Joe Gracey Portfolio Critique
polycounter lvl 11
I've been out of school for about two months now, and I've realized two things, one, networking is a big deal, and two, getting a job is harder than I thought. haha
I was hoping for some good critiques to help straighten out my portfolio. Thanks!
www.joegracey.com
I was hoping for some good critiques to help straighten out my portfolio. Thanks!
www.joegracey.com
Replies
Bed: No reason to show the AO bake as a texture sheet. the cloths geometry is by and large not giving off any appearance of ruffes/creases in the final image. the 'rust' is just a blob of brown atm, try to detail and sharpen it up some. the fibers of the cloth should have some spec to them (that doesn't mean to just brighten the grey in the spec, actually use the fiber overlay from the diffuse as a slight offset in your spec). Also, Theirs no sense of what material the matress is made of (is it plastic, cloth, etc?) with the current diffuse/spec combination.
Gas canister: its surface seems to perfectly eroded, yet with no real wear (nicks/crumples/bends/etc.). The normal map isn't really coming through either, and based on the posted sheet doesn't appear to have any of the textures properties in it (cratches and surface details), just the highpolys initial bake.
Gun case: Again none of the texture detail in the normal. the number of polys for the pieces under the handle also seem wasteful. I'd also suggest possibly turning the rims into something like a leather instead of wood for the sake of variation.
Jungle camp scene: Lots of problems here. By looking at the palm bushes and the fact that the trees are using individualized leafs It'd appear your going for 'high end' 3d, but then the rocks, plane, and most of the other objects go the other direction. The lighting appears to be coming from absolutly nowhere (not the sun, not camp lights...). Also despite all the plants littered about theirs not a single alpha'd plane of grass to be seen. I could go on, but that should give you a start.
Asian street: I'm assuming asian on this because of the bamboo stick in the center, otherwise I can't tell where this is supposed to be. Frankly, theirs absolutly nothing that sticks out in this scene at all. I don't think it's even worth trying to salvage. I'd suggest removing it from your portfolio.
Tent: texturing works fine, but the geometry count seems much too for the silhouette. try collapsing the beveled loop surrounding the cloth for starters.
Cooking pan suspensor: Maybe give some scratches to the non rusted metal, and give a few more shades to the staining of the pan. Also your again wasting polys in a several areas.
Arabian scene: The windows in the large background structure really feel 'off' to me, the stand out a lot (cant seem to properly explain why though -_-). the striped cloths tears at the bottom would benefit from using an alpha apposed to simply having the tears drawn in with black. The red fabric does not fold in the texture the way real cloth would.
The bulldozer and chapel both look fine so far, but It would be nice to see them turned into game ready assets
PROS
-I really like how clear your website is, its extremely easy to navigate and straightforward.
-Your portfolio is on the first page, I don't have to go through a splash page or click on gallery. Good Job!
-Your work seems near or at a professional level
CONS
-PUT YOUR CONTACT INFO ON THE MAIN PAGE!!, at least put your email. (there is a perfect spot at the bottom of the main page to put your contact info)
-Maybe instead of putting 3d artist you should put an emphasis on environment artist/modeler. That is what you are trying to get a job as right? I assume this since you do not have any character models.
-Maybe put some 2d environment concepts and designs on there.
overall it looks pretty good to me. Good luck... I would like to know where you end up. Good luck on your job hunt! -Eric
-there are breaks in your site graphics due to the <p> or something.
-the web site graphics and color choices are a bit un-impressive.
-I find your resume formatting a bit strange. I think you should left align all the titles at minimum including your name and info.
-3d artist is a generic title for banks and parents.
@PolyHertz: Thanks for the very detailed feedback, just what I needed to hear.
@Eric Wiley: Thanks for the website feedback, and for telling me to put some 2D stuff up. I really should work on my 2D skills, because I'm noticing many more studio's wanting solid 2D along with 3D.
@TWilson: I agree with pretty much everything you said. I'm going to find someone who knows how to edit websites and hopefully get the colors and layout changed.
great site by the way.
To start the site loads relatively slowly due to all the pictures, it would be better to categorise the work as links using some nice fonts and effects with smaller thumbs. Overall the site looks clean and simple but it is too simple, you need some diversity and design to it. Really show your potential employers that you put alot of time and effort into the construction while keeping in mind that you want to keep the content highlighted and not cause distraction.
Other than that I see overall your modelling is pretty good although quite simple but the texturing is lagging behind alot. The diversity of the textures do not look bad but the clarity or resolution of them does, they look all washed out and very hard to decipher.