Would like some Portfolio Feedback/ Criticisms
Been working in somewhat of a vacum for a while now, and would just like to ask and get some feedback on some pieces I've worked on recently, for context I'm trying to get a job into games as a 3D prop Designer, so I've been working mostly on realistic pieces and I think having some new eyes on my work might be able to drive me in the direction of areas I'd need to work on for future pieces.
The two pieces I'd like crit on would be the spray can and the bust. I've never really posted online much so I'm not sure if this is the right way to go about it - or even if I should post the pictures here or just leave the link to my port, reguardless though thank you in advance!
https://www.artstation.com/aidangrant
Replies
Hi! I would say finish more projects and be mindful when choosing your subjects. The bust is a bit weak, partly due the anatomy and distribution of geometry. You could pick an environment and create a selection of assets that fits in there, then assemble a small scene to show their application. Doing so will also help you to understand what makes your assets more usable. Use existing assets as a benchmark.
Good luck!
It would help if the artstation link was actually hyperlinked, but maybe that's this new forum theme ;)
The spray can is weak. The polygon use is inefficient - the silhouette is unremarkable and visibly jagged for 13,000 polygons, and the shading is clearly all over the place. The takeaway from this is not to use fewer polygons (although that could be achieved), but to use them more effectively to control the silhouette and shading behaviour. I'm also not sure why it seems to be bulging?
The materials are noisy and unfocused. There are obvious technical problems - visible cropping where you've tried to paint across UV seams, dielectric-metal transition artefacting, paint projection stretching around corners and some of your colours appear to be outside the PBR safe range which is damaging their specular read - that and you have some extreme roughness values and transitions. The paint splashes make little sense. You seem to have placed bump information at random - there's no height transition between the label and the metal, but the paint splashes appear to be raised significantly off the surface.
The presentation showed the most potential, but it's hampered by a lack of care in your composition and framing. You've chosen a strange and inconsistent set of aspect ratios to present at, and there's a lack of safe zones around your subject matter (even cropping it a bit). The lighting and background could definitely be more interesting too (set against a dusty shelf in a garage, or a fresh and clean studio, or a recent piece on some public property…)
Frankly it's not really the most ambitious prop either - I think it would be hard to make a spray can on its own look great for a portfolio.
Good luck and keep working, I hope to see your next piece here :)
Thank you both so much! I think your right, choosing a subject more carefully based on a enviroment is a great idea, like you both say; I need to focus on more intresting sillhuetes and design for the assets I choose. And yeah I can see using other assets as a benchmark definitely helping, as my topology and geometry distbution needs work, definatly something I'll need to keep practicing at and taking a look at in general.
And yeah sorry I though it would automaticaly hyperlink, I've never actualy posted here before (Just lurked) so wasn't sure how it would work.
Thank you so much for everything else you've said! It's actualy very illuminating and great feedback for me, my geometerty definitely needs work and I think that 'bulging' is the lighting in the render from Unreal Engine which again, is something I need to look at. The Materials and the texturing is definatly something I need to be more careful with, as I can see exactly what you mean now you've said it. I think I'd also need to take a step back and really start to learn about composition and framing and even lighting techniques. The Reason I chose a spray can to begin with was just because I had this exact spray can lying about my bedroom somewhere so like you both say I should be more careful choosing my subjects haha.
But again thank you so much, you've given me a lot to chew on here and that exactly what I think I needed!