Looking for feedback for my portfolio
polycounter lvl 5
Hi guys,
I am looking for feedback for my portfolio. I am a 3D Environment Artist trying to get my first job in the game industry. Not sure what my portfolio is lacking and if there is work I have that should be taken out. Been having a hard time getting noticed and would greatly appreciate the feedback.
My Portfolio can be found here: www.MarkWilliams3d.com
Thanks
Replies
- Looking promising overall. The first environment is cool. I would like to see more shots, or a flyaround/video.
- Make a set out of Pirate island and present it properly. Maybe make a diorama out of it or something, like some piles of rope, the canon, the barrel, some bottles maybe and give it a stage (an alley? a dock? marketplace? side of a ship?). Make it look good and lived in. Two common props floating in midair are super boring and don't leave much of an impression at all.
- The assault rifle is average at best, kinda a boring prop, and you want to be an environment artist. The model itself is alright, though the HP needs its edges loosened (I think that's actually a lot of what's making me feel that it's average, now that I'm looking, along with lack of material definition). I just don't think it's the best piece to show off your skills, and I personally would be focusing on another Environment piece You seem strong in that area. Unless you want to do weapons and props, in which case do a lot more of that and change your title
I think at this point it's just a matter of doing more and more work, otherwise. Set some small environment projects for yourself and try to learn something new each time. Do a little more than is expected of you.Good luck, hope you pick up some work soon!
Presentation: good overall, can't fault it. Text size on the About page seems a little small. Maybe you could increase it a little. Otherwise, most people might have to squint to read it.
Also potentially a profile image of yourself. Makes it a little more personal.
Add a contact page with a contact form. That'll fill up some more space on your webpage. Look up similar portfolios of artists and find out what they've done.
Only small thing to point out, each time I look at a piece of your work, it seems I'm still on the index page and not a new page. Do you plan to fix this?
As for the content: much can be done here. Most of the scenes lack a few things. Mainly strong realistic lighting, and good material definition. Those are the points that most studios look for when you apply to them. They need to see only a few high quality pieces, especially the AAA developers. Art Directors are difficult to please, and you'll need some visual benchmark in order to compare your work to their games.
You need more images of each scene from different angles and include a technical breakdown to show that you understand the process. The image order needs to tell some kind of visual story, from the beauty shot to the wireframes. If it was from a group task; state what is yours.
Forest scene
A nice idea, but looks really bare. It doesn't really tell much of a story. Look up some references of similar scenes and find out what makes them good. For instance, would you include an object or a character in the distance that would draw someone's attention? Or maybe torches on poles burning to illuminate the path leading to somewhere? As of now, there isn't a lot going on that makes it interesting.
Also in terms of composition, look up something called the "Rule of Thirds". When you add in visual aids in the scene, that will help your composition a lot.
Pirate Ship
Lighting is pretty flat. There's no clear shadows or any light source present. Background being black doesn't help much either. The cannon looks nice and is possibly your strongest piece there. Keep that and address the rest of the scene somehow. There's not much going on to make it an interesting diorama. Are there more assets you could include? Are some of the planks falling away? Are all of the barrels standing? Are you after a full pirate ship or just a small diorama scene?
Chinese Temple
Having only the one image isn't much to go by. The ground has a somewhat CG feel and more could be done about improving the texture. I can't make much of a judgement on this one as I don't see any other images on this piece. Having the door open in the distance could be improved upon. For example, could you include a light source that leads the viewer's eye in? What would be beyond that door?
Assault rifle Modelling is good, but the texturing is weak. It looks unfinished with little in terms of material details. Other than stating that it's a "Delta" assault rifle, why not just state what it really is? I can tell that it's a derivative of the AR-15 platform of assault rifles, but not everyone will figure out what it relates to in real life.
One thing to be mindful of that your normal map is going to be the most important texture for more rounded edge definition. If you have a High Poly version, make the edge loops softer, which allows for more accurate texture map bakes. I can only see some wear on the modular rail parts around the barrel, but no material detail or wear anywhere else on the weapon. That's what's going to make it really shine. For instance, I don't see any material detail on the magazine, such as edge wear or scratches. My point is; it's supposed to be metal, but doesn't behave like metal at all.
Look up similar assault rifles from the AR-15 family from others, and find out what makes them shine. Artstation is a good place to start.
Keep the Game Jam work on, as that's some progress. Although you need to state what your role was on that project. Many will already know, but others may not.
In short, to improve this portfolio of yours and take it further, you need to do 1 of 2 things. Either create new content with the points raised by everyone. Or revisit your old scenes and improve them drastically.
Good luck.
Hi James
I really appreciate you taking the time to give me this feedback and I don’t take this personally. At the moment I am currently working on a new environment piece for my portfolio to improve on my lighting and texturing skills. For the new environment piece I will show a breakdown of the scene and textures.
I am planning on going back to my forest and pirate scene though, so I will go back and improve on the things you mention above. The pirate scene I was going for more of a diorama style.
I worked on the Chinese scene a while ago so I will probably remove it once I have better work to show. I end up removing a lot of the breakdowns of the Chinese environment this year due to the quality not being as good as my previous work. For the Delta Assault Rifle I will probably remove it too after the new environment piece is finished, instead of retexturing it. I would rather start a new piece then go back to old work.
For my website I use one of the Squarespace templates, so I can’t really adjust the index page link. The Gaming Jam role, bigger text size, profile image and contact form is a good idea.
Thanks again
Just remember that you've only got 5 seconds to impress someone when you submit your portfolio, either for review or for an application. I took longer so you can get the points you need to address the flaws.
So just to re-iterate; strong lighting, Physically Based Rendering and your best pieces of work will be the order of the day. Even 3 pieces of high quality work is better than having 5+ that are unpolished and unfinished.
Don't forget to let the images have an order so that it tells a story. Beauty shots, breakdown and then textures. And fill up as much of the screen space as possible to fill the resolution.
For your website, you might be better off investigating a different template, such as Wix or coding one from scratch. That's what I did.
You get those right; you'll have a much better chance of standing out.
Best of luck.