Finding an entry level position in Environment Art / Help with portfolio

Flaminbeef

Hi everyone. I am an aspiring environment artist whose had a little bit of a struggle finding a junior/entry level position or internship to get that much needed experience. I just recently graduated from university with a 2:1 in Games Art and I have been working on portfolio everyday since I finished. After applying to various positions the main response I have been given is that I am not quite there yet in terms of skill. This is something I am working on everyday as I realise that I need to get better in order to get that first job and it is best to be constantly working on your skills. I was wondering if anyone could give me their thoughts on my portfolio in its current state? Also if anyone knows what potential employers for this position want to see most in a portfolio I would love to know! 

Link to portfolio: https://alexpaddock7.wixsite.com/mysite

I am currently working on a Victorian Study environment in UE4 which will be the next thing I add to portfolio. 

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this!  

samnwck

I'd say first off. Ditch the wix site and move over to artstation (not that your layout or anything is bad, but I'd say I prefer art on there more than visiting a wix site). Second, remove the character and the gun at the end. Neither are strong enough to be included in your portfolio (remember portfolio is only as good as the worst piece). Next, the chair and the desk look like fine pieces, but not necessarily strong enough to be on two different entries and I'd prefer to them as part of a bigger environment (Which I imagine would be your victorian study).

Also, you seem to have a lot of bloom in some of your photos which I think is unnecessary, for reference:

Also on this fireplace you have a vertical wood(?) pattern that I just don't buy. The coloring and everything I really like but that extra normal information all uniform just detracts from the whole piece. I think if you used it in some areas it'd be fine but I think when it's plastered all over the front very uniformly it takes away from it.

Next, your finished environments:
The cave looks like a fine environment if a little boring, I feel it needs some variation of texture and maybe a focal point, I don't know where to look. One thing I can't figure out with your portfolio is whether you're trying to go for realism or stylized. Because the cave looks very stylized, whereas the Victorian pieces have a realistic feel and I'd suggest focusing on one style and perfecting it before branching off too much when you're just trying to get your first position.

For the exterior of the temple the lighting is very jarring. It doesn't look like anything has definitive shadows when I can see a very strong light source, and the exterior looks to be in a very different style than the cave. I thought they were two different environments until I realized the entrance to the cave was the same in both. And in the exterior I feel like the background environments clash with the foreground stuff, take this shot for example:

Theres a background mountain that doesn't match anything else in this picture and it catches my attention in a bad way.

Ultimately, I don't say any of this in any mean spirit. I think you definitely have some skill, I just want to see some bigger cohesive pieces and I think if your Victorian pieces have any bearing on what you're building to, I think you can have a pretty good piece. Don't focus on quantity, focus on quality, if you only have a single environment that looks really good, that can be your portfolio.

Flaminbeef

Thank you for the feedback! Yeah I need to tailor my portfolio more towards what I want to do so I will get rid of the character and gun. I agree with the normals on the fireplace, I was struggling whilst texturing it because the baked normals didn't come out the way I hoped so I'm going to go back to that and change it/get some better renders without the bloom effects. 

The big environment including the cave was my final major project for university where I went for a stylised environment whereas now I'm working on a realistic one. I have learnt quite a bit since then and I can recognise that it's not the most coherent piece ever. Do you think it's better to just include one artistic style in my portfolio? 

The environment I'm working on at the moment which will include the victorian pieces is taking me a little while to complete, so I just put a few of the assets in my portfolio on their own just to have something a bit more recent in there. I think I'll get rid of them once the final environment is finished. Thank you for all the advice it is very helpful! if there's anything else you think could be improved please let me know!