Critique needed for junior Environment Artist

Phil_L

Hi everyone,

My name is Phil, I'm a self taught environment artist and I'm in need of some critique on what could better my portfolio! I think I might lack a piece with a more elaborate model (working on that right now), maybe more modular stuff too!

I had the chance to be considered for a junior position at Eidos Montreal this past winter, did 3 interviews plus an art test, but unfortunately someone with experience got the job! I got some great feedback on my work though, I've been told to not give up, that I just need to get that opportunity and that it was a matter of time.

So yeah, looking for critique on what my weaknesses are and what could give me advantage over other applicants when the opportunity arise!

Thanks!

Philippelheureux.artstation.com

Ashervisalis

Hey Phil, first off, cool art I'm just going to write down what's going through my head as I study your work.

Gasoline enviro: Cluster vegetation together. Current it's scattered randomly and doesn't make much sense. Terrain needs some blended layers too. Current terrain material doesn't really look like realistic dried dirt. Maybe desaturate and brighten? Texturing for gas pump has too much random noise, needs finessing, more thought put into the damage. I've not seen an old gas pump that has this sort of surface details. Condense texture maps to one image. Should probably use a packed map for Occlusion, Roughness, Metal, that's the way textures/materials are usually handled now. First curve on the gas pump tube should have more polygons. Story: Why are there 2 gas pumps in the middle of the desert? There is a story here, but its not being told through the image.

Expedition: For an FX/weather system, having one single image is not enough, there needs to be a video. I can't tell anything from this system. You should be showing more about how you built the system too... For all I know, you just overlayed a rain image ontop of your image. Good set dressing and lighting.

Lucky Larrys: A lot of your textures look flat. The green roof, the wood siding, you could crank the normal intensity, plus add geo (tiles, planks) to make it not flat, as well as vert painting other materials (moss, dirt, etc). The night time view looks good, but the building isn't lit up at all: windows draw all the attention and the building gets none. The window lights are too bright... They look like light bulb. Maybe stronger moon light or a larger fall off for the lamp lights, to give the building exterior more light. The foliage growing right out of the street is random, you could paint a new material layer of dirt on the terrain and populate that with the grass? Your wood has lighter edges but unless the wood was heavily stained, it shouldn't have edge damage like that. I'd like to know if you're using tiling textures. The fabric draped over the pottery needs more geo. I like how you show the modular kit you made for this

Mausoleum: Wall textures look flat. Darker green patches of grass stand out too much... Need to be colour adjusted to match the other foliage. Damage decal in the bricks is odd, that kind of damage wouldn't spread to all the bricks. Windows look shiny and new, same with the roof, but the door looks old and dirty. For how old everything else in this enviro looks, I'd expect more grunge and damage to the mausoleum.

To Hell and back: Fuck ya, looks sick

Altes Haus: Pebbles are way brighter than the dirt, sticks out kinda weirdly. Nice composition, pretty beautiful images. Needs more work on terrain blending. I think this is your best enviro, should be first.

Amplifier: If you show some hard surface work, you should show the sub-d topology! Looks cool though. Good job.

Aside from those things, videos of your enviros would be cool. Would love to see some wind in your foliage to bring these places to life. That was a ton of critique, but you've got a lot of cool projects, keep going!

Phil_L

Thank you so much Thomas for taking the time, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hopping for! Time to get to work on this now!

Ashervisalis

NP