Building an Environment Artist portfolio
I have been working for months on my 3D portfolio with an emphasis on getting a junior level job as an Environment Artist. I believe I'm getting close to it's completion but have some questions about the direction which I'm going with it in terms of content. I'm not showing images for critique yet, that will come later in a different post. For now I could use some good advice on the following:
1. I have been strictly creating buildings of all types, styles, and ages from urban to rural to industrial. I believe my strength, interest, and knowledge is in architecture so that is where I have been spending the most effort. Should I deviate from this and start creating other assets like vehicles and weapons for the sake of variety? Or should I stick to my strengths and not worry if my portfolio is limited to architecture?
2. Do weapons and vehicles even fall under the Environment category?
Your opinions would help. Thanks
1. I have been strictly creating buildings of all types, styles, and ages from urban to rural to industrial. I believe my strength, interest, and knowledge is in architecture so that is where I have been spending the most effort. Should I deviate from this and start creating other assets like vehicles and weapons for the sake of variety? Or should I stick to my strengths and not worry if my portfolio is limited to architecture?
2. Do weapons and vehicles even fall under the Environment category?
Your opinions would help. Thanks
Replies
But it's different for every company you apply for. If the company that's hiring at the time needs someone to make buildings, then yes, obviously focusing on that would have seemed a great descision, it's a roll of the bones. In the end you need to be really good at SOMETHING to stand out, the more things you're really good at the better, but one's all you need. It's up to you to decide how much you want to branch out, but don't branch out if your goal is to be just decent at something, it'll weaken your portfolio.
Sometimes all it takes is 1 completely amazing piece to get you a job if that piece falls 100% in line with what a company's looking for. When critiquing a portfolio often times it's not your best piece that'll land the gig, but your worst piece that disqualifies you, keep this in mind. Too often artists focus on quantity over quality. It's hard to throw away work you spend weeks on, you think it's waste, but that work shows through in your strongest pieces.
Hope that helps, not on the inside yet but i've heard this stuff echoed many times by pros and in failed applications
Edit: sorry for the potential confusion, by "piece" i mean scene, not indivual asset.
When looking at Artists work who obviously have alot of knowledge and passion for cars/vehicles, the skill and realism really stands out.
I guess my goal is not to be a jack of all trades-master of nothing type.
Sounds like it would be a good idea to have a page in the portfolio showing a few props i.e lightpole, chair, oil drum etc.
I figured it may depend on the studio, but do most environment art tests require you to model a complete scene or just an asset?
I'd go with sage's advice and work on Full (mini) environment / set pieces, I find that you nail all aspects in 1 go, instead of modeling "just" a trash can... or something like that.
I'm sure some true environment artists can probably lead you in a more solid direction, but yar, just chiming in :P
Good luck!
props are a small slice of what an environment artist does, things like composition, the overall color palette and lighting of a scene are just as important if not more so as simple props tend to get outsourced.
In terms of environments, find a concept that speaks to you and is also unique. look at how many people's portfolios have alleys and warehouses in them, or dumpsters and and broken jersey barriers. no offense to anyone, cause ive seen some awesome ones, especially around here, but something more unique will stand out and be more memorable to possible employers.
and most importantly, look at some top tier games and comapre your work to it, if its not looking up to snuff, look for things in others art yours might be missing and apply it to your own work. observation and application of not only other's art but the world around you will greatly improve your own artwork. and always ALWAYS use as much reference as possible, your mind likes to trick you, that was some resounding advice I got from syd mead, and i think its safe to say that dude knows his shit haha.
good luck on the folio man, cant wait to see what you churn out!
edit: its also good to target a specific style if you are interested in working somewhere specific, ex: something along the lines of halo for bungie, uncharted for ND or WoW for blizzard etc.
I think a whole scene is a good path to take,environments as a whole dont consist of one element. You need to make the whole environment work as a whole,the art work needs to be consistant in color as well as style.
Also have you worked with creating modular assets? Being able to show you are able to work within technical requirements would be a big plus.
I agree with trying to stay away from doing cliche, cookie cutter environment work. So far I think my project choices are pretty unique. Hopefully I can get some stuff posted on here before the end of the month. Your 100% correct about Syd Meyer.
I've been creating my buildings with modular pieces. I've also found how useful instancing has been. It has been a time saver. Is it entirely necessary when modeling a building to have the mesh solid with all verts welded together? I've been making some of my trim pieces and walls seperate geometry to save on polys. I make sure there are no gaps and that everything is flush together.
It depends,in unreal it can be quite useful because for one it cuts down on polys and two the pieces can be reused to create new buildings and structures wit hthe pieces.