Please Critique My 3D Portfolio (Any Suggestion will Help)

Chino1989

I want to get a job in a bigger gaming company as a 3D artist, but I mostly worked in small companies so I don't know if my artworks are good enough. Let me know what I should change, what I should work on, what should I focus on like should I only do character or hard surface, and just any tips? My portfolio is at https://www.artstation.com/jian_chen1989.

Ashervisalis

It's a nice portfolio! I think the projects which I've marked with an X can be hidden from the portfolio. The ? I'm not sure... Its not a finished piece, but sort of shows you know anatomy. A bit weakness right now is in your lighting/presentation of a lot of your assets. I think the 2 diseases could be condensed into one project. Maybe move the turret gun and missile launcher higher in your portfolio cuz they're pretty cool. Your 2D stuff is awesome! Some might say to only have 3D in there, but I don't think your 2D is hurting it at all... If anything, it shows you can concept. Would be cool to see more environments instead of props/vehicles, or more completed characters in dynamic poses.

Chino1989

Ashervisalis said:

It's a nice portfolio! I think the projects which I've marked with an X can be hidden from the portfolio. The ? I'm not sure... Its not a finished piece, but sort of shows you know anatomy. A bit weakness right now is in your lighting/presentation of a lot of your assets. I think the 2 diseases could be condensed into one project. Maybe move the turret gun and missile launcher higher in your portfolio cuz they're pretty cool. Your 2D stuff is awesome! Some might say to only have 3D in there, but I don't think your 2D is hurting it at all... If anything, it shows you can concept. Would be cool to see more environments instead of props/vehicles, or more completed characters in dynamic poses.

Thank you so much, at least I know I got a decent starting point. Thanks for taking the time to help me. 

iansmithartist

Just to echo what Ashervisalis said about lighting and presentation; lighting with HDRI is OK but they're washing some your models with a lot of ambient light, which can make some of the pieces look quite flat.

Like your radio for instance, it looks like you've done a great job with the modelling and texturing but if you compare it to this by Simon Fuchs, 

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/P9DR8, the image looks flatter.

With some well placed key and rim lights, with warm and cool colours, Simon's piece really pops. The lights help bring out the specular and normal map details. And because it's not got a lot of ambient fill light there's a lot more contrast in Simon's piece. I think having a darker background and the radio sat on a ground plane that catches the shadows helps too. These tweaks in preparation could really help I think.

With regards to your question about characters or hardsurface, that really depends on what kind of work you want to do and what company you'd like to work for. Your hardsurface work suggests military/war/shooter/scfi but your character work is more stylized. I don't think its necessary to only have a single type of work in your portfolio, but I'd suggest identifying your ideal studio, looking at the portfolios of artists that work there, and use that to identify what you should be putting in your portfolio. I found the GDC talks 'Killer Portfolio or Portfolio Killer' were full of really useful advice: https://youtu.be/Bq6PBBOOyVk

Camille_Meehan

iansmithartist said:

With regards to your question about characters or hardsurface, that really depends on what kind of work you want to do and what company you'd like to work for. Your hardsurface work suggests military/war/shooter/scfi but your character work is more stylized. I don't think its necessary to only have a single type of work in your portfolio, but I'd suggest identifying your ideal studio, looking at the portfolios of artists that work there, and use that to identify what you should be putting in your portfolio. 

Upon checking out your portfolio I thought something similar to Ian. Your work looks good, but for hiring purposes it feels like there is too much. Better to have a select few solid pieces that show your work at its best, and let the rest go. This all depends on what kind of work you want to do, and what company you'd like to work for. Tailor your portfolio to that company is the advice I've received.

I noticed your rifle images looked a bit low resolution so I'd suggest verifying you arrange for clear high res images that art directors can zoom in on.

A tip I received recently in class was to add your name, job, and contact info clearly on the images. That way if you come up on a search in Google, and a potential employer/client/recruiter loves your work, they can immediately see you are able to be contacted. 



You also might find this helpful How to Create a Stunning Portfolio, with Jared Sobotta - article | CGSociety

Chino1989

iansmithartist said:

Just to echo what Ashervisalis said about lighting and presentation; lighting with HDRI is OK but they're washing some your models with a lot of ambient light, which can make some of the pieces look quite flat.

Like your radio for instance, it looks like you've done a great job with the modelling and texturing but if you compare it to this by Simon Fuchs, 

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/P9DR8, the image looks flatter.

With some well placed key and rim lights, with warm and cool colours, Simon's piece really pops. The lights help bring out the specular and normal map details. And because it's not got a lot of ambient fill light there's a lot more contrast in Simon's piece. I think having a darker background and the radio sat on a ground plane that catches the shadows helps too. These tweaks in preparation could really help I think.

With regards to your question about characters or hardsurface, that really depends on what kind of work you want to do and what company you'd like to work for. Your hardsurface work suggests military/war/shooter/scfi but your character work is more stylized. I don't think its necessary to only have a single type of work in your portfolio, but I'd suggest identifying your ideal studio, looking at the portfolios of artists that work there, and use that to identify what you should be putting in your portfolio. I found the GDC talks 'Killer Portfolio or Portfolio Killer' were full of really useful advice: https://youtu.be/Bq6PBBOOyVk

ty for the reply, yeah his presentation is really great, love the lighting, I actually listened to that talk before, they gave great advice. You are absolutely right, I have to fix my lighting, they make my model look so flat. I think I want to focus more on environmental and props, so I can aim towards 3D environmental artists, do you think I should take out my character pieces? thanks again