Would Like Some Feedback on my Portfolio.

NURBS

Hello, I'm an aspiring 3D modeler, specifically an aspiring prop/weapons modeler, and I would like some feedback on how I'm presenting my models on my portfolio if that's ok. Rendering the models and presenting them has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I'm not sure exactly what information I should include in my renders. Any kind of feedback would be appreciated.

https://www.artstation.com/nurbs

Ashervisalis

Cool work! I love the Tiger 1! FT-17 is cool too, but you could have darkened the render material, as its super white in contrast with the background.

Get rid of the grenade, there's about 1000 on ArtStation which look just like it, from a particular tutorial.

M4 modeling looks cool!

Cool RWBY weapon. Too many images in this project file though.

Colt looks cool! The metal material is really bumpy though, I've not seen this kind of metal on a gun before. Bevels could have been quite a lot bigger.

Ghost is neat, but probably won't help you get a job. Take it out of your portfolio.

Davinchi's tank is wicked! First image should be the one without the roof though. The texture has a dark spot which repeats around the top, I'd attend to that if I were you!

Steampunk hat is neat! I think the leather on front could use a little bit of work, it looks really stiff right now. Once again, too many images.

Corpus locker is neat, but reduce the maps to just one image.

Take out the cannon. The materials on it aren't great. The wood grain of the wheels doesn't make sense as well.

Loving the high poly Flugel girl. You're using a ton of polygons though, not a very efficient mesh.

Start on some environments. Single props are nice, but entire environments are more impressive to employers. Keep it up, you're rockin it!!

NURBS

Thanks for the feedback! I've actually been thinking of re-doing some of my earlier models and updating them using the skills I've learned.

What sort of renders would you recommend I make in the future to make my portfolio look more professional?

Ashervisalis

Find some artists you really like and try imitating their renders. If you're making a tank, just search tank on Artstation, and mimick renders which you think look best.

https://www.artstation.com/snefer

tynew

These are my opinions:
The quality of your portfolio is all over the place. When you're an entry artist you shouldn't have any WIPs in there, which includes unfinished work. You're only as strong as your weakest piece is something commonly said here. 

Art that looks like it took a day to make also shouldn't be in your portfolio, or "first modeled/textured asset". The French tank and robot girl could have been really good if you had finished them/textured them with bakes/lp. Don't have simple stuff in your portfolio. Unless you're an art god working at some AAA company, it detracts from the rest of your art. 

The Davinci tank was interesting, but the texturing/UVs are really poor, due to using a unique texture map. You need to either use tiling or trim textures to get by with large assets. Your m4 is your best piece which just kills the rest of your art, but the thumbnail could be better. You can't see what's going on. I would have used pic 5 or 6 as per below edit. You have a hat in your portfolio, character artists would be making that. 



Looking at your polycount, you haven't posted any artwork here for critique, which would allow you to get input and improve. Some obvious things stand out to me, like the fact you don't have any pixel padding on your shells/normal maps, which is super important for mips. Some UV shells are rotated for no clear reason, you will get aliasing along edges in your normal map.  Keep shells straight unless it has big natural curvature. You might want to look at more efficient uv mapping, you have too many shells for some things that should of been stitched together. You also have wavy normal maps on your m4 and topology that doesn't make sense. Like an unneeded amount of sides on the sling adapters compared to the holes on the front rail. 

You might want to consider doing full environments too as Ashervisalis mentioned, so you can put props in it and present a scene that looks like you have the know-how and effort to make it. Weapons alone are a niche category in a niche industry, so making full environments makes you more employable if you also want to do props. If you wanna be hirable you need to have quality work, that could look like it would fit in a 2020 game. Check out https://www.artstation.com/kierangoodson/blog/yGMy/job-winning-environment-art-of-2019

Just because you make a piece doesn't mean it belongs in your portfolio. Assess your art critically as if you were an employer looking for the best artist for the job. Don't be afraid to get rid of artwork in your portfolio that you think wouldn't fit in a 2020 game right now. 

NURBS

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. The reason I kept all those low quality and unfinished works was because I liked seeing the progress I made but now I see that they're more of a liability. Also, exactly why is padding important with maps? I haven't been able to find a reason.

tynew

If you want to see it for your personal progress, maybe set them to private/not published? You can view them when you go to manage portfolio instead. An employer/client wants to see the consistent quality that can be produced right then and there. If it's a job position, they have to look through hundreds of portfolios, so usually they'll just take an overall glimpse or look at a couple of your pieces. Make it count. 

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Edge_padding
https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/1764477/#Comment_1764477
https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2332412/#Comment_2332412
^ any post you can find from Earthquake is a good one.