Portfolio review - Prop Artist

mobkon

Hey Polycounters -

Been working on getting rid of old pieces and updating my portfolio with new work. I've narrowed it down to 4 of my strongest most recent pieces, but often worry that's not enough. I am looking for work as a Prop Artist and was curious if/what I need to change on my portfolio to make it more appealing. I know I don't have a ton of work to show, but is this adequate? I am working on putting together an environment piece in Unreal to showcase as well, but that won't be done for a bit.

I also always wonder if Artstation isn't the way to go and a more customized website for a portfolio is more eye catching? I used to do some work in 3D for advertising and built a custom page for my work based around that, but I have seen lots of polycounters and game artists use Artstation as their portfolios, so I thought it might suffice.

Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks for your eyes! 

Linfo

I'm no expert, but I generally think that having a few really good things is better than a lot of noise.
I've also been thinking about setting up a website, but it does seems like everybody is using ArtStation now and that may be a good thing since it makes it easier to keep track of things.

Personally, I like your stuff. I think (personal opinion!) you just need to sell it a bit better.
The car for example is your strongest item and it's really good, but the render is a bit dark and doesn't sell it very well (I've been struggling with this same thing myself).
I also think you can get away by posting a separate item with a few renders of the car's high poly.
Doing that thing must have a ton of work, use it!

Finally, I would work on the thumbnails a bit. The one with the flamethrower doesn't really makes it justice in my opinion. I thought it was a weird looking fire extinguisher until I opened it and found a nice looking gun. 

Anyway, I hope that help? Maybe?

mobkon

 Linfo said:

I'm no expert, but I generally think that having a few really good things is better than a lot of noise.
I've also been thinking about setting up a website, but it does seems like everybody is using ArtStation now and that may be a good thing since it makes it easier to keep track of things.

Personally, I like your stuff. I think (personal opinion!) you just need to sell it a bit better.
The car for example is your strongest item and it's really good, but the render is a bit dark and doesn't sell it very well (I've been struggling with this same thing myself).
I also think you can get away by posting a separate item with a few renders of the car's high poly.
Doing that thing must have a ton of work, use it!

Finally, I would work on the thumbnails a bit. The one with the flamethrower doesn't really makes it justice in my opinion. I thought it was a weird looking fire extinguisher until I opened it and found a nice looking gun. 

Anyway, I hope that help? Maybe?

Yes! Helps for sure. Thumbnails are tough sometimes. I wanted to show a bit of interesting detail with the flamethrower with a closeup, but in hindsight I think you're right it doesn't really show what it is. 

I will add some HP shots of some of the props. The car is a great one for that. 

The cars renders were hard to find a balance. I wanted a bit of a darker scene to showcase the mood and the tail lights a bit since they have an emissive map, but maybe I should revisit it and make it pop a bit more. 

Thanks 

mobkon

Updated my portfolio a bit. Ended up re-doing most of the renders in UE4 (except the sword, going to do that tomorrow). Added some better shots, better lighting, added some HP shots where it made sense etc.

If anyone has any other pointers, please throw them my way. Working on some new projects as well that I will be adding in the coming weeks, but would like to get some feedback before I add them so I can keep whatever advice is given in mind!
\m/(-_-)\m/
 >:) 

Shurkuris

If your aiming to be a Prop Artist, I would add some non-textured/flat screenshots. Your lighting isn't that great and is turning me away.

For example, your car's exterior looks like it's made out of plastic. You have this almost perfectly even plastic shine on everything. Even where their are dents, scratches, rust, the specular is even all throughout. 

Your sword has the closest look to metal, but their is still something off about it. I don't even know what to make of your red grip, it looks really weird.

Your materials need a lot of work, they aren't matching to their real-life counterparts and are distracting.

vertex_

The arcade cabinet looks great. However, it would have been a great opportunity to present your graphic design capability by creating your own design for the cabinet, as many game studios do not have the legal liberty of using existing designs such as this.

The detail on the back of the arcade cabinet is very good. Is there an AO map for this asset? It would be nice to see more detail around the buttons and joysticks. Good work on the dusty screen.

Seeberg

Hello, hope you are doing well! First off you have a very good start to your portfolio, but with a few more fixes you can definitely take it further. 

For starters I would suggest throwing out the vertex count. Different people have varying opinions on what is considered high and low and in the end if someone see's your vertex count you may end up shooting yourself in the foot. 

As stated before maybe show a render with out textures, so employers can just see it for the modeling aspect rather then texture work, and the can visually separate the two. 

Overall you should push your roughness and metal values a little more as well as your "wear and tear" for the assets. Lighting needs some more work, I would suggest doing a 3 point light set up with a strong rim light. 

For your flamethrower you are only showing one side of it so try to get a shot of the other. Your sword could use less of a polycount so maybe reduce that a bit. Arcade machine looks good, just expand on the roughness some more, same with your car. 

Hope this is helpful!