[Portfolio] Patricia Herbert | Environment Art
polycounter lvl 11
Hey everyone, I am up for a review at school on Monday of my portfolio so I figured I would get all my critique at once!
Please take a look at my portfolio at www.triciaherbert.com
I need critique on the art mostly. Anything to improve it and help me get a job.
The website design has been changed a lot, but I am happy with it now, if you have any critique on how to improve the function of the website that would be appreciated.
I'm especially interested in people's opinions in the game industry of whether or not you really want to see game engine renders of the work or not. The teachers at my school say it doesn't matter just make it look good, but I have also heard people say they want to see the models in an engine. I am most likely going to be applying for a game art position, so let me know what you think!
Please take a look at my portfolio at www.triciaherbert.com
I need critique on the art mostly. Anything to improve it and help me get a job.
The website design has been changed a lot, but I am happy with it now, if you have any critique on how to improve the function of the website that would be appreciated.
I'm especially interested in people's opinions in the game industry of whether or not you really want to see game engine renders of the work or not. The teachers at my school say it doesn't matter just make it look good, but I have also heard people say they want to see the models in an engine. I am most likely going to be applying for a game art position, so let me know what you think!
Replies
Yeah the turn arounds right now meet the requirements of what they want at school, (the arguement is they can be fast because they are meant for scrubbing through). Im having some issues with the quicktime plugin for those, on my laptop the scrub bar doesnt show up, but on my desktop it does, I dont know about everyone else but it might be a plugin issue. I think eventually I will embed the .mov's into a flash file with some instructions to click and drag to rotate.
Thanks for taking a look!
That wouldn't be too hard to do, all the fully textured renders are .tgas with an alpha channel so they shouldn't have any edges. The only ones that would, would be the wireframes, they are just screenshots and I thought I masked them off pretty good, I guess I missed some that you are seeing.(can you point them out specifically so I can fix them, I think the color settings on my monitor are preventing me from seeing them as well as others.) As far as the background goes, I have experimented with different things in the past and everyone keeps telling me to go back to the 128 gray to avoid any distraction, but I never though to use a gradient.
Thanks for the reply!
Here was one thing I saw right off the bat that bugged me.
And here, I just used the magic wand tool to grab the background. Obviously a quick job, but it gets the idea across.
As for the cart renders there is no need to crop out the images with the magic wand tool because I rendered them with an alpha channel that already has them perfectly masked off. It wont be hard to change the background color if I feel its needed.
And, looking through I couldn't find any others either. Only other possible thing i could think of is adding some layer effects to text and the renders, drop shadow, maybe a slight stroke. And maybe add a border around the outside of the image, kind of a 'stopper' for the image.
Other than that, I'd probably have to echo what was said above. The purpose of your portfolio is to show off your work, I'd ditch the splash screen and get right to the meat and potatoes. And Pbcrazy nailed it as well w/ that image. Your work is good quality, but there are just little details like the things he mentioned that will help increase the presentation quality a bit
About the thumbnails, I think they should be much bigger and definitely not cropped.
That saw weapon will be a pretty strong piece once it's finished, until then it just sort of gives the impression that you don't want to bother to finish it.
You should consider combining the textures with the models themselves in a more complete presentation. Maybe not textures + model in one really big/tall image, but two images one after another on the same page.
Add a Microsoft Word version of your resume along with the pdf. It probably wouldn't hurt to make a html version of your resume either.
As for the work itself it's pretty good. That said I think your laboratory "nice render" could benefit from some higher contrast lighting. Your surveillance drone could use a little more love on it's specular map as well, more contrast might help and/or the addition of some nice highlights along the edges. A gloss map to define the specular highlight size might be a good idea to help define the different metal types.
If you'd like to get your work into an engine which can produce some really great renders without too much trouble involved I recommend the Maromoset Toolbag.
Best of luck with your job search
I think the "textures" and "turnarounds" of each 3d model should go on the same page as the 3d model itself, its weird that you separate them into 3 categories. Personally I'd prefer if all of the same "project" goes into their own page (so far this only applies to the science lab and its props).
You havent put your name or your contact details on any of the work, you've only credited the source of the concept... which could be misleading to some people.
I like the style of your CV better than the style of the website
High poly saw is looking good but I agree with pbcrazy, the obvious cut-off images make it look a little sloppy
Initially I didn't even bother looking at the turnarounds, not a fan of them. I'll admit the turnaround page looks a bit fancy though with this grid-option thingy, so it did make me try clicking one just to test it and see how long it loads, and it seems like it doesnt like google chrome (or it takes longer than 1 min to do anything). Either way I don't care enough to try to get them to work
Please don't take offense, but the whole site needs some serious work. It doesn't read well, navigation is poor and leaving in the edges on what is undoubtedly your strongest piece is just plain lazy. Last minute addition or not, this just screams 'couldn't be bothered' to anyone reviewing your work. I'm guessing that the whole 'futuristic' design of the site is intended to compliment your work, but it doesn't - it looks like a Depeche Mode fansite.
Also, I don't know if you know or not (I'm guessing you probably do), but if you're going to include work that another artist has done, in this case the surveillance drone which Adam has in his portfolio, you need to at least make yours as good, if not better - my first thought was 'oh, it's that Feng Zhu drone concept, Adam's was better'. If you don't, you're not doing yourself any favors by offering the viewer any potential comparisons to a stronger piece.
I didn't even bother with the turnarounds, because not only are they completely unnecessary, but presenting an already busy Art Director or Lead with a table of options to watch a turntable animation? Crazy.
Again, please don't be offended as I'm not trying to be confrontational or insulting - you're work isn't bad, and with better presentation it could make you look a lot better. Keep it simple, and strip out all that extra fluff that's a barrier between your audience and your work.
I'm not sure I get what he means with comparing? I can't see Adam Bromell mentioned anywhere, and you credit Feng Zhu on the render as you should.
And trunaround option-table: get rid of that, make on trunaround movie per object with all 3 types in one file. Perhaps one movie with everything in it.
Yeah, maybe I wasn't clear on that one. What I meant is if people happen to know or recognize an object or scene or whatever that another artist has done, then you can't help but draw comparisons between the two if they see the same object in another artist's portfolio. If the viewer hasn't seen the other artist's interpretation, then there's no problem.
You can get rid of the turnarounds, they are kid of useless. Have your textures with the objects, just keep it simple. Your work is nice. I think the props of the lab need more love in the textures. I suggest you look at reference and incorporate some warning signs, and details that might be found in such setting. I didn't get the Adam comparison comment, I thought your bot looks nice. You can always look at Adams version for ideas on how to improve yours.
Here is a link to Adam's web page. It might get you inspired.
http://www.adambromell.com/
I'd make the thumbs bigger - even though some people think "hey if I use small thumbs people will be curious and click them!", the opposite is often true.
In the long run I would go to the length of making separate pages for the pieces where you want to show more - i.e. have everything of the cart on one page - model, texture, etc. instead of dividing it all up into a texturing, model and turnaround category on the site.
I also agree on the turnarounds - rather useless unless you want to show off a really cool shader or details that really shine when the light changes. I've seen this done a few times as animated gifs with rather low frame rate and it looked quite neat and loaded fast (compared to QT). Although you should use this sparingly - where it really adds a lot to the presentation of the piece.
The artwork itself is pretty good I think. With some more polishing and a few touch-ups it could look very nice indeed. In the end it's all about presentation and sales. Your gfx sells a game, your portfolio helps sell your art.
p.s. my personal favorite folio is Caroline Delen's. No distracting web design puts her artwork in the center of attention. Also the page is simple enough to be updated quickly. That's really all you need.
I can do things you have suggested like sizing up the thumbnails. I have still heard 50/50 about people liking the splash page or not so I don't know about that yet. I have simplified the website as much as I could, and I can at least say it is simpler now than it was before. I will look into trying to re-organize things after graduation.
As far as the saw project goes, it isn't even approved to be in my portfolio by my school, it is an model I did in my first modeling class my first year of school. And the rules are there is no class work in portfolios. I still can't let it go, and if I had the time I would re-do it. The typology isn't the best and it does look good in the render but there is so much I would do differently now. I will do better renders if I plan to show it off in my portfolio, it does look sloppy. I was hoping I could have it in at the end to show some modeling skills and it would be ok if it wasn't finished. But if it gives the impression I am too lazy to finish then I will just take it off until it is completed.
Thank you all for the compliments on my work, that is of course what I spent the most time on, as far as the Feng Zu concept being done by other people, I guess that is what I get for doing a Feng Zu. I'll have a look at the other version and see if there is anything I can do as far as improving it to be close to the same standard. Hopefully all my other concepts aren't as popular and their won't be too many others like them out there.
Just to let you all know that the Lab Environment is still WIP I got the assets done for graduating and I am still working on the scene. You can expect see updates of that in the next coming weeks.
**Edit- I had a look at Adam Bromell's portfolio and it is pretty impressive, he has inspired to me to a do few things with my models and I will continue to work on learning how to light things in a scene and present my models better, hopefully I will get a job before this, but eventually I will be working to get all my models into some sort of scene. I know that there will be many things I will learn with experience like he has and hopefully someone will give me a chance to do that.
Either way, theres a ton of good critiques in this thread for when you decide to go back and make changes
On the topic of the splash page I'd say ditch it for the "improved" site. Less pages/clicks = better.
I dont know whats the big deal of making a model that someone else has made in their portfolio, it happens everywhere especially with vehicles/guns/art tests. I wouldn't take it down just because you find someone else doing a "better" version
Its kinda surprising to see a school forbid students using school work in their portfolios
I think the main reason they don't let people use class work is because some of it isn't very good, and they want people to understand that just because you got through all the classes and passed doesn't mean you have a portfolio. I'm hoping in this case they will make an exception, since it is a nice piece.
As far as the "better" version, I have some pages I have been experimenting with made, Im going to wait until monday to see if my teacher feels the same way about the splash page and ask some more of my industry friends what they think of it, and then I'll replace out pages if I need to. I have been looking at some templates that some people have made in order to make a nice looking portfolio site, but they don't provide places for all the things I would like to show, and I have to play around with them. I also hope that I might be able to get something going in flash so it loads better and faster. This of course is all dependent on how much free time I will have after I graduate.
Thanks for your thoughts!
reduce to one page - at the moment your portfolio structure is like a dev-folder: a single place for all textures, one for all models and one for all media.
but: it should be based on the single works you've done so make one portfolio page that reads
3D-Project 1
3D-Project 2
3D-Project 3
and have subsite/menu/selection for each "show render", "show textures", "show turnarounds".
turnarounds are overdone: they are not needed for your everyday project - if you have one killer project make a video for it showing everything. reduce!
your resume reads:
made a ut3 map <- where is it?
have worked as hostess here and there <- kick it. it's not game related. you might want to name your work as staff-leader when it comes to soft-skills.
there's no picture of you on the whole page. not necessary but it can help - people should recognize you.
render quality: i've read a link in here pointing to marmoset - do it! get good polished renders and use one render per image or at least try to differ them clearly when you do a collage/sheet of multiple renders
also: try to push information on pieces not in the picture but in text next to the pictures (or use very clear readable fonts).
and: don't have me click on a 64*64px circle to open a new tab to see a plain jpg in it. use lightbox or anything IF necessary - try to incorporate everything in one page is better!
last: work on your HTML. working with hitbox maps is not cool. use clear, readable links with dedicated text or images!
Some of this stuff has already been said, but I'll answer to the things that haven't been.
My ut3 map? Well I was more of a level designer in that project, and we had some custom models but they were made by another person on my team, and then we just used ut3 models. Its only one small room, and I really didn't feel like I did much as an artist on that project, but I did benefit from it because it gave me a really good understanding of the engine, that's why I mentioned it in my resume. Do you think its something I should still put on my site even though I am going for a job as an environment artist?
You think I should put a picture of my pretty self on my site? There is a picture of me on my blog and my LinkedIn, I honestly didn't put it on the site because I just wanted people to look at the art.
Im working on figuring out the lightbox, Im not really good at this whole website thing, I only know what I have been told and everything else is kind of experimental. That goes along also with what your saying about Hitbox..? Like I said no one is teaching me what is or what isn't cool to use when making a website.
Lots of people are saying I need to organize the page by project and the more I think about it that would work pretty well, and it might actually help me make the html more simple, which is probably better due to my limited understanding. That way I could have all the information in one page.
Thanks for your comments.
The biggest problem with your site is how your work is presented. With a 2048 x2048 there should be tons of detail on your models yet they look almost like flat color. I'm not sure if it's the textures or how you rendered things out. You need to make sure the software isn't making your renders blurry. With Max you have to turn the Area filter to one since it's set to 1.5 and that blurs the render. I suggest you take a look at different artist work on here and compare yours. You need to keep it consistent. The level of detail on the carriage seems like a good starting point. I don't mean add noise every where, but there seems to be a lot of flat color on the lab pieces. Where are things like screws, weld spots rivets. With a map that size you should be able to include that in the map. Take a look at my site and compare. All my maps are either 512 x 512 or 256 x 256. There is better work to compare too though and you should. I'm just mentioning it because I think it should get the point across. Don't use my site as a standard though it's not good enough.
These a just examples of why I say your textures seem to be missing detail.
here is a texture page for the cute tank
http://apsentertainment.com/previews/cthull1.jpg
Mustang P 51 nintendo ds specs
http://apsentertainment.com/previews/p51_m04.jpg this texture is 64 x64
I suggest once you finish your work so it passes school requirements with the grades you want, you forget about that. Don't really consider using your work as is either. Look at other artists on here, they have jobs, that is what you are competing against, not the kids in your class. So rework what you have so it's better. Post it and people here will tell you what to improve.
Read this before you update your site at all, it will save you a lot of work!
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=39516
Then look at more work download what you really like to you judge where you are and compare. If you have a 2d textures page those are to show off seamless textures, and you probably want to make a small scene where they tile. But again it's not really necessary since it's better to make it for a scene and just have that as a separate environment piece altogether. In your case your have your lab, and I would put all the props and textures in one section. Have the thumbnail be of the lab.
You have nice work, just make it better.
If the web design doesn't matter, then why is it something you are all insisting I change? A lot of the critiques I get are based on a matter of taste. Some have been useful as far as the fuctionality goes, but even that can be a matter of preference. I think if you can get to the art and you can easily view it, isnt that all that matters? I dont think its hard to figure out ok, click on 3d, then click on the thumbnail, and there is the image, ok. Oh I can look at textures ok I click here, I mean there are many other websites out there people use every day that are much more complicated. A lot of people I see saying that I should use a simple design to show my art, have themselves a website with design elements I may or may not like myself. But if I can get to the art and see it I don't really see a problem with it. I understand that a lot of this may be because I asked all of you to look critically at my site, but when it comes right down to it, I just want to make sure you see my art, my information, and theres nothing keeping you from seeing what you want to see. I think no matter how I organize my site, as long as someone is thinking in their head "I want to look at her 3d art" and they can easily figure out how to do that, then my site has served its purpose. I think the layout of my site will make more sense once I get the lightbox working, and I have looked at many other websites that use lightbox and they are layed out much the same way. Now for those people who dont use lightbox I can understand how you would organize things differently.
Also I see a lot of websites that try and present the art in a very simple way, but I end up feeling like I dont have enough information, I am always left wanting to see more, that is something I do not want people viewing my site to think. I do not want to head down the path to simplicity and end up not giving potential employers enough to see. Yes I could take off the turn arounds because some of you dont like them, but then there would always be those people who would want to see them, and I would rather have more than less.
Anyways I appreciate the critiques on the website organization, and I will take them into consideration along with all the advice I had been given to begin with about how to make my site.
Please anyone that wants to critique my work some more, I would appreciate more critiques on my work and not my website. I think everything that can be said about that has been said already.
And so with that in mind, I don't really see a whole ton of point in making every effort to change things. After you get this ready for your teacher, I say just redo the damn thing and do it your way.
One thing I will note though, as it stands out a lot. Your name. Your name is really thin. It's BIG! But it's also thin. Which makes the big seem tiny, or just really spread out, and it hurts my eyes to read. Such long lines, maybe it's just that a good majority of the website is thin lines - but to have your name as well in thin lines, makes it blend into the thin lines, and my eyes make "zzztt-zt-*pop!*" noises when I look at it. Not really, but it kinda feels like that.
I'd make the name perhaps in a bit of a different font, to seperate it from the "lines".
Or I might just be blind and an idiot, one can never be too sure.
Edit:
Oh, and concerning your work, since I apparently posted this after you requested nothing more on the website.
It looks good! I do think some of the textures could use more work, such as in the laboratory scene. Looks relatively flat, not as well thought out as the surveillance bot and the cart.
Your front page is a little busy and the vertical links are cumbersome rather than functional.
Even when I visit your individual sections they are difficult to follow with your offset text and thumbnails that dont necessarily depict the work well.
Its obvious you are not a graphic designer and you are not applying for a graphic designer job so you needn't all the abstract and odd layouts and graphical treatments.
You want your website to be direct, clean and simple.
So, I didnt read everything here but I saw a trend and decided to give you my opinion.
Sure, your teacher might require a few weird things for that portfolio assignment. Well if it is required for you to pass the class, go for it.
But!!
by all means make another website, and don't let the "oh it's good enough" mentality creep on you. Sure, website work take quite some time and effort to do ... in the beginning. But after a short while you will realize that :
- your work is not your website. don't get attached to a layout just because it took time to do. You can do one in a few hours, better, easier to manage and sexier.
- simplicity is good. The more complex your site will be, the more it will be felt like a portfolio piece itself. And a portfolio is just as strong as its weakest piece. So don't let webdesign lower your gameart, somehow.
- About your "since it's not important, so why do you care?" question. Well here is the catch. If a professional reviews your portfolio, he or she will notice that you put quite some time in it, even tho it's not looking so great from a layout/design perspective. Subconsciously, one can think (I believe I do, personally) the following : "why did she spend hours on a low quality portfolio design, instead of spending that time doing sexier renders of her piece, or doing more art ?"
I know that a school system can be frustrating. Especially when teachers become a bit out of the loop. No matter what your teacher says or requires, the structure of your website plays against you at the moment (when it comes to using it for a pro job application). Heck, it even crashed my browser (VLC .mov plugin on Chrome), that's not something you want to do when an AD is browsing multiple folios at once :P What if the machine used for your school review was setup just the same way? That would be embarrassing...
Don't freak out tho, take it easy. If this one is good enough to pass the class, go for it for now, but by all means make another one soon, as simple as possible, using HTML and pictures only. If you really want videos in there, I would suggest posting links to a Vimeo upload for instance. Not a big fan of embeds or straight .mov links personally.
Also dont break up website pages by file type (renders, texture, turnaround), it makes no sense at all. If you really want to make pages, make them per-asset.
About the art itself, and the renders. Well yeah making it loog good no matter what is a good mentality I guess. But posting real, realtime stuff doesnt hurt at all!! It's not a case of do this don't do that, more like, if it adds to the understanding of the asset, then do it. Wireframe, realtime, renders ...
Just imagine yourself in a work environment. What would you show at the end of the day/before a review with your art mates on the team? Would you spend hours setting up workarounds and metalray renders? Chances are you might be better served by showing up your stuff just the way you worked on it.
Also it might be a good idea to include the concepts you worked from . This, after asking the artist behind the concept if he is fine with you working from his stuff. Imagine you make something based on a Zhu concept, itself based on a specific IP. Well the owners of that IP migh ask you to remove your 3D altogether. Keep the real workd in mind, I'd say :P
Good luck, don't give up!
Dayum, the result is nice and crispy! Never messed with that scanline setting before except when changing to Mitchel-Netravali for some sharper rtt's. Gonna have to redo all my renders now haha, thanks for the info
Hi Patricia, your work is very nice, the models and textures are clean, there's nothing to fault. The site design is neat and clean too but I do agree that the thumbnails are too small in any context.
Crits;
There's nothing wrong with large texture sizes helping to show off 2d skills but it seems that having too many unique uv's are making this necessary.
Don't be afraid to mirror sides, repetetive things (as much as you can) you will thank yourself in the end.
Overall your strongest piece is between the Old Cart and the Satellite Command Module, it would be the latter if there were a few scratches/dirt in there. It has major potential.
The weakest one is the Drone which lacks in contrast and some detail, although I can't fully comapare it to Adams because the theme is different, his being underwater and yours not.
The site;
You mentioned personal preference, well, everything is personal preference, some people like extravagance when it comes to site design, some people like simplicity... YET... the target audience is not a thrill seeker but a professional who wants the least amount of distraction from your work for the purposes of evaluation.
On the other hand if doing other than what the school wants, meaning that you may lose a qualification in the process, just appease them, you can always change the design later
ps: I love the wooden cart, the quilt on the back looks great, nice job!
here is my rushed reel that needs tweeking.
http://apsentertainment.com/reel/aperezReel.mpeg
By the way most students that get out of school did something similar to what you did except it looks really, really bad. You just need to stream line your site's navigation a little bit and make larger thumbnails. Most people have to start from scratch when they finish school if they want a chance.
Keep at it.
Does everyone agree that this is more appropriate? I don't think it gets much simpler than this. After you click on the thumbnail it would go to a page containing all the info about that piece renders/highpoly/wires/textures/turnarounds and all that.
The font makes it not completely boring, you have to give me something, and dont say you cant f*ing read it.
Yup it looks promising :P
My only crit on that new layout is that, it looks a little bit as if it was built for 5 pieces alone. But I can understand that you might not have a lot to show yet. Maybe some anatomy studies, and so on? Especially since the folio is here to sell you as an artist, I feel like there should be more content on it, and not necessarily from school.
And yeah it could gt even more simple hehe. It's not necessary, but it's very possible :P Check this out :
http://mv.cgcommunity.com/
Just an example!
Good luck for the final jury presentation!
Ok, well Im not going that far....that's just ridiculous...
This design is very scalable, many more rows of thumbs can be added when there are pieces to be put in them, and I dont plan to stop working any time soon so no worries.
As far as your new proposed site goes, I think it works 10x better than the current one. Bare in mind that your website design and style is just like any other sort of artistic "flair" out there, and when it comes to style and design you are going to get a lot of input and ideas that vary from person to person.
The one constant though - is ease and clarity of the site and content. Many of the people on this board are the types who weed through portfolios and are giving you suggestions based on whether they would give you a second glance, which 99% of portfolios barely get, unless to be mocked and ridiculed by the people sitting closest to us.
Sage is very correct with regards to complexity and the amount of time that gets spent sifting through websites. A company posts up a listing for a job, they get 30 responses, the Art Lead gets all of about 15 seconds to make a mental note to come back and look at this one later. Or, it goes through some random jerk (like, me for example) who picks out the top 5 or so from the pile and THEN goes to the Lead to figure out who is good enough to take a test or come in for interview.
My only final crit is that I too would consider making the thumbnails just a tad bigger (50% or so) and go from there. Otherwise it's looking good.
Anyways, again : best luck for your review 'Tricia!
Pior, just gotta say thanks for that link. As a 2D artist, it's always great to find new sources of inspiration. I'd seen some of those before, but it's great to have the site for bookmarking!
To the OP: The new design looks good. My recommendation, as has been said - do whatever you have to for your grade, but afterwards if you want to go with the new design or something else, feel free to scrap the one you've got for school. Nothing wrong with creating more, and it looks real slick.
If this wasn't the case, then we wouldn't be having this argument, and we would all be here patting her on the back with her original design
And like I said - "Looking for work". It would be a bad idea to just throw a hodge podge mix of 3d, concept, environments, props, characters, etc. into a single scatter-brained mess like that if a studio were looking for a 3d vehicle artist. That website as an example would give you no sense of direction or focus.
That portfolio breaks a crap-ton of the "rules" for someone who would be applying for a job that many of us push everyone who comes here to fix. Again, the art is fan-fucking-tastic and if you were looking for concept there would be few who could beat the quality. But there is a line between "simple" and "functional".
Doing a portfolio like that when looking for work could be a gamble for someone lesser skilled.
Not necessarily mate. It's ridiculously simple, true enough. But it breaks no rules and really exemplifies the very definition of "functional".
On one page, without having to search or comprehend any type of unique system, I have the guy's name, a method of contacting him, his speciality, and a shit ton of proof to back the claim. All images open in a new simple window, basic HTML, and it never leaves me searching for anything I need to find as I attempt to navigate the overly complex or irrelevant linkage and content. I don't know where you're getting the "hodge podge" mix of content. 99% of the work is conceptual, 2D artwork. Which, as fate would have it, fits very directly with the "Concept Design" title he's given himself.
Any employer looking at his page, instantly has - effortlessly, everything representative of the guy and his work. His name, how to get in touch with him, what he specializes in, and most importantly - his work.
How this breaks any rules, is beyond me. You say that this is directly opposite of the point of this thread. I say the link represents (in a very extreme manner, this is true) a good majority of the advices given. Hence...why it was posted.
I considered saying I couldn't read it, but that would just be mean. :P
I think they're right as far as navigation goes. If I was reviewing a website to hire I'd definitely want to spend as little time navigating as possible. That looks pretty clean and gets them where they need to be fast. As a last touch add some contact info on the same page.
Just a real quick question just so I know, the people who want me to make the thumbs bigger, you are looking at the image full size right? Cuz I thought they were pretty big already, I dont want people to have to side scroll.
Thanks for pointing that out, right now the requirements were 360 degress, 30 frames, (the arguement being they are for scrubbing) after graduation, I will either render them slower, or embed them in flash or something with instructions to click and drag to scrub.
your modeling work is stellar but your texturing could use some edge highlighting. right now i'm looking at the chest sitting on the cart and it could really use some edge love (especially on the metal bands.)
Oh, and small nitpicks on the new thumbs - even full size, if that's all the art you have on the front page they could be bigger - even smaller nitpick - a lot of the thumbs have a grey background, but all of them are different values.
great stuff, best of luck with the review!