Critique Needed

Tom Burns

Hi:

There's a lot of tremendously awesome work on this forum and I'm really impressed with the lot of you.

Up until now I've only posted a few times but I'm asking for some feedback from some experienced people in this case.

I've had a few game jobs but I've really been having a hard time getting responses from companies lately.

I can completely understand that there are way better artists out there and I certainly don't think companies should fall at my feet when I apply.

My big concern is I just can't get ANY feedback as to why my applications get passed over. And when I'm isolated and working on my own, I have no idea what companies specifically think sucked about my work and how I can improve.

I recently did an art test and was immediately told it wasn't good but not much else.

So I'm asking for a bit of feedback on said test because I could really use some help before I pack in the pursuit of further industry work.




These are the textures and screenshots of the test:



Three 1024 X 1024 textures (Diffuse, Spec and Normal)


one last thing: If you are feeling particularly charitable, please visit my website and I'd be very grateful for any constructive criticism about that, too.


http://www.tomburnsportfolio.com/



Thanks very much, everyone!



cheers,

Tom
http://www.tomburnsportfolio.com/

Sage

Nice work on the site, I'm not sure why you had the graphic design header stuff though, but whatever. The are test looks way too noisey in my opinion and from what I have learned from talking to other artists it seems a more refined and smoother look is what's "In" now. You seem to have some lighting in your diffuse, there is what appears to be a highlights in there which isn't good in most peoples eyes.

The spec map seems to be a mess. Your clock I imagine is supposed to look shinny but because everything is more or less the same intensity it looks like it has no contrast. The diffuse is all the same color as well, or seems that way, it doesn't have enough variation although it has some very nice qualities to it. I think the problem is that everything looks like it's the same material, especially in the render. I think it would help if you showed the concept of what you were supposed to do.

I like the scenes you have but I think the renders are too small on your site. Well some are, I would keep everything as consistent as possible. It might help you to show some 3d objects all alone from the clutter of a complex scene.

Right now it's not clear how well you can do multi texturing and I think that is what is holding you back. Most of the textures on your site seem to have too much noise. If you look at my work, it kind of suffers from too much noise as well. I think you should make a few models to show off your ability to texture things with diffuse, spec and normal maps. Show the wires and texture flats.

Nice work though, look forward to seeing more. Make your gallery the start page of your site though.

Alex

monkeyboy_garth

Huh, yeah I know the feeling - it sucks that you don't get feedback, but I can understand as they're very busy etc. But I guess that's what these forums are for!

Maybe making the materials on your dial thingo clearer - at the moment it's hard to tell what's metal, what's concrete (?) etc. Some colour variation would be nice, even if it's just subtle differences because at the moment, it's all just gray.

As for your portfolio - I actually think the site itself is pretty sweet - well laid out. In terms of your work, there's some stretching here and there to look out for (the cave shots especially). Some of your older (low poly) stuff could use some roughing up - sometimes it seems very clean and unnatural. Your dawn of war stuff looks good! Do you have any normal mapped enviros?

Wells

the particular piece you posted here seems to lack the presence of an artist... the majority of it consists of a metal texture/overlay with some light and dark lines for detail. The base is completely uninteresting, just a solid mass of that one texture. Same with the top clockish part; aside from the faces, it looks like you didn't bother to actually paint anything.

the whole pieces reads of one material, and I'm not sure what it is. Sort of a dull concrete. Looking closer, I thought the back faces were wooden slats, which I thought was kind of cool. Actually, i'm still not sure what this piece is supposed to be. some sort of pressure gauge?

it's by no means a horrible piece - it could just be much better.

Armanguy

I did the same art test and i failed it, but they were nice enought to tell me why, my material choice and everything were a 180 of what they wanted heres what they want hope it helps.

this is what they consider a good art test:

Tom Burns

Thanks very much for your responses, everyone. I really appreciate the time you took to offer your suggestions.

I should point out that the test this piece was based on was to duplicate this thermometer (outside of some financial institution) and get it as close to reality as possible.

But the photo was in black and white. Yeah. And it wasn't all that sharp. Here, check it out:





It turns out that after much searching on the web to find out if this thing is either concrete or metal, it turns out that the thing is uniformly green (tarnished copper).

I actually didn't know that until I searched for a better photo myself. I actually added a bit of brassy accents to break up the monotony a little.

Still, I agree, it could be better and I again want to thank all who have responded. Much appreciated!


Tom

Wells

ah, that picture clears up a lot

BassAckwards

i like the set up of you site..but i agree with the previous comment put your work first...from my experience employed do wanna have to look for your work... they want to see everything up front, and see your newest/best work that would span from 6 months to one year...but every employer is different...