get work, need work to get experience". Obviously I am working on personal projects but do you think for example freelance might be an option?

Also, the latest project I did was the "Realistic Head", do you think this is lacking as well or is the problem here that it is not a complete character?

3dReaper

A few things I would note.

Get rid of the splash screen/Landing page. It is monotonous for HR or art leads to review tons and tons of portfolios. Add on top of that a landing page truly does little for their low patience levels. The first page should be your work.

Another item, why is there only one image of each piece? You worked on something and only have one image to present it? Seems odd.

Nothing is named, none of the images have titles.

I cannot save any of the images either. This can be a problem.

Show wireframess, texture flats, and describe what software you used.

Keep at it.

Popol

Maxilator wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback, while it is a bit disheartening to hear I am aware that the portfolio needs more well done and complete works. Do you have any recommendation as to how I should get works like those done? As I am more or less in the position of "need experience to get work, need work to get experience". Obviously I am working on personal projects but do you think for example freelance might be an option?

Also, the latest project I did was the "Realistic Head", do you think this is lacking as well or is the problem here that it is not a complete character?

Freelance is not an option for beginner to gain experience as you already have to be a very good artist to get good freelance gigs and the cheap gigs are jus not worth it. The best way to get experience is simply to make full characters for your portfolio. Find a concept art you like on Artstation, ask the permission to the concept artist and just make it.

The "Realistic Head" looks "ok" but is lacking bone structure and some of the main anatomical landmarks.

Hai Phan made a fantastic tutorial for beginner character artists, you should definitely watch it: http://haikai.net/tutorials.html

Maxilator

3dReaper wrote: »

A few things I would note.

Get rid of the splash screen/Landing page. It is monotonous for HR or art leads to review tons and tons of portfolios. Add on top of that a landing page truly does little for their low patience levels. The first page should be your work.

Another item, why is there only one image of each piece? You worked on something and only have one image to present it? Seems odd.

Nothing is named, none of the images have titles.

I cannot save any of the images either. This can be a problem.

Show wireframess, texture flats, and describe what software you used.

Keep at it.

Okay, thanks, ill try to address some of these points, I'm considering changing host to artstation based on what you said, just noticed how limiting portfolio box is :susp:

Maxilator

Popol wrote: »

Freelance is not an option for beginner to gain experience as you already have to be a very good artist to get good freelance gigs and the cheap gigs are jus not worth it. The best way to get experience is simply to make full characters for your portfolio. Find a concept art you like on Artstation, ask the permission to the concept artist and just make it.

The "Realistic Head" looks "ok" but is lacking bone structure and some of the main anatomical landmarks.

Hai Phan made a fantastic tutorial for beginner character artists, you should definitely watch it: http://haikai.net/tutorials.html

Could you elaborate on why it is not worth it? I mean working cheap is better than free right? I'm not trying to be snide or anything but I'm just curious as to why this is the case.

I didn't realize this was the case, I tried to get some feedback on the face while making it but there were never anyone mentioning this, I'll try to keep it in mind in the future!

I think I saw a bit of these but I didn't know there were this many, I'll look them through.

Jaston3D

Everything looks pretty good except consider not having a transparent background for your sword and head, it looks a little strange when someone clicks on it to enlarge it, basically no presentation of it. Go the extra mile like you did in the others and really give it a background to compliment your piece.

This is more of a critique on the the actual portfolio side not the art quality side by the way! Keep it up though man!

Maxilator

Jaston3D wrote: »

Everything looks pretty good except consider not having a transparent background for your sword and head, it looks a little strange when someone clicks on it to enlarge it, basically no presentation of it. Go the extra mile like you did in the others and really give it a background to compliment your piece.

This is more of a critique on the the actual portfolio side not the art quality side by the way! Keep it up though man!

Thanks! I have been meaning to change those, I just started learning marmoset and thought that I might as well re-render them there for a better result.

Popol

Maxilator wrote: »

Could you elaborate on why it is not worth it? I mean working cheap is better than free right? I'm not trying to be snide or anything but I'm just curious as to why this is the case.

To get a job you need to build a portfolio with outstanding art. So you are better off making personnal projects rather than wasting time/energy on cheap freelance gigs that you are not gonna put in your portfolio.

DanielR17

Hey,
I think your glove is good looking, for a junior artist. You still can make it at least 2 times better with a good texturing work but the model seems good, although I'm no character artist.

You really should state that you are a character artist. And yes, change to ArtStation or make a good Wordpress site with a premium theme. Try to rely on industry standards.

Maxilator

DanielR17 wrote: »

Hey,
I think your glove is good looking, for a junior artist. You still can make it at least 2 times better with a good texturing work but the model seems good, although I'm no character artist.

You really should state that you are a character artist. And yes, change to ArtStation or make a good Wordpress site with a premium theme. Try to rely on industry standards.

Thanks, I just started working on my ArtStation page today and tried to mimic how I have seen how other peoples structure of how they present their work. Feel free to take a look at it

https://maxilator.artstation.com/

3dReaper

Your glove looks great, but why didn't you use PBR?

Artstation was a good choice.

BradMyers82

Your definitely headed in the right direction. You need to really bust your ass now and produce some awesome content to get a job. My portfolio sucked when I graduated, I thought it was ok, but quickly learned I was way off mark. 2 years of being locked in a room working 16 hours plus a day and my portfolio was on a completely different level and I landed my first gig. This was 5 years ago or so now. Just sharing this to let you know, if you work really hard you will defiently get a gig with where you are at currently, but you aren't there now. The first two on your site are def. the best. The glove actually is your best by far because its really hard to nit pick since there are no glaring errors that I see. However, when I see your characters its obvious you have a lot to learn in terms of anatomy, and to be honest this takes years to learn. So I'm not sure going the character artist route really makes sense, even tho Im sure you have a passion for characters. I'd consider catering your portfolio to a 3d generalist and just getting a lot of realy awesome props on there and possibly some environment stuff if you feel up to the task. There are a lot more jobs for generalists and 3d artists anyway, and character art is sorta a pie in the sky job these days (extremely competitive and full of amazing talent, not to say environment people arn't but more jobs there imo). Anyway, just my 2 cents. good luck man!

Maxilator

3dReaper wrote: »

Your glove looks great, but why didn't you use PBR?

Artstation was a good choice.

Thanks, what exactly are you meaning when you say PBR? Its rendered in marmoset so it has some physically based rendering attributes or am I missing something? My understanding of PBR isn't very clear.

Maxilator

BradMyers82 wrote: »

Your definitely headed in the right direction. You need to really bust your ass now and produce some awesome content to get a job. My portfolio sucked when I graduated, I thought it was ok, but quickly learned I was way off mark. 2 years of being locked in a room working 16 hours plus a day and my portfolio was on a completely different level and I landed my first gig. This was 5 years ago or so now. Just sharing this to let you know, if you work really hard you will defiently get a gig with where you are at currently, but you aren't there now. The first two on your site are def. the best. The glove actually is your best by far because its really hard to nit pick since there are no glaring errors that I see. However, when I see your characters its obvious you have a lot to learn in terms of anatomy, and to be honest this takes years to learn. So I'm not sure going the character artist route really makes sense, even tho Im sure you have a passion for characters. I'd consider catering your portfolio to a 3d generalist and just getting a lot of realy awesome props on there and possibly some environment stuff if you feel up to the task. There are a lot more jobs for generalists and 3d artists anyway, and character art is sorta a pie in the sky job these days (extremely competitive and full of amazing talent, not to say environment people arn't but more jobs there imo). Anyway, just my 2 cents. good luck man!

Thank you very much, that was very enlightening! You are totally right, my characters are not up to par, the orc I thought until now was pretty good but when I look at it critically I realize it has many errors. The thing is I have not made a whole character since last summer (school were rough this year and produced nothing worthy of the portfolio) so I were just planning on making a complete character with my current level of skill. Do you think that that is a good idea even if I go into the generalist route?

BradMyers82

Honestly no I don't. I think the problem with making characters at this point is you will never make them at the same quality as current character artists in the games industry. This is not your fault, it takes years for most people to get to that level, and the people working as character artists in the games industry have most likely been working in games professionally for 3+ years. I just feel, if your goal is to get a job asap you would be better off making props than characters. But I have no idea what your situation is, so maybe you don't mind waiting years to get a job while you work at characters?

But just because its not characters doesn't mean it can't be awesome. I saw someone post some bioshock props that I was really impressed by, but I can't find them for some reason now. but here are a couple of artists that worked on the game. http://www.coroflot.com/mauriciotejerina/Bioshock-Infinite
http://cbrait.com/

Grumpntug

Maxilator wrote: »

Thanks, what exactly are you meaning when you say PBR? Its rendered in marmoset so it has some physically based rendering attributes or am I missing something? My understanding of PBR isn't very clear.

PBR (physically based rendering) isn't just using PBR shaders really, in things like marmoset or Unreal you need texture maps built to support PBR.

Marmoset has a good breakdown

http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice

Everyone has seen the DONTNOD PBR chart

https://seblagarde.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/dontnod-physically-based-rendering-chart-for-unreal-engine-4/

This is an older video but it should help you understand the basics a bit better if you are new.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt30zzBQb3w[/ame]

PBR is the new hotness so I would take some time to read up on it and figure it out. Just mess with a simple model, seriously, like a cube and get the workflow down. Just another tool in your arsenal then. Good luck!

BradMyers82

Oh, by "never" in my first sentence, I meant the next character you make will not be on the same level as you need it to be to get a job as a character artist. You would most likely need to make 6+ before it starts getting there which is why I was recommending going another route. If you make a character that is just so-so for your next project its really not going to help you get a job. But if you start knocking out really cool prop pieces (which can be made a hell of a lot faster) you will get there in no time. Again, just my opinion from what I have seen on these boards for the last 10 years.

3dReaper

On top of what Grumpntug said, PBR has almost totally replaced DNS texturing.

PBR is the current standard. You must learn it.

Maxilator

Grumpntug wrote: »

PBR (physically based rendering) isn't just using PBR shaders really, in things like marmoset or Unreal you need texture maps built to support PBR.

Marmoset has a good breakdown

http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice

Everyone has seen the DONTNOD PBR chart

https://seblagarde.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/dontnod-physically-based-rendering-chart-for-unreal-engine-4/

This is an older video but it should help you understand the basics a bit better if you are new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt30zzBQb3w

PBR is the new hotness so I would take some time to read up on it and figure it out. Just mess with a simple model, seriously, like a cube and get the workflow down. Just another tool in your arsenal then. Good luck!

Thank you very much, I'll definitely take a look at that!

Maxilator

BradMyers82 wrote: »

Oh, by "never" in my first sentence, I meant the next character you make will not be on the same level as you need it to be to get a job as a character artist. You would most likely need to make 6+ before it starts getting there which is why I was recommending going another route. If you make a character that is just so-so for your next project its really not going to help you get a job. But if you start knocking out really cool prop pieces (which can be made a hell of a lot faster) you will get there in no time. Again, just my opinion from what I have seen on these boards for the last 10 years.

I see, well, I don't really have anything against making other props so thanks for the tip. With 6+, did you mean 6+ years or characters? Also, if I am to make the transition from generalist to character artist in the future, how wold I go about getting experience for character creation, would you suggest that that is done in between other prop projects when I have more experience?

BradMyers82

yea, I meant 6+ character projects, not years. I mean there is no specific amount of time it might take someone. It really depends on how much time you dedicate to it, the way you spend your time, and how fast you learn. But I think thats a much better idea, to work on props for a while and eventually ease back into characters. I don't want to be an ass and say you can't do it, you definetly CAN. It just takes time, and like I stated above one key factor is how you spend your time. Working on props will teach you how to use pbr rendering (yea, you should learn it, its not hard really or anything that magical), about lighting, composition and so on. Basically everything you need to know to become a good character artist except anatomy and the little tricks about making realistic shaders for characters and such. But anyway, I know you can do it so get to work!

Maxilator

BradMyers82 wrote: »

yea, I meant 6+ character projects, not years. I mean there is no specific amount of time it might take someone. It really depends on how much time you dedicate to it, the way you spend your time, and how fast you learn. But I think thats a much better idea, to work on props for a while and eventually ease back into characters. I don't want to be an ass and say you can't do it, you definetly CAN. It just takes time, and like I stated above one key factor is how you spend your time. Working on props will teach you how to use pbr rendering (yea, you should learn it, its not hard really or anything that magical), about lighting, composition and so on. Basically everything you need to know to become a good character artist except anatomy and the little tricks about making realistic shaders for characters and such. But anyway, I know you can do it so get to work!

I shall, thank you very much!

Maxilator

Okay guys, I added some pieces, what do you think? https://maxilator.artstation.com/

I don't really know what I might do next but I'm thinking on an old tome or something along the lines of that, kind of like the picture bellow but a bit more rugged, do you think this is a good idea?

DanielR17

Hey Max,
The first thing that you should do is to delete the head from your portfolio. The best advice I often read is: only keep the best stuff!

Did you design the weapon yourself? Or is it coming from an existing concept? I guess the design specialists here will have some things to say.

The concrete pillar still needs more love and time. On the painting and at least where the metal interesects with the concrete.

You wrote 1259 tris but this piece is obviously not triangulated. There's still plenty of quads.

3dReaper

Your gun and glove look great.

The pillar still needs work. Its broken to all hell but has very little indication from the textures. Needs a detail pass and AO pass. Like DanielR17 said, where the rebar protrudes from the concrete needs to show the intersection.

Your head does detract greatly from your other work. Chose a craft, hard surface or organic and cater your folio to that.

Maxilator

Oh, thought I responded here before, I'll make those adjustments by this evening (I think). I reworked the pillars textures as you guys said, just never posted the new version.

Maxilator

Okay people, errors fixed and another piece added! what do you think now? Also, any suggestions on what I should do next, I'm kinda struggling with coming up with something interesting.

https://www.artstation.com/artist/maxilator

DanielR17

Max,
That's better. Keep spending some time on your assets.
For new projects now I tend to choose ideas and subjects near where I live. Environments, objects, or natural formations that I can see and touch directly. It gives us a lot of information and I'm sure you can find something interesting not far from home.
Just a suggestion. It can help find new ideas.

Maxilator

Hi again guys, so I have now made a few updates to my portfolio, and I have a question, is it necessary to always make a low poly for the portfolio? I'm not asking from laziness as I don't mind making them, but I think I could produce assets way faster if I could only make the High poly. Also, do you have any general feedback for me? Any suggestions for what I might make next? Cheers.

Daniel, thanks for the suggestion, I'm sorry for not responding, I must have missed your comment. I have tried looking for stuff to make around me but apart from the "dad's ol rifle" I have a hard time finding any inspiring pieces but I'll keep my eyes peeled!

https://www.artstation.com/artist/maxilator

Maxilator

Hi, I would still like to get feedback on my previous comment. It would really help me to know what might compliment what I already have on there.