Portfolio work

LHenry

Hey, so I recently just finished my final year at university and I’m now looking for work as an environment artist.

I am not completely happy with my portfolio as it is. So I've planned a few projects to improve my portfolio and I want to share my journey here.

I will try to post as regular as possible and hopefully some of you guys can give me as much feedback as possible.

so the first project Is to create as forest scene with overgrown ruins. I've began with collecting a lot of references and I will continue to add more.



The program I use to store my references is PureRef.

I have also created a blockout of the environment and added some sample textures at the moment everthing in the scene is placeholder.

The large human figure is a place holder for a statue.

I think I'm going to start working on the terrain textures and foliage first.

If anyone has some feedback at this moment or any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks.

cgtoolsmith

This might help:

It looks like a huge undertaking!! I feel it is better to select a smaller part so you can focus more on quality and actually finishing your environment first. So pick a (small!) interesting idea for a environment. Your reference shows some potential for this, but I can't really link the references to your blockout.

After selecting your location: Write down your challenges/learning goals for this project. For example: Creating interesting nature/organic composition, creating foliage assets, creating lighting for nature scenes, or do you want to mix architecture with nature?

So in short my tip is to go back a step in your progress and see if you can tune your project a bit more.

PS: Can you make the references a bit bigger/ Hi-rez? I would love to help you think about interesting compositions for this project.

Goodluck! Keep it up!!

LHenry

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

As far as what I’m doing I feel like I have a clear goal and I don’t think it will take that long to achieve at the rate I’m going.

I want to get the bigger picture of this environment done first focusing on the foliage and rocks and ruins then move into smaller details.

I’m already making good progress with the foliage and will post an update in next few days.

hopfully this image is abit clearer.

LHenry

making some good progress with the foliage. I tried a lot of different methods but modeling out them them and baking down to planes seem to be givingg me the the best results so far.


I am now going to be adding some more colour with wild flowers

Luxap

Hiya @LHenry, the foliage is looking pretty sweet so far! Are you using the foliage painter for placement? And also how are the lightmaps coming along when baking lighting? Or are you more relying on the gradient in the color for this?

Looking forward to seeing more, keep it up!

LHenry

Hey, Thanks man. Yeh I’m using the foliage painter. The light maps I done really quickly just so I wasn’t getting any errors when building lights. So I’ll have to go back and pack them properly at some point but the results I’m getting so far is quite good.

Thanks,

LHenry

Quick update just been made a flower and a quick leaf to add some colour variety  to the foliage. I'm gonna go back and work on the leaf because i'm not completely happy with it.



incase someone wants to see the highploy here they are.

Wolf1

Hey @LHenry ,

Your project looks great! It's definitely one heck of a big project you're doing. I can only applaud you for doing this.

I like the ambiance you're aiming for. The layout is nice too, which should help you moving forward.

One thing I've noticed is how dark the shadows/ambient occlusion are on your grass/plants. This makes them have a paper-like look. Are you using SSS materials? If not, this could definitely boost the quality of your grass. If you already use it, maybe lighten the SSS material so it doesn't look too dark.

Definitely something I'll keep an eye at. Keep up the good work!
Wolf1

LHenry

Hey @Wolf1 Thanks man! at the moment its just an normal default lit material but I'm looking into SSS material now, I'll post a comparison when I get something working.

Again thanks for the input from what I've seen it could definitely help how the foliage looks!

LHenry

@Arkaria thanks, unfortunately I haven't played ESO but the architecture stuff is still up in the air but yes I do like the cylindrical design.

I’m still trying to figure out its purpose at the moment. At the moment I think it should be some sort of shrine to a heroic figure where people once journeyed to worship but over time it’s been forgotten.

LHenry

@Wolf1

Hey man I tried out using subsurface material last night here's a comparison I still need to play about with the values I think to get better results and do some masking between the flowers and leafs because everything is on the one texture sheet.

Wolf1

@LHenry Yes, that's definitely better! It looks particularly good on the bigger plants, which have a much more realistic shading now. I'd say maybe add a bit of "green" on the SSS so they feel filled with chlorophyll, like this: http://wonderopolis.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/fresh-thick-grass_shutterstock_71481652.jpg

See the veins/greener tone in the subsurface? It would be great if you could try to capture this through the shader.

Still, it's really looking great. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

nnodley

Very excited to see this through to the finish.  Blackout has me interested and your foliage is looking good.  Seems you are in the same boat as I am in just finishing university and looking for a job.  I've decided to polish the shit out of 2 of my environments in my portfolio to the quality of work being seen in the industry right now.  My stuff is lacking that extra push of immersion and finer details.  

Anyway, can't wait to see your updates.

LHenry

@Wolf1 thanks, Yeh I still need to play about with values and colours a little bit.
@Nnodley Thanks man, yeh the struggles to find that first job In the industry are real. I'm sure we will get there with a little bit of hard work.

Quick update I've been pulling my hair out trying to tackle Ivy nothing I've made looks quite right so I'm going to leave the foliage for a bit and start getting some rocks sculpted out. 

But here's some shots of the ivy if anyone has a good tutorial or advice for it, thanks in advance.



I should propably lower the density of the leaves on some of them.

LHenry

Update: not much progress this week I've done some rocks sculpts. This is the first one I've baked down I plan on making 2 more.
The material Is just quickly made in Quixel but I plan on making my own textures for the rocks in the future.

The ivy still not quite right but I will fix sooon.....hopefully!

ps. sorry for lack of updates - witcher 3 blood and wine took over my life for a couple of days but back to normal now!

LHenry

Last couple of days I've just been creating more rocks and textures in Zbrush. I've just been trying to improve my knowledge of the program and see what I can achieve with it.

Also working on a master material in UE4 for all of the tiling textures Ill be using. Hope to show more in the coming days!