Please give me some critics on my Portfolio. Im searching a job as a Character Artist.

yav_zzz

Im searching a job as a Character Artist for a while and im really frustrated. I got rejections from small and AAA Studios. What i´m doing wrong, what should i do in my Portfolio to pump it up. As you can see, i want to work on stylized and cartoony Characters. I have a strong understanding in anatomy, form, shape, silhoutte,... because i grew up with a pencil and studied these stuffs in a very early age.

Here is my Portfolio:

https://www.artstation.com/yav_zzz

Im still doing some Character Arts for my Portfolio and will update it soon.

I hope you can help me. Perhaps there is a character artist among you who already works in the industry and can give me some tips.

Thank you all for reading

hwaminjung

I feel like personally I would like to see a character piece, that has gone through entire pipeline (high/low/textures/rig/pose/rendered in a game engine), if you are aiming for a job in the games industry.
I think your Duke Igthorn character is the best work in your portfolio, so I would bring that forward.

If I was looking at all your portfolio pieces, including 2d work, I would remove the more older, sketchy works, such as the Subzero, MJ pieces.

Fabi_G

Hi! I agree, if creating characters for games/real-time is the goal, best show you can do all steps involved (and have the discipline for it) - from highpoly to deforming lowpoly in engine. You don't want to be stuck in sculpting stage.

Another thing I imagine would be good is to demonstrate the ability to translate designs/concepts into convincing 3d models (e.g. working well from all angles).

Few, polished/finished pieces weigh more than many sketches and doodles. Could start a progress thread here for documentation and feedback.

There's a thread around with people who have been recently hired sharing portfolios (https://polycount.com/discussion/187512/recently-hired-in-aaa-show-us-your-portfolio), however it's seems many do environment art. Probably the field is also quite competitive. Could try to get a foot in the door through another discipline. Sometimes there's an end goal and smaller milestones that lead there. 

Other than that check if there are meet ups in your area. Connecting with local game devs and other artists might lead to opportunities. At least you get an idea what's happening in your local area and others know you exist.

Good luck!

ThisisVictoriaZ

Hi! I like your work, and I think you're a very talented artist. Don't get too discouraged or frustrated, the games industry is super competitive and it isn't easy to get that first job, but perseverance and determination will get you there! 
The above advice is really good, and on top of that I think it would be good to have some work on your portfolio that is in the style of an established game or studio. Right now your stuff is good, but it looks like it is in your style, vs matching a predefined one, which is more of what you have to do on a daily basis in a games industry job, for example trying to match overwatch style, or Apex legends style.  Here are a couple of portfolios from junior level character artists who also do stylized work 
https://www.artstation.com/courtneyfayart
https://www.artstation.com/beccy

yav_zzz

Wow, Thank you all very much for the good advices. I can definitely do something with that. I'm in the process of developing a character with all the steps that are necessary for this. I will then post this on artstation and keep trying my luck. At the same time, I'm thinking about which character I'll continue with.

And yes, I really need to get rid of my old stuff from my portfolio. Lets see how it goes on. Some studios also said that my work is good, but because I don't have any professional experience, I was mostly rejected. But somehow I have to be able to start.

Alex_J

in lieu of studio work, maybe contributing to some student projects would be worthwhile. Dunno, just a guess. perhaps better to put 100% effort into making best possible portfolio pieces and networking instead. 

But if you contributed to some sort of game project, at least there would be a project and team you could point to if asked about experience, rather than just saying "none". Personally I'd consider that a lot more valuable than hyper polished portfolio pieces but I'm not doing any hiring so my opinion might be exact opposite of what you need to do.

ThisisVictoriaZ

I had this problem also, and I know many other juniors who have also struggled with getting an entry level role due to lack of experience, unfortunately this is common! For me I was able to get some experience doing freelance with a couple different indie studios, one I found on twitter and the other was through my local igda chapter, it could also be a good idea to post your work on different game art discord channels. Good luck!