Nathan's Portfolio Critiques and Feedback

Nathanramsey

Hey all!

I'm Nathaniel Ramsey and I'm a 3D Character Artist residing in Los Angeles CA, and I am really trying to be more outgoing and seek out some peer feedback on some work I've done.

I've been working on creating more game ready models lately as my end game goal is to hopefully land a studio job in the future. I will greatly appreciate any critiques you might have and look forward to talking with many of you!

Here is my artstation link: artstation.com/artist/nathanramsey

As well as my own site link: http://www.nathanielramseyart.com/

Ignacio_G

I'm no character artist but here's a blunt crit:

Top 6-7 pieces, you know... the ones that pop up first made me want to just close out the site. That's what a recruiter would do anyways. I scrolled down and am like, wow ok you've got some sick sculpts. I'd put those at the top. The game-res stuff is just badly presented, lower quality and just nowhere near as good overall as your sculpts.

Nathanramsey

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it even the blunt critique.

I'll be working on organizing it and hopefully working on the presentation of the game-res models I have done. Might you guys have some information to help with how I should present my game res models in the future?

slosh

I like some of your sculpts but my guess is your anatomy is not very solid. You have zero studies showing you know proper anatomy and proportion. Colossus is probably the closest and his anatomy/proportions look very strange. You should really do some human characters that show you have an understanding of what I have described.

Nathanramsey

Thank you guys, all of your input has really hit home and I'll be sure to work on them. I'll be focusing on doing the anatomy studies like Slosh has mentioned and really put my best work up.

Thanks again! Also if anyone else has more to add I'm still all ears!

dwgagner

The first few pieces on your portfolio are your weakest, I'd lose them as others have said.

I can tell you after being on the hiring side of things what I wish I had put in my own portfolio now that I better understand what's required of a character artist. Would of probably been easier to break into the industry earlier if I had.

Strong anatomy, you have talent but you are limiting yourself by only doing monsters, it's easier to hide anatomical mistakes and write it off as part of the "design" by doing them. Now I'm certain you do monsters because it's what you enjoy however we don't always get to work on a character we are excited to. Instead it becomes a "how can I take this thing I think is kind of boring and execute it in a way that will make it feel cool to me".

At least 1 (though the more you have the better) classical sculpted to pose anatomy study. I would say this is a must have in every character artists portfolio, particularly if you don't already have industry experience.

A few likeness studies of well known figures, either celebrities or political figures is also a great way to strengthen the confidence others will have in your abilities when they view your portfolio. If they know you can do a likeness and they recognize who it is then they will also believe that you can accurately represent concept art in 3d.

After that it's simply a matter of whatever you want as long as it's executed to a high quality and as long as you show several process breakdowns of game res models and textures to show that you understand the whole process and how the different texture maps actually work in a game environment. Then you're pretty golden. Usually I would recommend that these pieces are geared towards whatever studio you want to work at.

For instance want to work at Blizzard? Do a WoW style sculpt, want to work on call of duty? Do a hyper realistic soldier. Pretty self explanatory.

Art Directors love plug and play, if you can show you can already hit a house style and you will require less coaching to ramp up it puts you ahead of anyone else they are interviewing.