Portfolio Feedback
polycounter lvl 4
Hi everyone 
I'm a current Game Art student in my second year of study at university, and I'm currently looking for a placement year in the industry,
meaning I've been working on my portfolio for applications, but I'm lacking outside views and honest opinions!
So if anyone would be willing to give me some quick feedback, advice or critique on my presentation or content it'd be greatly appreciated!
Here's my portfolio link:
https://sopheejay.artstation.com/
I'm a current Game Art student in my second year of study at university, and I'm currently looking for a placement year in the industry,
meaning I've been working on my portfolio for applications, but I'm lacking outside views and honest opinions!
Portfolio Preview
So if anyone would be willing to give me some quick feedback, advice or critique on my presentation or content it'd be greatly appreciated!
Here's my portfolio link:
https://sopheejay.artstation.com/
Replies
Komoreby is nice, The UI is nice, I would probably exaggerate the jagged circles around the character's eyes, or overall , as this is the unique thing about it, and gives a nice contrast with the peaceful style it has. The environment is also good but the layout is not "in-game" , it's more like intro menu, due to how you placed those plants. For this artwork everything is more personal preference than a critique,and I don't have any expertise in this area, but for me, good job there.
Castaway island: I like that it tells a small story. But you have to learn about lighting if you want to showcase something in 3d. The fireplace in the middle looks like it's floating in the water and the material proportions don't feel like they have the correct scale. It's something that everybody does at the early stages of their artistic career. If I were you I would take this scene again and spend a week to light it properly and fix the material tiling.
The future tribe and the candy chest are your best portfolio pieces in my opinion and if you like this style, keep creating this kind of art and you'll find a job with no problem. The thing I wish you did with the chest is put more of these truffle shapes on top of it. When you take an artistic decision, make sure it's visible enough
The portraits are not something that fits the game industry so I would take them off your portfolio and just keep them in a usb if you do an interview and they ask if you have any other kind of work to show them.
The campsite diorama has bad lighting as well. You would never see these soft shadows with this clear sunny sky. The wood color is too dark, and the upper side of the tree needs a better shape.The falling leaves are too many and they are straight planes and it doesn't look too good. I would leave only 2-3 of them in key areas, and spend a couple more polygons to bend them and give them a better shape. Other than that, the overall composition is nice. For the future try to tell a bigger story in your dioramas to make them more interesting, and if you can add more drama, even better.
The environment concepts are nice, it's great for moodboards but no critique there as it is not my expertise
Same for the materials, i personally like them but I have no expertise to tell you more
Overall I would showcase the future tribe, environment concepts and materials first, then the chest and komorebi.
Keep your portfolio neat and with your best artwork only. If I were you I would create more environments that fit your chest, get good/familiar with this kind of style before expanding to different styles. Cheers and have fun!
This is beyond helpful and exactly what I was looking for, thank you so much!
I really appreciate your feedback, and brutal honesty is what I thrive on so no worries there!
I'll be sure to act on your advice. I'd really like to go into environments, most likely 3D, so your opinion as a 3D environment artist yourself is greatly valued! Lighting is definitely one of my weakness. I tend to finish my projects quite close to university deadlines so haven't been able to experiment with Unreal Engine or presentation too much, but it's an area I really enjoy so I plan to improve on it.
Could I also ask your opinion on adding work to a portfolio that is based of someone else's concept/design? For example, a 3D diorama created by yourself, but based off someone else's concept (credited of course). As well as piece's inspired by existing games/films?
Thanks again Larry!
Like was said before , the overall arrangement of how you present your portfolio is extremely important. It should most likely start and end with your strongest pieces.
Also noteworthy is the contact data on your pieces , you have your name and contact email on one piece. Should any other piece of get sent to someone , how would they contact you? Are the files on artstation in a name convention that if someone saved those pieces out that they would recognize that it's you? In a scenario where the recruiter or whatever didn't have that data , they would have to search for you , thus taking up their time and attention for something that makes a bit of a bad impression. But this is my opinion.
I don't exactly know what a placement year is , but I assume it will be something like an internship at a company?
If yes , what exactly are you going for? 2D Artist , 3D Artist , 3D Environment... etc.
You have a prop , a character concept , a character illustration , two environments and a 2d environment/game concept
There are small studios that want you to do a little bit of everything and that is completely fine. But if you are looking for let's say a medium/large studio the expectation would be a lot different.
"Could I also ask your opinion on adding work to a portfolio that is based of someone else's concept/design? For example, a 3D diorama created by yourself, but based off someone else's concept (credited of course). As well as piece's inspired by existing games/films?"
That's fanart , and it's completely fine , as long as you credit or label it properly and do not claim the idea and/or concept as your own if it isn't.
"Fanart of MovieXYZ" "Concept by ArtistXYZ , link here"
Something along those lines.
This video has been posted on Polycount a lot if I recall correctly :
Hope that helps
That's actually something I only realised recently, hence why only 2 of my portfolio pieces currently have my name and email address, as I'm working my way through the final presentations of my pieces, and adding this information as I go! I was also unsure as to what information to add, as I've seen people add a logo, email, ArtStation link, name etc. but I didn't want to crowd the bottom of my presentations with information.
I can definitely agree that I need to refine my area of focus, as I know I want to go into environments, and most likely 3D, and I'm working towards showing this in my portfolio, but as my current university studies require me to take on all areas, I'd feel it a waste not to include these projects (if successful) in my portfolio.
I haven't seen that, but I'll be sure to check it out!
But thank you very much for the input and feedback! It's greatly appreciated!
"Create high quality 3D art from concept and design ideas"
"Translate concept art and design ideas into game environments"
Also, working from concepts can be fun, and a good way to practice. Both Polycount and Artstation offer community challenges centered around the idea of translating concept art into 3D art. The Artstation challenges are interesting because the concept artists go in to it knowing that 3D artists are going to try to recreate their work during the second part of the challenge, and the often provide helpful breakdowns, close-ups, and story details alongside their finished concepts. (Check out the Artstation challenges labeled as "Environment Design"):
https://polycount.com/discussion/223180/the-bi-monthly-environment-art-challenge-november-december-69#latest
https://www.artstation.com/contests/archive
Of course, always give credit to any concept artist who's work you recreate.
That's a really good point actually, that completely passed my mind that it's an industry skill that'd be needed, especially in a larger teams!
At the moment I'm working of a 3D piece of a concept I simply found posted on ArtStation and asked the creator if I could recreate it (with credit of course), but I'll definitely check out public challenges too, thank you for the links!