Complete Junior Portfolio Critique

JordanCH2

Hey everyone, I recently posted in the careers forum (https://polycount.com/discussion/209839/keep-hitting-a-wall-in-skill-development/p1?new=1) but as part of that, as suggested, I do need to post here. I'm looking for any and all critique and if possible when suggesting something e.g need to work on you lighting, also explaining or suggesting exactly how to or a tutorial as I'm having an issue with actually achieving these improvements.

https://www.artstation.com/jordanch

I'm currently working on learning marmoset to really polish up the presentation of my work and will attach some of that stuff in a moment. I'd like to become an environment artist but I feel I'm severely lacking in my own development while I do also very much enjoy material creation and feel see my growth there; is that also a feasible way to break in?

Lastly I used to be fairly confident in CryEngine, and while learned to enjoy it, with UE4's dominance, is it worth be picking it back up?

Thanks all for your time

JordanCH2

These are some of the marmoset renders I've been working on  tryig t grasp lighting for visual appeal and observing how the material reacts. Do you believe it would be worth uploading these as seperate portfoio entry or just updating the old ones with the new?

Ashervisalis

I feel like you should do a cull. Pick your 4 best projects and remove the rest. A lot of your materials are really simple, I would do away with them. Keep pushing forward!

Taylor Brown

I agree with Asher, scrap it all and start on a project that levels you up. In your current portfolio, there isn't a feeling of progression of skill. If you want to do materials, do them. Pick up some tuts by Josh Lynch and start to work on your material definition. Good lighting can make a mediocre asset look great but you should still aim for quality on the whole when it comes to portfolio work.

JordanCH2

Thanks to both of you. I reckon that is a good shout as there's a lot of outdated work that could be done with .

Ashervisalis

Do you have any professional artists you look up to? Maybe study their ArtStation/portfolio, you should aim for that level of quality (not quantity).

JordanCH2

Definitely, Daniel Thiger for instance and his materials is one example, and so I've recently been getting into a couple of his tuts to grow better. A lot of the time it's not a matter of inspiration but how to actually achieve that level, technically.

Ashervisalis

Oh yeah, I understand that for sure. I think if you keep working away at Substance Designer tutorials, it won't be long until you can pump out some nice things. Once you're used to the program and have a memory of what nodes do, it's really fun to create cool looking materials.