Would you kindly look through my portfolio
triangle
Hello people!
I wondered if anyone would be kind enough to have a look at my portfolio and see what I need to improve and what pieces of work you think hurt my chances are getting a job within the industry. Tell me what you like or what you dislike, what works and what doesn't and what other pieces of work I can add to my portfolio to fill out my set of skills. Also if you can tell me what my work looks like to an employer if you were to hire me, to help me gain insight to how my work looks and is presented.
My portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/artist/silohx
Thank you! Any feedback would be much appreciated!
I wondered if anyone would be kind enough to have a look at my portfolio and see what I need to improve and what pieces of work you think hurt my chances are getting a job within the industry. Tell me what you like or what you dislike, what works and what doesn't and what other pieces of work I can add to my portfolio to fill out my set of skills. Also if you can tell me what my work looks like to an employer if you were to hire me, to help me gain insight to how my work looks and is presented.
My portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/artist/silohx
Thank you! Any feedback would be much appreciated!
Replies
So the first thing that stands out to me when I visit your portfolio is... I have no idea what you are marketing yourself as. Do you want to be a character artist? A prop artist? An animator? It's a tad confusing as it stands. You have written that you are a game developer, but that is an awfully vague title and it's better to have a bit more of a targeted portfolio. Jack of all trades, master of none as the saying goes! In my personal opinion, I think that you are a much stronger hard surface and prop artist than a character artist or animator, but this is down to what you want to do, ultimately.
I would add wireframes and texture breakdowns of your models as potential employers will want to see your optimisation skills and unwrapping skills.
The other thing is the LEGO minifig. The mesh could most certainly be optimised a lot more, which would be an adviseable thing to do if you are making a game portfolio
The strongest piece in my mind right now (presentation-wise) is the Arctic Wolf gun. You've done some real nice presentation there, and feels like a lot of care has gone into even the thumbnail. All it is lacking is the breakdowns!
Texture wise, I think you just need to work on getting a bit more of a dirt/grime look to the surfaces as they all look rather flat which is a shame as I really love the colours on the wrench model. Also, you need to get some more softer bevelled edges on your models as they seem to have very harsh and paper-thin corners. It's rare that any hard surface object has edges that sharp, so definitely work those bevels,
So to sum up; find a focus, and present all of your models as well as you have presented that gun. Also, add wireframe and texture breakdowns for all your models. And bevels are your friend!
I hope this helps, good stuff so far!
Thanks!
To be honest, I don't think any of your work is quite there yet. The Omniwrench is neat, but your texture/material work isn't very strong there. Your ref looked like that too, but in this case I would have gone above and beyond since it was a pretty simple concept and added more visual interest.
Iron Man model is rough. It looks like you may have modeled the head from a front and side ortho image? Often times beginners will match the front and side ref perfectly, but the mesh breaks down in perspective, as it breaks down and often has a boxy look, because the true form wasn't considered, or just not well executed. Be careful to not fall into that trap.
I agree that your Arctic Wolf gun is the strongest piece in here. Its very clear that you made this more recently than your other projects :P. I can see that you thought a little bit more about your texturing, where wear goes and why.
I would suggest focusing on a specific thing, a position you would want in the industry...then focus all of your work on that. You are only as good as your weakest piece, and you don't want to lose out on an environment artist job because you have a rough character or rough animations. Only show your best work, remove all else. Unless you can animate as well as an animator in the industry, don't show it
Keep making stuff and you will keep getting better. Good luck!
Career & Education section is more for when you have questions about which direction you should go in, or how the industry works as a whole. Not specifically about your own presentation, which art pieces need work, etc.
We have a bunch of good info here, might help you:
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Portfolio
I'm also a 3D generalist and i work on a larger range of projects within the studio from characters and environments to GUI and animation. So just make sure you market yourself towards the jobs you want. In mobile or small companies often they want you to be able to showcase a large range of skills.
Your presentation is clean, but i think quite flat. You can really push some of the lighting and camera choices you've made to get the best bang for your buck. And some contrast and drama to your pieces.
Also you want your thumbnail images to be as tasty and clickable as possible, so keep that in mind to when trying to draw in peoples interest.
Like i said, I agree so far with what everyone has said here, but just to reiterate what melazee has said I think whats key for a 3D generalist to have for each project is:
beauty renders
wireframe renders
textures
and a 3d viewer (if you can)
All of these things can show off your skills and knowledge as an artist, how efficient you are, how good your topology is, and that you have nothing to hide about your models. When looking for work, this is what people want to see, they don't only want to see just pretty image. So i would recommend as a start to break everything down a little more.
http://polycount.com/discussion/182598/archviz-concept-the-gallery#latest