Portfolio Critique: Riot Games Internship Response

bigmackiller

Hello fellow artist! 

My name is Mackenzie Akred. I have been working with both Zbrush and very little 3DS Max for awhile now, but this is my first time posting anything to Polycount in any way, shape, or form, but I wanted some help with something. I go to University of Cincinnati, DAAP, and have received no real education in this field as far as 3D modelling goes. I have been learning on my own while trying to work on my studies and I am currently employed (I swear I am not looking for a pity party...). I recently applied to, and received word back from Riot Games about an internship, and I was respectably turned down for the position for a 3D character Artist intern position. I love 3D character artistry and some animation, so I am gonna pick myself up from this and get better! Unfortunately they do not provide feedback, and understandably at that, but I want some critiques so bad, and I was hoping you guys could help me with that!

So sorry about that long winded introduction, but I felt a little background was necessary. So here is the portfolio I submitted for the Riot internship.

http://mackakred.wix.com/mackakredportfolio

I want an all out no hold back critique for someone of my level (Somewhat of a noob) as well as a direction to look for. I want to reapply for Riot next year, if I can (I graduate in the spring), but I have a plan to Learn Maya from Digital Tutors as well as hone my skills in Zbrush, because I need it!

Thanks so much guys, I love this social network, it has helped me in a hundred plus ways to look to a future and enjoy what I do that much more. Thanks again and I am sorry for any incorrect grammar...

artofmars

Definitely get some pieces from initial sculpt to final lowpoly with textures. There is a lot of information out there about PBR workflows and texturing in general. Sculpting skills are great but knowing how to create a texture that enhances a model is essential.  Keep on, keeping on though :]

bigmackiller

Can't say I have heard of PBR, and I have a strange feeling that texture mapping is something I need to learn more about. Do you have any videos to get me started?

Jaston3D

So you have quite a ways to go but that's not to say it won't happen, it's going to be dependent on you and your work ethic. Many times you will work for smaller studios before being able to work at a studio like Riot. So I wouldn't limit yourself to just Riot, you really can't hold yourself to that. Maybe have Riot as an end goal. As of right now out of complete honesty none of your stuff is up to industry standards but it can get there. It will just take the hours put into it just like everyone else had to put in. Digital tutors is pretty good but if you really want to make it worth it and invest in your future buy some of the online courses or tutorial series from Gnomon or even search out some stuff on Gumroad, Some seriously kick ass artists who are working at those top studios such as Riot make some awesome tutorials for sale on Gumroad or Gnomon.

Shyralon

If you want to make character art, anatomy is the most important thing you have to learn.
It all comes down to a LOT of practice and studys. The more you do it, the faster you'll reach your goal.
For character art I would recommend picking up Raphael Grassetis and Frank Tzengs Gumroads and work through all of them.
Depending on how much money you can spent for this, I also heard a lot of positive things about the Scott Eaton online courses.
Aside from this, work on knowing the whole pipeline.
Most stuff in your portfolio are just sculpts, if you want to work for Riot you should have models which could be used in an actual game, so learn retopo, baking and texturing and present your ingame models nicely.

bigmackiller

Thanks so much guys this is some good stuff to start me off on! I really appreciate it. Is there a good way to find some small game companies to work for maybe? I live in Cincinnati and do not plan on moving any time soon (I am in college, have a growing life, and my family) the internship would have just been for the summer if nothing else.

bigmackiller

Also, out of curiosity, is that a good format for the models in my portfolio? Also, if I put them in games, how do I show that off? Or is it enough to simply show a topology that is game ready as well as textures that still show the details?

Add3r

Like others have said, you are off to a good footing by posting here and being open about critique.  Some resources to get into character art from the beginning:

Learn anatomy.  Step back from doing anything pertaining to creatures and non-humanoid studies/pieces, or at least do not make them a focus until you can grasp the basic anatomy of a human.  Scott Eaton's work is amazing: http://www.scott-eaton.com/  That is even if you are not really into 2D or want to have your focus in only 3D, its good to at least have the grounding and practice your 2D skills for both anatomy and gesture.  Get used to practicing and studies, as any art study will require thousands upon thousands of hours of practice (the 10,000 hour rule).  Once you start to really get the hang of human anatomy and proper gesture, you can start applying that knowledge to your creature creation to ground them with reality.  Learning muscle and bone structures are so crucial to creating believable content.    

Another good thread I found with some searching on polycount: http://polycount.com/discussion/150047/starting-character-art

Just do some general searches of topics through the search bar on the top right of the polycount page and you will find a ton of great threads that exist with a lot of info on good online resources.  Google character art portfolios and do a bit of internet stalking to find junior and mid level character artists as well to kind of gauge where their portfolio quality bar is, and then use that to base what your minimum amount of quality needs to be to compete.  If you think about it, most portfolio's are dated if they are currently working, and studios are hiring for the future.  They want to see characters and art that push the quality bar that already exists, not just continue creating content at what quality is already filling games we play today.  

You will find a handful of character art progress threads in the 3D C&C section of the forum, as well as the sketchbook area.  You will see these artists posting regular updates on their progress for further critique.  It helps shape their work and push their skills on a daily basis, also track their artistic progress personally.  Its a great way to get your name out into the world, build discipline for creating art, and just so much more.  Its probably the main thing I recommend aside from really digging into next gen asset pipelines (baking normal maps, PBR: Physically Based Rendering, etc), and absorbing every bit of anatomy and gesture studying you can physically handle.

As for the portfolio, the assets are pretty spread out.  Check out the Wren theme that was recently put out for free for Wordpress as inspiration to what a portfolio that is readable and easy to use.  Will also get an idea of portfolio building once you start compiling a list of character artist portfolios you constantly reference.

Goodluck! 

Zombiecrackers

bigmackiller said:

Can't say I have heard of PBR, and I have a strange feeling that texture mapping is something I need to learn more about. Do you have any videos to get me started?

Learning PBR would be a big help buddy, it's also good if you download UE4 and get used to using that in your workflow, its completely free and one of the most used engine's in the industry, studios will love to see you can not only work at a high level but you can also get that work into engine as a game ready asset. 

https://www.unrealengine.com/what-is-unreal-engine-4