Portfolio Critique

Elodin

Hello everyone,

alexenv.co.uk

I've just updated my portfolio. Critique is welcome. I want to understand, is it good or bad and what to fix and where to fix it.

slosh

So I took a brief look. I'm not a fan of the scrolling image deal...I had to click a couple times to get a page to load. Just have the thumbnails to go to each page directly. Axe the character...its pretty poor. Get rid of the videos(i saw one, maybe there's more, didn't check everything). Your props look pretty solid but could still use some more love in texturing. The art in your environment pieces is decent but keep polishing. Oh, one thing about the actual page navigation, the "go back" button on each art page goes to the top of the page...that should really go back to the home page. anyways, Good luck!

Elodin

Thank you for taking a look.

shadacer

The Blog Button does the same as the Portfolio button - assuming this is WIP?
Otherwise, I like the Pilgrim game, looks a solid addition.

Elodin

Blog Button is still WIP.

ZombieWells

So it looks like your out of school? or just about to finish up? Anyhow, you have been doing this for a while now so. Wooden beams- don't need a full zbrush hi for them. Should be just a tiled texture sheet, (you could have gone in Z to make the tiled texture if you really felt that you needed to for a clean normal, Ao). This way you can have a lot of variation and freedom, rather than being locked to a Z model. Bow- There is no real material break up here, looks like flat color with some edge high lighting. Now really ask yourself, does that look like leather there? or any metal you have seen in real life? Lots of wasted UV space going on there too. Rocks- need reference, they look like a ton of first attempts at rocks... which all look like mashed potatoes. Generator- Are you modeling all your high ploys in Z?!!? If this is the case; stop. There is no need to be running around in zbrush for this, especially hard surface for many, many, reasons. It seems like, just looking at this, that you may not know the in's and out's of your tradition 3D modeling package, (looks like you are using Maya) which is highly alarming. Anyhow, Looks like there isn't a lot of material break up. The blue paint shines like metal... the whole thing kind of does. So make metal like metal, the paint more mat, the rubber buttons mat, and dull up the ware and tare. Also, there are a bunch of seems, normal and texture, and whats that? uv stretching at the bottom of this guy. Max has a paint canvas tool that lets you 3D paint on your model. I highly recommend the 3D paint tool that 3D coat has, and coat is great for making rocks btw. The grime doesn't make too much sense anyway. Look at how things rust. Find reference for everything. Polycount has a bunch of sticky notes on "how to model dem shapes" and "You're making me hard. Making sense of stuffs" Also there is a "big list of portfolios" compare yours to there's and get a sense of where the bar is set. Put bluntly, it will be very difficult for you to get a job with your current art.

Elodin

ZombieWells wrote: »

There is no need to be running around in zbrush for this, especially hard surface for many, many, reasons.

How so? And why Maya is a bad program?

And yes, just finished.

ZombieWells

Z for Organics is awesome, don't get me wrong. Though, going a head and making props like the generator are still much faster, and efferent in a traditional modeling package. You can easily hand these things off, checking in huge Z files is bad if everyone is doing it, changing things on the fly, control over your model, etc. As a side, most folks want to see that you have a good knowledge of a traditional modeling package, it shows that you have basic technical skills, and understand fundamental modeling principles. I don't see many, or any, studios just requiring zbrush knowledge. Maya from what I understand, has a lot of limitations when it comes to modeling. You might be better off straight up modeling in Modo, or Max. Still, Maya isn't bad, it just probably requires,( like most packages) some scripts and some custom jazz to get it up and running to where you like it.

Oh I see where the confusion is- It highly alarming that someone would not know a fair amount about "Maya" or whatever package they are using. Thats why its good to have some models that are done outside of Zbrush. sorry about that.

Elodin

Thanks for the feedback, it helps a lot.

I understand what you mean about hard surface. I just found some examples.

ZombieWells

cool man! good luck with it all, and just keep posting, keep working, and most the tips and tricks are here on polycount. Always remember that you can ask about anything if your not sure of it. Folks are willing to help out