Looking for portfolio c&c
I recently graduated from a video game design program. Like a lot of these programs, it was very much crammed and I learned a mixture of design, prototyping, 2d/3d art, scripting, marketing, business management and more. Needless to say, I didn't get to practice much 3d art during the 2 years of the program.
I'm now a graduate and I have no idea what to do and what to improve on. I've made a few drafts of my portfolio over the 1 year after school where I worked full time in a sales job at the same time, so I couldn't progress much. I applied to dozens of game/vfx companies over this year and I only got 1 call for a QA video game tester position
I've always wanted to do this as a career and because I'm obviously going about my portfolio the wrong way, I decided I would give my 150% this time. I quit my job and I'll be living on my savings to remake my portfolio full time for the next 5-6 months.
I'm not sure what to work on during that time. Some people in the industry that I've met told me to only do modeling - no texture, only models with wireframe and a reel of the modeling process. Others have told me to learn Unreal and put a bunch of environments together to display environment art and knowledge of a game engine. Others tell me my portfolio is fine and I should just get the right connections to get into a studio... I honestly have no idea where to start.
Anyway, if you have any c&c for my portfolio it would be awesome: http://abrahamsabbah.com/
My resume: https://abrahamsabbah.com/AbrahamSabbah_CV.pdf
I'm now a graduate and I have no idea what to do and what to improve on. I've made a few drafts of my portfolio over the 1 year after school where I worked full time in a sales job at the same time, so I couldn't progress much. I applied to dozens of game/vfx companies over this year and I only got 1 call for a QA video game tester position
I've always wanted to do this as a career and because I'm obviously going about my portfolio the wrong way, I decided I would give my 150% this time. I quit my job and I'll be living on my savings to remake my portfolio full time for the next 5-6 months.
I'm not sure what to work on during that time. Some people in the industry that I've met told me to only do modeling - no texture, only models with wireframe and a reel of the modeling process. Others have told me to learn Unreal and put a bunch of environments together to display environment art and knowledge of a game engine. Others tell me my portfolio is fine and I should just get the right connections to get into a studio... I honestly have no idea where to start.
Anyway, if you have any c&c for my portfolio it would be awesome: http://abrahamsabbah.com/
My resume: https://abrahamsabbah.com/AbrahamSabbah_CV.pdf
Replies
Out of the advice you've already been given this is the only bit I agree with... "... learn Unreal and put a bunch of environments together to display environment art and knowledge of a game engine"
Regarding your work, I have some issues with what I'm seeing:
There's a lack of optimization when it comes to your modeling. Tons of micro bevels (ex. Piano keys) and extra polys (wrapping on katana) where a baked high to low normal map would have done the job. Some things are just lacking polish (viking sword grip isnt aligned with guard and blade)
Sense of scale is all over the place (piano keys are very long, books in pirate scene are massive).
Texturing needs a lot of work. I'm seeing woods and leather materials with near full white metallic values when PBR rules would require that be full black (dielectric). The wood on the piano is reading like a molded plastic lego piece due the height and roughness info... the albedo is also very primitive. Something to keep in mind is how an object would be constructed in real life ie its made of different pieces of wood so it should read like that to the viewer, not just one seamless piece.
Look into how best to optimize your UV's.. There's quite a few areas specifically on the Pirate cabin that could have been straightened and increased your texel density for uniques or even eliminated some texture sets entirely. Also look into creating Tileables / Trim Sheets in instances where you know you'll be using a lot of the same material across a scene / large prop.
I do enjoy your lighting on the pirate ship!
Finally, once you migrate to artstation I'd consider dumping the collaborative stuff. If your goal is to be an enviro artist, then it's not showing that off very clearly by including it.
https://www.polygon-academy.com/why-your-portfolio-needs-to-be-on-artstation/
https://www.polygon-academy.com/10-insider-tips-for-artists-applying-to-game-studios/
https://academy.substance3d.com/courses/the-pbr-guide-part-2
Most important step for you first is -> go on Artstation. It takes me like 10 seconds to load all your images properly (my internet sucks a little here, but still). That sounds very impatient but recruiters etc won't wait too long to check out your art. Drop the website and move to Artstation. That's where everyone is active. Eyes are on there.
Thanks for the suggestion, there are so many articles to read about PBR.
Unity, Unreal, Cryengine etc.. it doesn't really matter. In my circle of work peers, Unreal gets a lot more use but it's not the standard for personal work. I think mostly because it's very artist friendly and easy to get looking pretty for renders. The point for you is to showcase game engine and full game asset pipeline experience. This tells employers you are somewhat technically competent and can likely hit the ground running with an in house engine or the like.
Re: woods, leathers being dielectrics means that they are non-conductors. So their metallic value would be full black if we are working on a scale from 0-1 / black to white. I think it's shit that your program didn't teach you about PBR. Read everything you can, marmoset and allegorithmic have great resources.
For a quality trimsheet lesson (and a lot more!), check out the youtube channel of Tim Simpson (Pixelmasher) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXr6E_g91ue1rfhA9j4TLA
One other key piece of advice i forgot, you have to get active on art communities. Getting feedback from anyone and everyone is key to pushing your work. Get active on here and/or on some discord groups. Dinusty and No More Grid are two very active groups to get immersed in. If you're looking for some paid classes that will help you hone your skill, I loved my time with CGMA and can recommend Dennis Porter's mentorship / community - https://gumroad.com/dennisporter3d
I'll add one counterpoint about specialization though. You got to consider long term beyond just getting into job right now. The more specialized you become to more time you funnel into an avenue that cannot easily be backed out of. If technology renders that avenue obsolete, then you are SOL. Furthermore, focusing too hard on specialization limits your scope of experience, which may stunt your upward mobility later in life.
Not things you can really plan for but always good idea to continually try to expand your experience and make sure all of your time can be viewed as investing in yourself. Trading time for money is low ROI. Sometimes you just gotta do that and maybe even.you.like the simplicity of it but beware automation and outsourcing if you do.
If the only thing you are learning is how to model faster in max or how to make slightly better shapes on characters shoulder pads, I'd wager you'll be replaced soon by something faster and cheaper. I'd then want to be looking to the leaders in my organization and watching them. What skills do they got that aren't easily replaced? Usually it's a matter of personality, attitude, and communication skills. Things that are stupid easy to learn and change but most people won't because they got screwy sense of identity
Also be aware there is all kinds of niche jobs besides large corporations. Jobs like this may not care so much about hyperspecialization. The key of course is having a clear target. If the clearest target you can paint is "I like a bit of everything!" the obviously you.must plan extra time.yo learn it all.and be good enough at it. If you do enjoy doing it all, a great thorough way to learn is to make a game and publish it.
Based on what you mentioned about game engines, it's good to hear that my experience with Unity can be showcased and I'll also learn Unreal, because why not show both?!
Tim Simpson's tutorials are top notch - the trim sheet tuts are absolute GOLD!
Thank you Taylor for taking the time to get me started on the right path. I'm currently going 150% on remaking my portfolio and generally being more involved in the community to get some real feedback that will actually help. I realize the reality of things fresh out of school and I finally realize what it takes -> so I'm going to sit on my butt for however long it takes (months/years) to improve my art... <-
In the end, I decided I would go into environment art and also make props since I enjoy the process of doing that the most. Down the line, I'm hoping to get to a good enough level to get into Archviz and specialize in that fully since it's always in demand and it's a great industry to be in (from what I hear).
Everything seems to be automated more and more. I was listening to one of Blender Guru's talks and he talked about how the future of 3D art is procedural/automated and replace many jobs in the industry but isn't necessarily a bad thing if you learn to adapt. Thanks for mentioning that, it's something to think and plan for.
The best thing about it is the transparency since theres very little secrecy about what is being worked on (game companies can be pretty paranoid in contrast), smaller teams and more client facing (you can interact directly with a client).
You also get to wear many hats and be involved in the design process from the get go. Its similar to indie game dev in that respect.
Working with a reputable archviz company can be rewarding and it is pretty stable.
Is it as interesting as working in games, tbh really depends on how you approach it.
Like if you are well know for your designs and attain work doing more than clean up and layout work, and that's what you want to do then yes it can be very rewarding as you build your brand.
There is more out there than just a job though, so important to do what you're passionate about.
As for automation, while it is likely to wipe out most of grunt level work, its also a matter of what is financially viable. We're a long time away from automation replacing artists in the pipeline.
If anything automation may help us focus more than design and being more creative with the game dev process.
For the time being in most cases being a 3D production artist in a company isn't all that different from a subway sandwich artist especially in AAA. True there is a difference in skill, but limited flexibility in what is actually output, something that many artists hope to get as they grow in the company which is a different experience for everyone and dependent on more than just how good of an artist you are.
I do feel that artists should have more autonomy and better negotiating skills in business, something that isn't common.
Imagine if every artist behind a skin a say fortnite was paid a percentage of every skin sold.
With the way a corporate company structure is set up + outsourcing for peanuts its difficult to accomodate this.
You want to have an exit plan. If the extent of your.plan is "I wanna work at blizzard cause I love their games" and that is it, you are set up for failure. Need to know where you want to be in five, ten, twenty, thirty, even fifty years from now.
Plans will change but if you don't have a plan there is much higher chance things change not in your favor.
Anyway, clearly your are intelligent enough to investigate and think for yourself so you'll be fine. I always saying same thing over and over for the poor kids who go naively into corporate world just to have dreams crushed and be exploited.