My site....
New to the polycount world here. I just recently graduated the Art Instiute of Phoenix with a Bachelor's in Game Art and Design. Check out my site and tell me what you think! Also my demo reel is available there for your viewing pleasures.
Artbyrude
Peace-
Rude
Artbyrude
Peace-
Rude
Replies
welcome to pc.
Thats five pages you put a potential employer through before letting them see your work. Instead of slowing them down, take them right to this page:
http://www.artbyrude.net/webpages/3d_models_page.htm
And put your name and email at the top. Remember, game companies are looking through possibly hundreds of portfolio, and its annoying to have to click through a bunch of BS pages that tell you its a portfolio before they actually get to a portfolio.
Also redo that resume larger as previously suggested.
Always have your Name, Contact Information and Position you want clearly visible on each page.
I will say this, as a word of encouragement, that the iterative process is absolutely key. Don't be afraid to redesign, rebuild, replace all your work samples, scrap, and scrap again. I know it seems like sucks to put a lot of work into something and then completely replace it, but this is where quality comes from. I think you've got a nice design, and some pretty good work to show, but the more time and energy you spend, and the more iterations you make, the better your work will be. So keep pluggin away at it man
where was the flash version? I got some HTML version with image-maps for buttons.
it's not a bad site, a little dated in concept, maybe a little frustrating for potential employers because nothing really stands out - to say - all work seems to carry the same weighting.
For the pop-ups; the image is scaled x2 with image-map buttons, I'd suggest getting rid of image-maps all together and using actual buttons, they are more tactile and give the user a sense of comfort on roll-over. Also add a close button next to the other buttons. That may sound odd because the window has a close button, but it's an extra mile when browsing on a decent sized wacom.
I think to really grab potential employers, you should follow what cholden says and put your contact details on every page. Also choose one bit of 3d and make it into a showcase that can be seen on the very first page when you enter the site.
Personally I would suggest removing the image-maps in favour of some tactile buttons that have roll-over states. Not sure what the flash version does, or if you even use flash in the site.
Anyways, as a quicky recap of my reply, don't use Flash unless you have a good reason. Use Javascript in place of Flash so plugins aren't required. Javascript can also preload your images to improve page transitions... which is a problem as anton referenced. Otherwise my points kind of echoed those above.
www.artbyrude.net
-Rude
You should preload your images in javascript. I mentioned this last time. The way your site runs right now, the page doesn't load all the pieces right away.
Also to be honest, if you're going to use flash for anything, it should be for the main site. Then things would run smoother. Instead, the only thing you are using flash for is your artwork, where you really aren't benefiting from it. You are basically switching images based on clicking three text buttons. You might as well preload those images in javascript and they will transition pretty nicely.
One final nit-pick, in your 3D section, you have images in the film strip, which is cool. But when I hover my mouse over them, it doesn't change to signify that they are clickable. I see you did an image map, but it's not very hard to add a javascript command to change the mouse pointer. That would help distinquish where the clickable areas are.
Overall I like the appearance of the site. My comments are more about proper usage of web elements and helping the feel of the site
-Rude
like i had mentioned before, love the site. it does load a little slow but, it's creative. i think your work shows you have enough to get a junior artist position and you're a cool dude so it's just be a matter of time the right company notices you - keep at it rude, you're doing fine.
-Rude
Basically, to preload an image, you create a new variable and set it equal to the image location. That causes the browser to load the info into that variable as the page loads. Then it's already in the browsers cache.
What I do is create a new array as a new image. Then I use a loop to load in all my images. I typically name my images with the same name, but a different number on the end. This is how the code would look to load in 10 images:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
var imgs = new Array();
for(i=0;i<=10;i++){
imgs = new Image();
imgs.src="image" + i + ".jpg";
}
</pre><hr />
Then your OnMouseOver would make your image src change using the following:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
document.images["menu1"].src = imgAry[1].src</pre><hr />
That would be if you named the first menu image menu1.
It may be clearer to google for "Javascript Preload".
As for the cursor, I didn't notice if you were using stylesheets (CSS), but if you are, you can use cursor:hand as a style property. If not, you can actually place it in line with the style="cursor:hand" in your image code.