Portfolio Prop review. Feeling de-motivated recently.

Indi2410

I started applying to jobs the past 2 weeks , around 30 studio I know it's not a lot, but having to research and cater custom Motivation/cover letters takes a lot time, just for in most cases to not get a reply back.
I got 5 confirmed rejections back which is better then nothing and confirms at least that my application is being seen at the very least.

ArtStation - Indi RS

Any who I am a recent graduate where I took games art as a course.
I have around 20 art pieces but had to remove all but 4 (Most recent) as the others where mostly concept pieces and not up to par in terms of quality to my most recent ones.
I find my current artwork to be 'OK' in terms of quality, I know I have a lot to do to reach ''AAA'' standards, which lets cut the BS, is what's expected at even a junior/entry level apparently?

I've had a mix of people saying it's good, and a friend of mine who gives frequent feedback (He's aiming for film rather then games industry) , well my friend rarely if anytime had anything good to say about my artwork, I brush it off as him doing what's best for me to push me forward, but it also puts me in a dilemma of questioning my portfolio if it's anywhere near ready at all and if I'm just wasting my time applying for jobs with a sub-par portfolio.

I've also had a quick review done by someone in the Rookies Discord about the hedgetrimmer, camera, piece, basically stating I need to improve my texturing and put more thought of where I put wear and tears and how to create a ''story'' through texturing which I found to be valuable.

I am asking for honest and brutal feedback if my portfolio meets the standards for an entry level environment, prop artist job.

It's also crazy to see how the quality of ''entry'' level has sky rocketed compared to say a average entry level  portfolio piece back in 2018 which will get binned immediately. It feels like the skill level for each domain has grown exponentially.  which I briefly mentioned, you borderline have to be creating AAA quality art piece on your folio to even be considered entry level job, would this be a fair assumption to make?

Joopson

I don't have a ton of time to offer in depth feedback, but I will say your props look very good. Like, up to par with things I see in games, with nothing glaringly wrong with them to my eye. That doesn't mean they're super interesting (guns, cameras, chainsaw-adjacent items, are all pretty common in portfolios), but I think they look well done.

The broadside stuff sticks out to me as not quite up to par with the quality of the other props (or maybe it's a presentation issue?), but I think it shows some useful context-- just maybe don't have it be the first project listed? Or maybe try ordering the images by how good you think they look, within the broadside page? For instance the first gun with 8 barrels, and the blunderbuss closeup right after it, strike me as particularly not up to par with your other work.

I'd suggest maybe doing something bigger-- a small scene with props all working together to convey a story, or set a tone-- even just a little diorama type thing. There's a lot of hiring overlap between props and environments, and many places won't even have dedicated prop artists, etc, so it could be good to cater a little bit to the environment-minded people potentially looking through your work.

My thoughts anyway! It's also just a really tough market right now, so be patient with yourself. If it takes awhile, just keep doing 3D in your free time and try to add new things.

sacboi

High standard of quality to aim for hasn't really changed but recently competitive edge in particular has, because as Joopson alluded too it's going to be tough going for people just starting out getting their foot in that 'door' when currently, you're already up against artists with industry experience looking for jobs as well, due to continuing mass layoffs in the past 18mths alone and yes I also most definitely agree patience will be a virtue you'll have to leverage to your advantage, for however long it takes.  

Plus again as noted, effectively use whatever available down time improving upon what you've learnt thus far, now at a glance especially the Eagle .50 pistol, there's multiple texture sets at high resolution however to be honest not nearly enough attention to detail reflected in the final output, imo lacks finesse in texturing, lighting and presentation. So one option I'd recommend is to browse through work by established hard surface artists as an example - Tim Bergholz, Ben Bolton or Tor Frick which I'm afraid fair to say the bar you'll have to meet if not try to exceed.        

Indi2410

sacboi 

Plus again as noted, effectively use whatever available down time improving upon what you've learnt thus far, now at a glance especially the Eagle .50 pistol, there's multiple texture sets at high resolution however to be honest not nearly enough attention to detail reflected in the final output, imo lacks finesse in texturing, lighting and presentation.

Joopson said:

I don't have a ton of time to offer in depth feedback, but I will say your props look very good. Like, up to par with things I see in games, with nothing glaringly wrong with them to my eye. That doesn't mean they're super interesting (guns, cameras, chainsaw-adjacent items, are all pretty common in portfolios), but I think they look well done.

The broadside stuff sticks out to me as not quite up to par with the quality of the other props (or maybe it's a presentation issue?), but I think it shows some useful context-- just maybe don't have it be the first project listed? Or maybe try ordering the images by how good you think they look, within the broadside page? For instance the first gun with 8 barrels, and the blunderbuss closeup right after it, strike me as particularly not up to par with your other work.

I'd suggest maybe doing something bigger-- a small scene with props all working together to convey a story, or set a tone-- even just a little diorama type thing. There's a lot of hiring overlap between props and environments, and many places won't even have dedicated prop artists, etc, so it could be good to cater a little bit to the environment-minded people potentially looking through your work.

My thoughts anyway! It's also just a really tough market right now, so be patient with yourself. If it takes awhile, just keep doing 3D in your free time and try to add new things.

I agree my deagle isn't all that, it was my first proper gun model and my actual first prop that I took SP seriously, but I learned a lot from it.

'' just maybe don't have it be the first project listed? Or maybe try ordering the images by how good you think they look, within the broadside page? For instance the first gun with 8 barrels, and the blunderbuss closeup right after it, strike me as particularly not up to par with your other work.''
 
Yeha I decided to move it to the last piece, the reason why some props are not up to par compared to my other pieces is due to time constraints. Blunderbuss and 8 barrelled gun were made in a single day or two of each other.

Thanks for the feedback guys.
The grind continues ;(.

Ruflse

I think your stuff looks good, specially the hedgetrimmer. You're crearly improving on your texturing, tho if you want to apply for environment art you're probably going to need to add some environments as the other guys have said.

Also from one spaniard to another if you live in Barcelona you're probably going to have it easier to find some junior position than someone who doesn't live in the big cities since there are plenty of studios there, so just keep trying. If it makes you feel any better I've been unemployed for a year now lol Finding an entry job is basically hellmode right now, so trust me that 2 weeks is nothing and you're gonna get tired of sending letters and resumés around even if your portfolio is "good enough" or good. Also if you like environment art I think you could consider getting a bit into architectural rendering since there are more jobs there and some skills can be applied to game art as well.

poopipe

I also have no time for detailed feedback - I'll back up what Joopson says all the way though. 

For me... 
The work is high enough visual quality for non-hero assets - the problem really is that you're using hero asset specs and you're making hero assets. 
if you're going to do that you need to push the storytelling harder - these things have a purpose and a history and you need to really sell that for them to become genuinely interesting. 

The hedge trimmer gets some of the way there but I'd expect to see a load more damage to the device itself  - even after the first time you smashed a zombie up with it (never tried tbh - they could be a lot more robust than i think)

Indi2410

poopipe said:

I also have no time for detailed feedback - I'll back up what Joopson says all the way though. 

For me... 
The work is high enough visual quality for non-hero assets - the problem really is that you're using hero asset specs and you're making hero assets. 
if you're going to do that you need to push the storytelling harder - these things have a purpose and a history and you need to really sell that for them to become genuinely interesting. 

The hedge trimmer gets some of the way there but I'd expect to see a load more damage to the device itself  - even after the first time you smashed a zombie up with it (never tried tbh - they could be a lot more robust than i think)

Sorry for delayed response, that's good feedback that I will take upon my next projects.

Indi2410

Ruflse said:

I think your stuff looks good, specially the hedgetrimmer. You're crearly improving on your texturing, tho if you want to apply for environment art you're probably going to need to add some environments as the other guys have said.

Also from one spaniard to another if you live in Barcelona you're probably going to have it easier to find some junior position than someone who doesn't live in the big cities since there are plenty of studios there, so just keep trying. If it makes you feel any better I've been unemployed for a year now lol Finding an entry job is basically hellmode right now, so trust me that 2 weeks is nothing and you're gonna get tired of sending letters and resumés around even if your portfolio is "good enough" or good. Also if you like environment art I think you could consider getting a bit into architectural rendering since there are more jobs there and some skills can be applied to game art as well.

I am not Spanish, just tend to live in Spain depending on the time of the year (Summer) .
I've applied to a few more studios, but I'm focusing on making more higher quality portfolio pieces before once again going on another streak of sending out applications.
Arch Viz route is interesting I might look into it as well as product design, but I see a LOT of people doing that in 3D Discord community's and I think it's just as competitive if not, more then games?