Another Portfolio Crit

Mil0

My online portfolio has undergone a major transformation and I'm looking for some input.


MarcEdwardsPortfolio

My main concern right now is whether or not the "contact" page is to hidden, and the number of clicks between the homepage and the actual work.

cholden

Easy one here, that's why I was able to write so much.

The site has a frame at the bottom with a banner ad. Not sure what's up with that, but it's unprofessional and affects your site.

Three click waiting/searching period before art (site > portfolio > level design > thumbnail. The more you bury your content the less likely people are to see it. The main page should be a row of thumbnail images. That means no separate sections. Breaking up your portfolio is a bad idea. You've only got three pieces in each section anyway, most of which have to be wip.

When user is in portfolio section, there is no way to get back. Clicking "portfolio" again goes to the about page.

It's good that you show competency by having tf2 and hl2 levels, but they are very basic. The TF2 level looks fine, but it's mostly all boxes and no trim. The HL2 level (there's no way around this) is ugly. Is it a wip? It looks like there's grid and unfinished textures. The Penn looks like it's going to be something, but again just looks like a wip of some archways and a clock with a few lights in the scene.

Assets: the tri-opper is ok, looks like a wip because it has smoothing errors and parts appear untextured. The spider isn't so hot either, lots of wasted polygons, muddy texturing, and so on. The hauler could be neat, but clearly a wip as it's untextured.

Character section: you don't have characters therefore you don't have a character section. Additionally, level designers / world builders generally do not bridge the gap and make character art, so you don't really need this section anyway.

Resume should be clearly visible without having download. Downloads should be included however, being able to quickly view it is important. Overall, resume looks good, but see those bullet points under "Savannah College of Art and Design" where you talk about what programs you know, game engines you've worked in, etc? THAT'S your "SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS". What you have listing in your skills and qualifications is all buzzword bullshit.

About is unneeded as most of this is covered in resume.

Key points: organize portfolio, finish pieces, quick access resume

Tumerboy

Put me in the portfolio right off the bat. Get rid of the splash screen with your name. Your name should be on every page no matter what, and should be embedded into each screenshot if possible.

I wouldn't split up your work into different clicks. I'd put it all on the same page, just separated out by headings for each section. And don't use a horrible, hard to read, font for those section headings. Put your best work at the top.

As I page through multiple pictures of a single asset, I can click 'next' but then I have to find the the close button (which I have to scroll down to see) and then reopen the next set. Let me keep clicking next to go to the next object/level/whatever.

Using flash to display each image is slow and clunky. You'd be better off ripping everything out of flash and making quick links to each picture. However, if you must use flash, that's your choice.

You don't have any characters, so. . . why have a section for it?

As for the assets themselves. Putting pyro's cheering & Scout's doing whatever they do, in your screenshot, very much detracts from me looking at the level around him.

Your theme-park level looks very undone, and very cartoony. Cartoony is fine if that's what you're going for, but then I see a realistic crowbar/HL2 gun in the foreground and I can't reconcile the two in my tiny artist brain.

Don't bother with "Coming Soon." It will either be up soon, and we can see it then, or more likely, it'll sit there, as "Coming Soon." for the next 4 years.

Your level design maps look like they were drawn in ms paint. I'm sorry, but they do. That's not necessarily bad, but having that many different colors, representing that many different things, makes it difficult to read. It seems to me that if you were to be going from a level design perspective, then it would be better to have 2 colors, "player can get here" color 1, and "player can't go here" color 2.

Your models look ok, but not great, so keep working on them. Post them in the Pimp section to get individual crits. It helps, trust me.

It's great that you offer downloadable copies of your resume in both pdf & doc, but you shoul really also have an online viewable version on that page, and then just have the links to the downloads at the bottom.

Edit: Gah! Cholden beat me to it while I was writing! Well, listen to him, he's the portfolio master of late.

TWilson

Your lightboxes should all be linked in one gallery instead of just linked between one art peice.

artstream

Pretty much what everyone has already said...but something that's a bit personal, and it may just be me, but your font is hard to read...not illegible, just hard to read. the red color for your gallery sections is also slightly jarring---it's such a strong contrast. Also, have your contact info in multiple places, even if it's in a corner or something. But as everyone is already saying, gallery should be the first thing a potential employer sees. You were also concerned about finding the contact page. It's almost at the bottom of the page, in basic times new roman. It's not hidden...but it's not obvious either.