Portfolio review & feedback.

julius_eins

Hi guys, I want to develop myself as an artist so I need some  valuable critics from anyone about my portfolio. Please mention the mistakes that you find in my work and also kindly direct me towards how to improve and fix those mistakes.
I mostly stick with hardsuface, which I am interested and plan to work professionaly on.

Portfolio URL: https://juliuseins.artstation.com/

Rima

I'm by no means an expert, but I feel like they don't pop?

I think it's the lighting. They're not flat, but I feel like it doesn't really make them stand out; I think perhaps more contrast could be good. Darker shadows, and lights positioned so the shiny parts really catch the light and highlight the details, like the scrapes and scratches on the knife, for example. It's a bit difficult to describe, but I feel like the way it is gives a "meh" impression to me from that. The game scene in particular almost feels like the materials are shadeless. I also think it's probably best to keep a portfolio for finished works, rather than a work in progress; I imagine you want to put your best, most finished foot forward.

That said, I'm not talking from some lofty perspective here, so pinch of salt.

julius_eins

RimaModela thanks man...for the insights. I'll fix those.

zetheros

This will sound harsh, but your models, which could use more work, are being covered with sloppy materials. UVs are bad in some places as well as smoothing groups. I've seen dozens of portfolios like this and I'm not even a recruiter. You'll have to work a lot harder to stand out and find work. Best of luck though, and keep at it!

OssennaAsterisk

poster above doesnt know how to give feedback, was unnecessarily harsh and had no constructive criticisms so ignore them, I'm not a hard surface artist but i will do my best to advise on what i can.

First of all, your work is really solid so far and shows a lot of potential. You're getting some great results and I can see that you will continue to improve lots.

 ✩ For your portfolio focus on quality over quantity, and stay very specific to what it is you are looking for a role in. if thats 3d game art, then remove your abstract piece. You don't need a lot of pieces so just show off your strongest ones
✩ I see you do it sometimes but don't forget to show off your UVs and try to keep consistency between the layout of your posts
✩ be intentional about where you put fine details, scratches etc. when they are everywhere it adds a lot of noise. also,you don't necessarily need extremely close up shots, there is not enough resolution in the textures or low poly to hold up to extreme close ups and has an opposite effect.
✩ study from real life materials. Be very intentional about material definition. Make sure mud, chipped paint, blood are distinguishable from each other.
✩ work on optimising your topology. Study other artists who inspire you to see how they have made and presented pieces and try implement it into your own work. Linus Scheffel has some great examples
✩ render in marmoset or ue5, the rendering stage can make or break a piece. don't rush this part, take your time setting up a nice 3 point lighting scene and getting it just right. don't be afraid to put the model in your render scene early and continue to go back and forth to make adjustments to the texture, low poly etc until you are satisfied with how the final result looks.

 You're doing great! cant wait to see what you make next

  Sasha

zetheros

Man, glad you're filling out details, but to say 'he doesn't offer any constructive criticism, ignore him' is strange. We all want to see people succeed.

A critique of art is not a critique of the artist. Anyone who doesn't understand that & wants only comments of praise or sugar-coated feedback will not survive in this industry. This applies not only to artists, but to every other role from programmers to community managers and QA.

When I say he's using sloppy materials, it means he needs to take more care and pay more attention to where he's painting them, I'm not saying he's a sloppy person. When I say some UVs are bad and there are smoothing group errors, it's because they are present in his work. When I say I've seen dozens of portfolios like this, I absolutely mean it. None of this is meant to shame Julius. He's here asking for critique and I gave it. If he wants to be a professional he needs to know all of his shortcomings to be able to address them. The road to success is paved with failures, for all of us.

Want to hear a fun story? I think I was 20 at the time. I asked for feedback from an artist who worked on Skyrim & Fallout, and he said I did some lazy work in one part of my sculpt. And you know what, he was right. So, I don't do lazy work anymore.

OssennaAsterisk

..

Alex_J

It's not even close to a harsh, rude, or even impolite critique. People asking for critique are looking for information, not a pat on the back. If you like to be very polite and nice that is great but it's not necessary and mostly just fluff, meaning it has little value. There is no information to do anything with. If you know a person personally and suspect they need a pat on the back that is great to do, but people here dont know each other and are just asking for some critiques. Anybody who is taking time to make a critique in the first place has already basically said, "I like you and want to help you succeed for nothing in return." How nice is that?

This weapon is good example just to reiterate points already made:

While I am sure it was a great effort to learn everything necessary to get this model done, compared to many others it will be seen as either behind on skill or behind on effort. You can call that whatever you like - sloppy, lazy, who cares? A target to focus on has been defined. Doesn't matter if Zetheros starts every critique with, "You stupid loser,". If there is useful information in the critique, use it and discard whatever else.

The modeling is too basic and indicates that the modeler didn't spend enough time researching the thing they were modeling. If you are making an AR-15 you are competing against like a bazillion other models and many of those people will have studied the thing to ensure it was very accurate:
https://blackrifledepot.com/blog/ar-15-parts-explained-the-beginners-walk-thru/

it is easy to look it up! This models geometry is like a person made it from memory. Almost every detail is either inaccurate, missing, or misplaced. So to improve this model it would have to be remade entirely and the first step would have to be spending time studying the source.

The materials look like the artist was new to substance painter and having fun experimenting with smart materials and mask. It does not look like materials were applied with thoughtful intent. If there is edge wear, why? How did it end up there? What caused all the scratches? What is the material and does it wear like that? Where are the examples you used for reference? 

And besides all that, just zoom out and look at the thing. Does it look cool? What game does it fit in? You could make some transparent pngs and use it like a concept image to put into characters hands of the game types you had in mind when making it. Does it fit? DOes it stand out for some reason?

This model, as is, could maybe work for like a top down shooter is the weapon was pretty tiny on the screen. But it does not stand up to such an up close presentation because all of the details are abstracted so we can see that they are basically made up, not the result of careful study. 

There is a lot to learn to make game assets and it looks like the OP is in a phase where they are still getting to grips with the technical pipeline and it uses up all of their energy. But if wanting to get serious about the portfolio, have to slow down and put more time and effort into a single piece, and make sure you get feedback along each step of the production. Leverage the experience and eyeballs of others each step of the way.

One portfolio piece that might be worthwhile revamping is the hunting knife. The metal looks like wood. Just fixing that material might make a big difference.