various work, seeking crits

[Deleted User]

I'd like to start applying for jobs soon, but I need to know what it'll take to bring my level of work up to par.
(Some of these pictures list my website. It's not up.)


^this one is new^




(and some 2d...)


I know there isn't really enough of it, but I just want to know what I need to work on so I know how to progress.

Sage

Looks pretty good. I think you need to rework Freddy's texture a bit. It looks to much like rubber instead of burned meat. Add a bit of more color variation to the skin and probably adjust the spec and gloss map a little. For the chicken maybe tint it a bit towards orange with the spec and I think greasy meat should have more that going on in terms of highlights. Also the bones should not be the same color as the skin. The others I think are spot on though.

Alex

BradMyers82

First off, I think that everything looks really good. As far as improving what you have, I would say that the bald guys head and the dinasour looking head both need some stronger edges. Like the forms aren't popping out as much as they should be at the moment for 3d works. It almost looks like a painting in both of these and that it is completely 2d, but judging from the background I take it you are using zbrush and they are all 3d (at least judging from the bald headed guys zbrush background).

I'm not really sure what intentions you have with creating these. Like if your planning on getting a job or something with 3d, but I think you need to do the whole character and not just the head. It's a lot more work, but its that much more impressive when finished.

Nice job so far, keep it up.

[Deleted User]

@Sage: Cool, thanks! I'll make those changes.

@Brad: Thanks. Yes, both of those were done with ZB. The bald guy was rendered from within ZB and was never low-poly, and the dinosaur thing is low-poly with a normal map. The scales on the top of the head were all Photoshop in the texture though. I nvidia-filtered a height map for that part and overlayed it on the normals from the ZB model before painting the diffuse. I'll work on making the forms more defined. Does it look like that's a texturing issue, like I'm not painting in enough to complement the 3d, or should I be pushing the models themselves to be more dimensional? (I'll try both anyway.) As far as my intentions with them, I'm actually aiming to work as an environment artist, so I made the heads mostly just as practice for texturing organic things. I do intend to finish some full characters though once I finish up the environment scene I'm working on atm.

Tully

I'm wondering what sort of position you're planning on applying for? It's not exactly clear from the work you show here. Ideally, one should be able to get a good idea of what sort of job you want just by leafing through your portfolio. Especially if this is your first time applying, showing work that's typical of the work you would do in the job you're applying for gives companies confidence that you know what skills they need and can offer them.

If you want a character artist job, I think you'll probably have to work harder on your technique. It's by no means bad, but it's extremely difficult to get a job as a character artist, and a lot of people applying for the first time make the mistake of including predominantly character work in their portfolio. It's the best artists that get these positions, and they're tough to land as a first job. You'd also want to show whole models properly presented-- not just heads.

If you want an environment position, your skills are might be good enough right now (it's difficult to tell, tbh), but you'll want to do more environment stuffs. Show textures, props, weapons, vehicles, etc. If you're trying for your first job, I suggest this as an area to pursue. It's easier to break in as an environment artist, and there's no reason you can't develop your skills to do characters later on.

If you're trying to market yourself as a generalist, be careful to avoid appearing to lack focus. Generalists are great, but be sure that you're presenting yourself as being equally good at everything you're doing. Otherwise you might as well be doing one thing or the other.

[Deleted User]

Okay, thank you for the advice. I'm aiming for an environment position, so I'll work on keeping my portfolio more focused on that.

[Deleted User]

I made those changes to the textures for this one. (and I corrected the poly count listed on it. it's the same model, but I'd labeled it wrong before)

(I moved the image to the top in place of the old one)

edit: oh, i just noticed my typo on the corrected text too. i'll change that too.

Armanguy

i like the updated version of the head looks less plastic, also on a side note that turkey looks soooo juicy :P

FactoriesBurning

this stuff looks really clean. i want to eat that apple!

the burn victim guy is still too shiny. flesh doesn't have that much specularity, and the specularity is more random. it's good that you toned it down on the skin parts, but right now it looks like all those little holes of flesh are filled with petroleum jelly or something (maybe he was putting neosporin on his wounds, haha).

lookin good though, keep up the good work.

[Deleted User]

I added the candle thing to the first post.