[Portfolio] Jesse Hale, Character Artist
Hey, just a new Poster, looking for critiques on the content of my site.
I just graduated from college recently, and I'm looking for a job now. I'd love to get one as a character artist, but I know I need a lot of work for that to happen. So please, critique away; I need all the pointers I can get.
My website's http://www.artofjhale.com
I just graduated from college recently, and I'm looking for a job now. I'd love to get one as a character artist, but I know I need a lot of work for that to happen. So please, critique away; I need all the pointers I can get.
My website's http://www.artofjhale.com
Replies
Are your models hi-poly or low-poly? If they are low-poly meshes then they are way too high in polycounts... the Desert Demon is 18,786 polys but looks as if it's comprised of 1/3 that number. The Happy Demolition Robot has 43,594 polys? What engine will run that mesh? Jin is 33,460 polys??! If those are supposed to be hi-poly meshes, then they need alot more detail. Load them into Zbrush and start sculpting.
In order to survive as a character artist in the industry these days, you'll need to know ZBrush or Mudbox.
I would scrap the 2D work altogether. You only want to show your best work in your portfolio, and your 2D clearly isn't.
All of your textures looks procedurally generated. Do you paint any of the textures? Do you know how to properly unwrap? I didn't see any texture flats or unwraps on the website.
For the website itself; I don't like the illustration used as the background, try using a solid color, or atleast an appealing pattern. Why do you have two e-mail addresses? Put a scrub timeline in the demo reel so you can easily pause and view the work.
If you are serious about getting a job in the industry then your work needs to reflect that. 30,000+ poly game meshes just won't cut it. Put your detail into the normal maps, that is what they are there for.
Thanks Eraserhead!
All the textures are hand-painted. I never thought about adding the textures and UVmaps to my website.
What is a proper range for videogame poly meshes? Closer to 10K, or more than 30K? What's an appropriate range?
The thumbnails are too small , and you have images that are very similar in themselves so no need to have two ( like that character that has two front shots )
The work is very confusing because you dont seem to know game specs nor how normal maps etc work, i suggest start small ( handpainted maps PSP specs etc ) so that you can get to know it better , nowadays people tend to jump to normal mapping without even knowing the basics and thats just dumbassery.
Ditch the 2D section because they seem VERY amateur and are only hurting you.
i liked the man tho , lots of anatomy mistakes and shaft-in-ass pose but still is the best piece imo, the shorts are terrible tho , the big guy with bandages is cool , but its neither highpoly nor game art and the texture work is terrible .
sorry for the harshness, but its what i see on your folio , dont get discouraged and start working to improve youself and post it here in polycount
There are some brilliant artists on this board. I would take every bit of crit that you can and use it to your potential. Get deeply passionate about your ideas! You have some interesting stuff to look at, but you need to take it that extra step. Make whatever your working on POP. Make someone say, "Oh that must be Jesse Hale's work!"
About your website. It's looking VERY rough sketch. Get rid of the blocks-style organization. Treat it like an organic type machine. Make it come alive with YOUR style. I would go with a simple, bold backdrop and enlarge the screenshots. Nobody wants to squint when browsing. I'm thinking GEARS and maybe some FIRE burning from the bottom. Make it smart!!!
Your texturing feels like a base and not a finish. You need more color and details.
I am no character artist but the specs for next gen on characters can range from 5k to 15k or so. It just depends on the details that are needed on them to give the proper results. When people use more polys they are used for logical reasons, deformations for animating, the importance of the character, silhouette, etc...
Also the 2d remove, only include what you want people to base your skills off of. If it is bad stuff dont include it.
Liek Johny said understand why normal maps are being used and spec maps. Dont just use them because everyone else is. There is a reason behind them. Understand and study the purposes of them and it will help you immensely.
My last bit, just listen to the people on these forums. There is soooo much damn talent here that you will only get better as long as you put forth an effort. Even the harshness is meant to help, everyone usually backs it up with reasons/ examplse.. The crits are all for the benefit of the person.
Ok, stop with my ramblings, keep it up and things will improve. Good luck..
Like others have said, I don't think there is any place in the game industry for characters with specs like these. Possibly, if you are doing a 2d game where your 3d gets converted to 2d animated sprites, however; still you clearly don't need nearly as many polys as you have listed.
So, I think you should start checking out peoples websites who have actually gotten jobs and see what they did. Compare your work to there's and use similar layouts for specs and so fourth. When your work is honestly as good as theres then you know you have a good shot at getting a job. Its that simple really.
But you'll have to work your ass off to catch up to the professionals who put in long hours everyday for a living. I hope this inspires you to work and not the ladder. Good luck.
By the way, here is a polycounters site that inspires me alot today to get my work together to land a job and is a recent graduate. check it out: http://www.mvelasquez.com/
I'm going to start watching my polygon count now, and keep my characters 10-15K or lower. I'm also going to start working on my textures, and try to get those up to par with better artists. I'm also going to keep trying to learn a sculpting program as well.
I'll be posting work as soon as I can; this is making me want to model more and more.
This will help you learn to better use your UV space to maximize your detail in the texture. the smaller textures will make texturing go faster so less time spent on each one while learning and helps learn the importance of what can be done with so little. It also helps you learn how much form can come from a few polys.
It's worth it in the long run to go low poly while learning.
My major concern with your work there is that I can't picture any of it being in a game. That's not saying your skills are bad, just you need to market your portfolio more to what you want to work on.
I think as a starting point working on a more low poly mesh and then taking it into zbrush to make the high poly version is what you need to concentrate on. But before that all I can say is research.. research, and more research. Check out a lot of current games, and take a look at the characters in them.
Also another big help will be checking out online portfolios of professional character artists. They usually show wireframes, texture flats and all that jazz.
Two names that come to mind as a starting point for research would be...
Kevin Lanning - You can find some good shots easily of his low poly/high poly work on gears of war.
BobotheSeal - http://www.bobotheseal.com
Now obviously you don't have to be as good as these guys to get a job, but it's not easy to break into the industry as a character modeler.
Good luck
I agree with Thegodzero 100%, try to do smaller characters (in terms of polys and textures), you'll get better much faster.