Portfolio Crit

mLichy

Hi,

I am a new member here, but have been looking at these forums for a while now and finally registered. I was just wondering if any of you could look at my website and portfolio quick and let me know what you think. I'm open for any crits or comments you might have.

My Website

Thank you,

Edit: I plan to redo my demo reel soon with a better composition and different work.


Matt

ryanH

barnacle blackbones is sweet.

some crits.

make a WIP section if you want to show WIP. i personally think you should only put finished work up.

might also should focus on either environments or character art. but choose one, and become kick ass at it. from your website, the props are of better quality than some of your character work, so maybe environments is the better way to go.

hope that helps.

peace.

Minos

It needs an stronger first impression. Get rid of the "updates" page and make the gallery the home page. Industry recruiters go through hundreds of portfolios and just like any other recruiters they hate having to go through a lot of text/splash images to get to the actual content. You should also make the thumbs colored, as the grayscale thumbs gives the site a "monotonous" tone, while also hiding some of the beauty in your textures.

The resume section also needs some work. Use that gray'ish background color instead of pure black, and improve the alignment. The headers are a bit off causing a general weird impression. Try to keep everything to the same margin, that's strong design. Just my 2cents hope that helps.

good luck!

mLichy

Alright, sweet thanks guys. If anyone else has things to say, I'm all ears. I will make the changes suggested as others have some somewhat similar things.

So do you think I have any chance right now of getting a job with what I have in my portfolio or do I need alot more pieces? Obviously I will always be updating it, but for a first impression?

Thank you,

Matt

mLichy

I updated my website with the changes, does it look better?

MoP

Hmm, overall I'd say your prop/environment work is a lot stronger than your character work. Most studios would probably be turned off by the anime-style characters, since that style of modelling and texturing usually requires less effort and skill.

However, clearly you do have good abilities, judging by the highpoly / lowpoly / texture work on the chairs, desks and lamp stuff. The highpolys look great, and the textures for the chairs work very well. The colours on the lamp seem a bit off, and over 1000 triangles for an object so small seems a bit wasteful. It also seems like your texture work (or maybe the lighting setup) is hiding the normal-map detail on your lowpoly models... I wasn't sure at first if those had a normalmap or not until I saw the highpoly versions. I think you maybe have too much dark shading in your diffuse textures, so it's kinda hiding the shapes that the normal map should be popping out.

Overall it's pretty good though. My main tip at this point would be to put your props / highpoly section ABOVE your Boris / anime characters, so that the props are the first thing a potential employer sees. Being a character artist in the game industry is a VERY competitive area, and you will find it tough going with those as your main portfolio pieces. Getting in as a prop artist or environment artist seems much more likely with your current portfolio.

I'd also recommend adding some environment textures - interesting tiling walls/floors and generic materials, done well, would be good. You could make a sample scene using your chairs/tables/lights and texture the walls with tiling textures, that would be a good portfolio scene IMHO.

When watching your demo reel, I actually thought the textures shown in the background of the Boris turnaround (on the pillar) were more interesting and well-executed than the character himself. More stuff in the style of those would really boost your portfolio, I think.

Keep it up.

Edit: Oh, you spelled Modeling as "Modelng" on your demo reel page.

ryanH

it is always good to have more work. never think you have "enough". there is always something you can be working on.

that said, i think maybe you should try and make a scene of some sort. so it is not just a prop portfolio..this way you can show some lighting, and composition.

Mark Dygert

Some really good crits so far, and I like the changes you made. I think the thumbnails could be more flattering. Normally you want to stay away from the "looking down at" angle for characters, place the camera eye level or below to get a slightly more dramatic look.

It would also be nice if the larger image, contained more shots, flat shaded/wire views and maybe the textures sheets.

mLichy

Edit: Oh, you spelled Modeling as "Modelng" on your demo reel page.

- Thanks for that lol, I didn't notice xD.

I agree with making a scene for my props. If you saw my demo reel then you did see I had a scene for them. I could just take screenshots of that or make a new scene, which is probably a better idea.

I had the Boris stuff on top along with the characters mostly because I did those for games I made or worked on. But ya, I wanted to be an environment artist first anyways, and possibly a character artist if I ever got good enough or wanted to pursue that area.

It would also be nice if the larger image, contained more shots, flat shaded/wire views and maybe the textures sheets.

I do have them with wireframes/shaded? But I guess I don't have wires for them all, or my texture sheets. I could very well do that.

Right now though I am trying to get a my high poly model done asap for an art test for Bungie and then do my low poly and texture within the next couple days so I have any chance at all of getting a job there. I also need to model like 6-7 other objects this week for my internship xD. Just spent almost 8 hours straight on my art test.

Thank you for all the comments/crits so far, if anyone has anything else please reply.

IronHawk

Hey Matt you have some nice props in there. Not much I can crit that hasn't been said already. How was Brown? I went there for a year and a half and then realized it wasn't for me. The cost to knowledge ratio was bunk. Hope you post more here good to see some other locals.

mLichy

IronHawk wrote: »

Hey Matt you have some nice props in there. Not much I can crit that hasn't been said already. How was Brown? I went there for a year and a half and then realized it wasn't for me. The cost to knowledge ratio was bunk. Hope you post more here good to see some other locals.

Thanks alot . Ya, I was hesitant to stay at Brown during some terms, but overall I have learned alot. I guess I haven't really learned much modeling wise that I didn't know, but I learned animation, programming, and alot of other things I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

Some of the teachers that just started a year ago that I had were really good. One teacher in particular really pushed my class which helped us to make a pretty good game. We came up with the rival cannons game on my website.

But even still I kinda of wonder if I didn't go to school where I would be now. I am very self motivated, but college has forced me to work harder and faster and also the networking helps alot. So idk, this topic has been discussed to death though it seems.

EarthQuake

MoP wrote: »

Hmm, overall I'd say your prop/environment work is a lot stronger than your character work. Most studios would probably be turned off by the anime-style characters, since that style of modelling and texturing usually requires less effort and skill.

However, clearly you do have good abilities, judging by the highpoly / lowpoly / texture work on the chairs, desks and lamp stuff. The highpolys look great, and the textures for the chairs work very well. The colours on the lamp seem a bit off, and over 1000 triangles for an object so small seems a bit wasteful. It also seems like your texture work (or maybe the lighting setup) is hiding the normal-map detail on your lowpoly models... I wasn't sure at first if those had a normalmap or not until I saw the highpoly versions. I think you maybe have too much dark shading in your diffuse textures, so it's kinda hiding the shapes that the normal map should be popping out.

Overall it's pretty good though. My main tip at this point would be to put your props / highpoly section ABOVE your Boris / anime characters, so that the props are the first thing a potential employer sees. Being a character artist in the game industry is a VERY competitive area, and you will find it tough going with those as your main portfolio pieces. Getting in as a prop artist or environment artist seems much more likely with your current portfolio.

I'd also recommend adding some environment textures - interesting tiling walls/floors and generic materials, done well, would be good. You could make a sample scene using your chairs/tables/lights and texture the walls with tiling textures, that would be a good portfolio scene IMHO.

When watching your demo reel, I actually thought the textures shown in the background of the Boris turnaround (on the pillar) were more interesting and well-executed than the character himself. More stuff in the style of those would really boost your portfolio, I think.

Keep it up.

Edit: Oh, you spelled Modeling as "Modelng" on your demo reel page.

Agree with mop here, i'de even say take it a step further, completely remove the characters and everything that isnt finished, and focus on the prop work, and also add a small environment/scene or two as well. Right now the prop work is the best work here, and everything else brings it down. Remember your portfolio is only as strong as you weakest work.

pliang

I'd say that if you are truly comfortable with character work you'd have even more interesting subjects than just humans and anime characters...they aren't bad but with your high end prop work you should focus on environments a little more at this time...the drawings are good as they tell us you have understanding of 2d...though you could prolly leave out the life drawing as it just somewhat seems out of place...but doesn't hurt to keep doing it. ..

TWilson

prioritize the props for sure.

I would remove the 2d artwork. It's not going to help you get the job you want.

mLichy

Agree with mop here, i'de even say take it a step further, completely remove the characters and everything that isnt finished, and focus on the prop work, and also add a small environment/scene or two as well. Right now the prop work is the best work here, and everything else brings it down. Remember your portfolio is only as strong as you weakest work.

Hmm... well I wanted to have my characters on there to show I could do other things than just chairs/tables, ect. but I mean you guys prob. know better what to show or not to show.

I can get rid of the life drawing, but do you guys really think I should take off the 2D artwork or leave it? I just don't want to have only 5 things to show on my portfolio right now. I want to do more work, but I have alot of other modeling to do at the moment so I can't get anything else done until after I graduate.


Also on a side note, I am doing this art test like I think I mentioned, and they are saying I need to make it 1400-1800 tris, but the concept I modeled I don't think is possible to make it that low. I will do my best, but do you think if I have it over the amount by a couple hundred they would discard it?

PeterK

The guys are right, remove your characters. They are hurting your portfolio very much.

mLichy

hmm, ya you have a point. I could take off my characters and any unfinished stuff from my porfolio page. I kind of want to leave the 2D stuff except the life drawing, unless you guys really think the 2D stuff needs to go.