[Portfolio] - Simon Burford (Environment Artist)

Szark

Hey guys,

Just looking for criticism / comments on my work:

http://www.simonburford.com/

Do you think I should move the other / unfinished work to the top and rename it to props or something? Even though I didn't create some of the models?

Thanks!

JasonLavoie

MmmmmMMmmm... awesome work Simon, I'm loving your texture work, very crisp and full of awesome.

Only crit I can give you is some of your scenes (the very first one) look very bare, I know its some sort of temple, but... it just looks unfinished really, compared to your other work.

It would be great to learn what is your workflow when it comes to creating textures, because you really have a great eye for detail, and more so, everything is extremely crisp, I would also love to see some of your spec maps as well if you don't mind :P

Oh and I just noticed this, but on most of your image loadouts, it says something about being in ue3 and concept provided by Paul Richards.

BradMyers82

I have been finding that I always agree with the critiques that Jason gives, but there are a couple of really small things I would add.

I am not too fond of the Yellow Geo-sphere things you have in the one level. It just doesn't fit with the rest, texture wise. You were probably trying to make it stand out like this, but still I don't think its there yet.

I like the lighting you use to render out your stuff. The kind of dark dynamic feel it gives your work, but I would try a little more variation. It is on the dark side, and it might be better if everything wasn't done exactly the same. (For the most part, I am speaking of your props at the bottom that you are still working on.)

I like the monoliths scene the best, but those bright green bushes are kind of killing it for me. They look too tropical and out of place ATM.

As for the unfinished works section in particular, I would definitely not move it to the top. You certainly want to show your best work first. As it stands, I am not sure if you have finished props there, and unfinished stuff as well. I would be tempted to link unfinished stuff on a separate page all together. This way, if an employer wants to see your WIP they can, or they can choose to disregard WIP all together, as I know some believe it doesn't belong on a portfolio site at all.

In any event, I don't think unfinished and finished work belong in the same section the way you have it setup here. If you do choose to have unfinished work in the same section, it shouldn't be mixed in, and it should be super obvious what is WIP, and what is finished.

Lastly, I don't like flash. Maybe just me, but I would much rather see things as a normal link.

All in all, you have some great work man, keep it up! I am loving your textures also.

Szark

Thanks for the comments / criticism, appreciate it I've made some slight changes to the site.

@Jason

Yeah, I agree that the first scene is a bit bare, I did that one over a year ago now. If I ever get some time I might open it up and add some more stuff to it, but I still like it how it is. And its supposed to be a kind of powerplant, but whatever :poly121:

For texturing I usually lay down some basic colours, overlay some photos, apply a stack of adjustment layers, then I paint in lots of details (dirt, scratches, etc) with my wacom.

Here are a few spec maps: 1 2

Yeah, the image viewer is acting up a bit, even if I don't have a comment on an image it'll sometimes show a comment from another image. :shifty:

@Brad

Thanks for all the advice Brad! I'll definitely keep it all in mind.

I'm not really happy with the colours of the foliage in the monoliths scene either, thats something I'm still playing around with.

About the viewer, it's not flash, it's javascript, but it's only temporary until I create seperate pages for everything.

Thanks again!

BLOODROBOT

Nice portfolio man! That WW2 scene, the bridge specifically, reminds me of Silent Hill Homecoming, prolly cause I was just playing it. The site is very clean and easy to navigate so hats off! I've seen some pretty bad ports, even my own.