I need some advice on my portfolio and jobs seeking.
polycounter lvl 4
Hello,
Recently, I've tried to apply to some game studios and got turned down by all of them. It just got me to the point of thinking like "I need some solid feedback and guidance on my portfolio". So here is it, guys. Please have a look.
Please tell me your opinions on the quality of the work and what is lacking to qualify for the role of 3D Modeler or Environment artist in a game studio. Please help a friend out. Thank you.
By the way, I also work as a professional 3D artist for 3 years.
Replies
hi kongbui,
as a plus, your work is rather good, industry experience is great to have, and you articulate with good writing. it will not hurt to showcase character work for an environment artist portfolio but it's best to remain focused toward a particular role. the props you had shared before, i felt were of good quality and are more aligned to the role you're seeking. the environment piece you're showcasing is your weakest piece, as the textures and lighting look outdated. from what i can tell, a majority of AAA studios use more modern, higher fidelity graphics. at least those types of pieces stand out to me the most. showcasing an ability in a range of different render-pipelines, software, and techniques would be fantastic. beyond well constructed prop assets, for an environment artist, i feel it would be most important to display a competence in creating vista shots of environments, to me this is the quintessential flex of the environment artist.
i think your portfolio needs more entries. being selective with each new piece will help showcase a larger range of your understanding of the skillset. keep up the grind and best of luck in your job search.
Thank you for your review, mate.
Glad to know that I reach a good quality, and about the environment piece I have to admit I was rushing the process and maybe I choose a concept that requires a lot of research and requires more artistic vision to make it believable. Otherwise, I really appreciate your time on my portfolio. Will do some adjustments soon. I nice to have a community to reach out to when you got stuck. All the best, mate.
sure, keep us updated.
my reply to a recent post of coolguyslims, a student asking what environment project he should work on next for his portfolio, would be my suggestion to you as well.
I did some adjustments to it. Could you please have a look?. I hope it looks better.
i think so. rearranging assets to appear as though you have more work "looks" better, yes - because having more "is" better. combining a group of assets into a single kit strengthens them. when you showcase an asset individually, it should be of higher quality.
some of the written text in your portfolio may need to be proofread.
what i think your portfolio needs is new content. if your goal is to become an environment artist, it would benefit you most to create more environment art.
Asking for feedback is sensible - the downside is that occasionally I have some free time to give it ;)
I don't see any glaring technical problems with your work.
There are two main things you need to improve on from my perspective (its been 5 years since I was last hiring artists at a first party studio so might be a bit out of touch)
1: show scenes or dioramas, not just individual props . ie. make a set of related things, compose them into a little group that makes sense and take some nice pictures. We like that, it shows that you are considering the context in which your assets will be used and have a capacity for worldbuilding.
2: I'm not seeing much depth of thought in your surfacing. The asset pictured below looks pretty good at first glance but on closer inspection I'm wondering a few things ...
Why is it so clean in the areas I've indicated ? The rest of it is rusty which means it must have been exposed to moisture. Moisture collects in areas where separate parts meet , dirt sticks to moisture, moisture brings rust and so on...
Further - there's a belt drive so if this thing is still functional would there be rust where the belt rubs on the pulleys? You'd need to grease or oil the pulleys to keep it working nicely too - I'd expect some of that to squeeze out or be spilled and stain the surfaces - similarly, anywhere there is a moving part you'd be seeing grease stains as it works out of bearings or bushings.
I could go on in the same vein for a long time but you get the idea
Here's a couple of bits of advice I've given out many times over the years..
1 : I find it helps to make up little stories about the history of the object - maybe it broke down one day and the engineer got angry and hit it with a wrench - that might leave a dent and crack the paint which would lead to a rust patch forming and paint bubbling off etc.. Maybe parts have been replaced at some point - meaning that there is a much fresher component somewhere with less rust or a mismatched colour..
2 : I'd advise against using built in filters in Painter while you work on this sort of thing. Commonly people apply these, erase some bits and call it done. Instead I'd suggest manually and thoughtfully painting areas of wear/dirt and applying the filters to what you painted - this will force you to think about every mark you place and encourage you to question whether it should be there or not.
Anyway - Good luck with the hunt. The first one is the hardest to get
Thank you a lot for your time and details feedback. I really appreciate it.
Your portfolio looks very good. Have you had better luck with job searches lately? You updated it so I cant compare it with what you had before.