Portfolio Critique

EricThomasStudios

Hi, everyone. With my most recent project going live today, and plans to start culling my portfolio next week, I decided now would be the time to get a critique and different perspectives on where I most need to improve. I'm aiming to get to the point where I can be a freelance generalist with focuses on prop design and animation. Be as harsh as you feel you need to be, and thanks for any input. 

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/etstudios/albums/all

pmiller001

so knowing that yo uwant to make props. I'd probably get rid of all your 2d work, and character work and focus on those props alone. 
THEN i'd take the best one and push it further than what youve got. Try to measure up to the posts of other professionals here and what not. Right now none of them look finished, and need a lot of work on both the modeling and texturing IMO. Also showing breakdowns would help others really get a sense of where youre at technically. Otherwise, nicejob, and keep itup amigo

EricThomasStudios

That's kind of what I was leaning toward, for the culling. And noted! Thank you very much!

Do you have a particular recommendation for showing breakdowns? That's why I do the speedarts and Sketchfab models where I can, but if there's a better way to do it, I'd love to hear about it!

samnwck

Well the first thing that comes to mind is you have way too much going on. Drawings, models, scenes... I don't know where you are as an artist. It seems you can't make up your mind what you want to do. 

Right now your 3d scenes look very circa 2003. If you want to do prop design I say you should find a prop that's easy, and do a proper SUB-D modelling job on it (as all your stuff currently looks like your limiting yourself to just extreme low poly modeling) and then take the steps to properly learn baking and texturing using a modern texturing suite (quixel, substance etc.). Don't focus too much on the design portion of your your 3d work, unless you purely want to concept stuff in 2d, then by all means do that, but focus on that. You're trying to master too many things at once which a big no no when you're first starting.

Do you want to do 3d or 2d? When you're starting your progression as an artist, focusing on a specific area is almost always the best route. If you want to do 3d, focus further, do you want to do modeling or animation? If you try to learn too much you'll end up becoming a master of none. 

Once you know what you want to make, make a thread either in the 3d art and showcase sub forum or the 2d art and showcase sub forum as both of these have higher visibility than the sketchbook subforum. Higher visibility means getting a better chance of someone critiquing your work. 

EricThomasStudios

That's the impression I realized I give off, yeah. And why I mentioned the culling. I've been spending the last year trying out everything to get a sense for what I actually want to do. After the past year, I've decided that hands-down, I most enjoy and want to get more serious about prop modeling, and animating them later down the road. 

I mostly worried about the design and concepting side of things for copyright reasons. I wasn't really clear on the "rules" in regards to modeling off someone else's concept, so I played it safe and used my own.

Thanks very much for the input!

pmiller001

Sure @EricThomasStudios

Wht i mean by breakdowns is, show us your wire frame, and some texture sheets. Sketch fab models and videos are nice, butihonestly think pics work way better. 

EricThomasStudios

Thanks, @pmiller001 I'll definitely keep that in mind going forward! 

samnwck

Don't get too drudged down with the legality of things (unless you're trying to sell them). If you use a concept from a major titles be sure to credit the studio/ the image. If it's a concept from a person you can ask them, or if they don't respond at least credit them by linking their portfolio and stuff. Generally that should cover all your bases and to be honest, most people are happy to let you use their concepts as long as they're credited (once again, don't try to sell the model without their explicit permission though if you use a specific concept).

 Generally for props though, sometimes it's helpful to find something simple in real life, taking ref pictures and then recreating it. Start simple and small. Learn the basics of getting good bakes and then texturing them then move onto the more advanced models. 

EricThomasStudios

@samnwck Noted! I would probably be covered under an educational purposes exception, regardless, as long as I don't sell the model like you said, but I didn't find that out until recently. Taking my own references would also be simple enough. I'm also debating on whether I want to get into photorealistic or hand-painted, stylized pieces. Going to be focusing on learning one before the other, but while I personally prefer and have been going for the stylized look with my props / textures so far, I'm not sure which kind of look tends to have more contract opportunities. Not sure if the style would change the kind of references I'd need to gather.