Lost & looking for a portfolio critique (3d Hard Surface Modeller)

JackofSpades261

Hello, this is my first post here. I've got plenty of questions, but I'll save the non-critique related ones for a different thread.

Here's my portfolio: https://jackyyoung.artstation.com/

Simply put, I'm lost. I'm just adding to my portfolio and applying for entry level positions, but I have no idea if I'm doing the right thing or not (although I understand the field is competitive, I've seen postings on linkedIn say +140 people have applied to them within a few days). The last time I ever had any serious feedback/critique was back when I was still taking classes for 3D. The past couple months I've felt like I've been wandering around blind, going off of whatever outdated or conflicting information I'd scrape from the internet (networking was something I neglected unfortunately).

Someone pointed me towards polycount.com, and this was the only place I could find that seemed to still offer portfolio critiques. I've checked a lot of places, many of them saw little to no activity (or I might be terrible at searching)

I've tried asking friends and family. They usually only have positive things to say, either because they're not familiar with art in general or are too nice to say anything negative (the compliments feel good, but I don't feel like they're helping me grow). I do have one graphic designer friend who although they couldn't offer much feedback on my 3d models, still helped me cull out the weakest ones from my page.

I've also got a few extra questions as well:

1. I've culled a bit of my portfolio already, but is there anything else that I should remove as well?

2. Is there a sort of baseline/standard for entry level work? I've compared my work to other people in the same position as me, but the quality seems to range pretty drastically. I suspect I'm not quite there yet but right now I have no clue where I stand.

3. UV/Texture maps, yes or no? My friend said it was strange for me to include them. I originally included them because I saw that other people had too, and in my mind, I figured it made sense to do so.

4. Demo/show reel for a 3D Hard Surface Modeller, yes or no? Some people talk about them like its mandatory, and some job postings say you need one, but I've also been told "don't bother unless you have animation to show off"

Don't be afraid to tear into me if you need to. At this point I'll take any feedback I can get (I'll also try to get more involved with the community here from now on)

Ashervisalis

Hey Jacky, welcome to Polycount

I don't think your portfolio is ready. That's not saying you shouldn't be applying for jobs here and there, you might get lucky and land a job or get an internship or something. Your modeling currently is a somewhat simple, and I'd like to see more interesting subjects, and more interesting shapes and details. I would suggest going through ArtStation's 2D concepts, and working off concepts which wow you. ArtStation has a 'collections' function where you can slowly build a library of concepts for later use. Try out different styles too. If you want to be a hard surface artist, try making something complicated like this hammer;

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RVwJv

To answer your other questions: You don't need to remove anything else right now. There is no 'baseline' for entry work, but your work *should* match up to the quality levels of other professionals. Saying this, I'll add I've seen some people get jobs with very basic portfolios. Yes, show UVs and textures. No to the demo reel, just stills.

Best of luck with your progression! If you ever need any advice, feel free to send me a PM on Polycount, or just create another post and see what other people have to say.

Commiesaur

I'm very early on my journey here as well, so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But I think in terms of visualizing where you need to try to get to it's helpful to take a look at the portfolios of the finalists of the Rookies Awards https://www.therookies.co/contests/121/finalists. Those are basically the best people out there applying for potentially entry level roles. Some of them have got better stuff than is even probably necessary to get that first role, but I think it sets a good line of what we should be aspiring towards.

Looking at your portfolio especially if your goal is to really focus on hard surface modeling, I don't see much in terms of complex hard surface models. Something that shows your ability to break down a larger complex object into multiple smaller parts/projects and tackle it through to completion.

For example check out the portable television in this portfolio https://www.therookies.co/entries/9643 or some of the props in this one https://www.therookies.co/entries/10915. These are all game model examples as well, which if you're aiming for a game related role you'll want to show some additional experience with the basics of baking. Both for game and movies your props could use more detailed texturing work, something that emphasizes the story of the prop.

For example the rusted version of your knife, the rust is pretty consistently spread instead of concentrated in different areas. It's just kindof been applied to the whole metal. Than the wood is still pristine. But the wood handle of an old broken down knife like that would probably be partly warped from water damage, be marked up, potentially splitting in places, etc.

JackofSpades261

Thank you for all the feedback. I think I have a better sense of where I currently stand, where I should redirect my efforts, and what I should be striving towards. This has been very helpful. I'll definitely go for something much more complex on my next model.

sacboi

Agree with Ashervisalis

And frankly, your competition are those currently working in an industry role, not those trying too secure their first.

Zi0

Like mentioned above, your portfolio isnt there yet, you only have a couple of very basic models and one untextured sculpt. In your case I would take some time to do a couple tutorials to level up your skill, right now your portfolio is showing that you can only model basic shapes like barrels or a basic knife. There are a lot of great hard surface tutorials out there and some of them are even free, I'll leave a couple of links below.

https://stylizedstation.com/article/12-incredible-hard-surface-modeling-tutorials-for-blender/

https://www.artstation.com/learning/courses/owg/substance-painter-pushing-your-texturing-further/chapters/2eM/layering-detailhttps://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/lqYj/hero-game-asset-creation-in-depth-tutorial-course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ-Za8swOCA

As for UVs, most people use software to package them, take a look into stuff like Rizom UVs.

Vertrucio

Three very good pieces will look better than 30 okay-ish pieces. Challenge yourself and you'll be surprised how people respond. But you'll also have to go beyond what you see in a concept too, especially in texturing.