Environment Art and Showcasing

Mr_Nova

Hey everyone, 

I've made a few posts on here before with my own asset creations. I recently started branching out and expanding my skills by going from just asset creation to also applying those skills and creating whole environments based off a concept art. I'm hoping this path will actually make me more employable in the future the more I practice those skills. I'm very new to this process and I'm following along with a tutorial (while making my own environment so that way I actually "Learn" what I'm doing) to make this part of my skill set. 

Sorry if this has been asked before, but in short: What is the preferred method when showcasing your work for being an 3D Environment Artist? 

I'm learning right now how to create modular sets to build a scene, blocking out, lighting, etc. in Unreal Engine 5 which i'm using to showcase all my work. I'm under the impression employers want to see that I can actually create my own modular sets and build an Environment made from assets *I* made. I'm sure you could get away with some megascans if its not really the main focus of the showcase? I could be wrong about that though. 

I'm interested to hear thoughts on this with Indie vs AAA and how all this works.

Hope that makes sense, sorry for the long post and thank you for reading in advance.

Benjammin

Mr_Nova said: 

 I'm under the impression employers want to see that I can actually create my own modular sets and build an Environment made from assets *I* made. I'm sure you could get away with some megascans if its not really the main focus of the showcase? I could be wrong about that though. 

Yes that's good. The bigger the team the less likely you are to do both jobs, but building an environment with your kit shows that it works in practice. Yes, megascans assets are fine in that context. 
At the end of the day, I don't know if there's a preferred method overall, besides making engaging art that holds attention - cos chances are someone's looking at a long list of portfolios and sorting them into the 'no' and 'maybe' piles.

oglu

If i would apply for Environment Art i would do a floating island and a detailed breakdown. I would use everything from megascans to desinger textures mixed with my own assets. In the end it has to look like made from one person. A homogenous art flow is key. 

Mr_Nova

@Benjammin That's true, perhaps because i'm pretty new to this part of game design when it comes to making environments I'm overthinking it. I am hoping to be able to tell a story with the environments I do make so that way they hold attention.

@oglu I was thinking of eventually doing a isometric/floating island for practice as well because I think that would help show off everything I did create. Still learning all this stuff slowly hah. Thanks for the advice