Hand-painted demo reel

Isaiah Sherman

Well, in a way . All the 3D work has hand-painted textures. This is my reel that I prepared for GDC this year. It's a bit late for me to make MAJOR changes, but please offer any feedback you feel necessary so I know for future reference.

I will be able to make some tweaks before I start burning DVDs. I know it's very late notice, but I plan on burning the DVDs on Saturday.

Thank you!

http://www.vimeo.com/9906347

Mazvix

Hey dude,

take out the goblin, it is your weakest piece. Also since you are specializing in Environment Art add more time when showing off those textures, I feel you rushed that and few more seconds on the wire frame wouldn't hurt.
EDIT: More time on the first environment since it is your only environment...

That being said for your concepts add the Character and his mount at the beginning, then followed by the model line up. Then your masked face followed by the self-portrait?

I hope this helped, good luck in GDC!

Spug

Mazvix wrote: »

Hey dude,

take out the goblin, it is your weakest piece. Also since you are specializing in Environment Art add more time when showing off those textures, I feel you rushed that and few more seconds on the wire frame wouldn't hurt.
EDIT: More time on the first environment since it is your only environment...

That being said for your concepts add the Character and his mount at the beginning, then followed by the model line up. Then your masked face followed by the self-portrait?

I hope this helped, good luck in GDC!

I agree. I think you need to take out the goblin unless you hand paint the whole thing, and in the same style as your swords and whatnot. It just doesn't look as polished as the other stuff. I like the color variations in it, now looking at it, the shield is no on the same level as your other stuff. Also, I almost muted your music when looking at it, but I ended up listening to it anyway. This music was distracting (IMO), may I make a suggestion?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LeB8_by65A[/ame]

A little softer and easier to listen to. Great swords man! I dig them a while lot.

PLyczkowski

I liked the music, the goblin, and the whole reel. Good work.

Isaiah Sherman

Spug: The entire goblin is 100% hand painted. What specifically makes it feel like it's the weakest project? I think I may have to show off the goblin in another engine, or even in the Max viewport. MoP suggested that a lot of the work gets lost in the shadows in Marmoset.

If anything I will redo it in Marmoset so that it better shows the texture.

As for the music, I've had a lot of people say they liked it, but I do agree it can be a little distracting. I believe if I export it with it being a lot quieter it will alleviate the distractive element.

Mazvix: What in particular makes you feel the concept art needs to be reordered?

Thanks for the critiques so far! Hoping to get a couple more peoples' input before I dive in and redo parts of this before completely finalizing and burning it to DVDs.

mikezoo

Looking good Iaiasi!
I cant quite make up in my mind if I do or don't like the goblin. Well, let me say this. I Do like the Goblin.
But, perhaps why Spug said to get rid of it is because you only textured it? In my mind that's the only reason why I wouldn't like the asset. But really, I dont think thats a big deal at all. You're showing off is your texturing skills on that model. And it looks great! good reel dude, i gotta start cracking on mine.:thumbup:

soulstice

Great reel, I disagree about the Goblin, I think its your strongest texture work. Keep up the good work! I think the only reason why it doesn't look hand painted is because of the custom brushes you might have used.

Spug

mikezoo wrote: »

Looking good Iaiasi!
I cant quite make up in my mind if I do or don't like the goblin. Well, let me say this. I Do like the Goblin.
But, perhaps why Spug said to get rid of it is because you only textured it? In my mind that's the only reason why I wouldn't like the asset. But really, I dont think thats a big deal at all. You're showing off is your texturing skills on that model. And it looks great! good reel dude, i gotta start cracking on mine.:thumbup:

No, it has nothing to do with the fact that he didn't model him, it is just that it's not as polished as his other work. I really like the texture, I just think he could have polished the asset a little more. For instance, the swords have nice spec maps/shaders/glow maps. I just want a little more polish (I might be acting very picky.)

Yeah, I do like the music, I have been listening to it at work while I paint, and it has grown on me. If you turn it down, it might do the trick. (Most employers won't listen to the music anyway.)

moose

You should show more of that first environment in 3d, it felt like it came & went w/o getting to fully appreciate it! It looks great.

Isaiah Sherman

Regarding the Goblin: I see what you're all saying, especially now that you're more specific Spug. I think it may be I'm losing a lot of the texture work in Marmoset when I presented it, so I'm going to bring him back in and readjust the post settings.

Regarding the music: I've quieted it down a bit. I hope that makes the music fit a bit better.

First pass (what you all see / hear in this pass) brings the music up to full volume, but I dropped it down to -25.00db (I don't know audio terms) as the loudest point, so it's not as invasive now.

The first environment: I'm lengthening some of the parts related to the environment to make it take up about 4 more seconds total.

I will post a link after I get a few more crits and continue on my editing.

Thanks again everyone, this is all invaluable!

Mazvix

You always want to show your best work first, in whatever category you put it in. It felt a bit random that you had the model sheet first, doesn't really tell me much- but the character on the other hand implies you know how to design a character...it is just a lot better for the transition, from 3d to concept.

Always put the best work first and last so when they are done watching your reel you would have left a positive impression on them.

Isaiah Sherman

So is this your suggested order:

Character with mount #1
Character with mount #2
Model sheet
Model sheet
Steampunk Mask
Insect armor
Self portrait

?

Mazvix

Switch the steam punk mask with the insect armor, you know...keep the "portrait" like paintings together. Then you sir are golden!

Good Luck!

Sage

Nice work. I would of liked to see more of your environment though.

3DRyan

I don't really think the goblin is a "weak" piece, but I agree that it shouldn't be in an environmental reel.

Isaiah Sherman

Alright, here is the updated version:

http://www.vimeo.com/9906347 (it's the same URL as the old one, I just replaced the video file)

moose

cool, got to appreciate a little more of it there I guess what i meant, and i should have clarified earlier, was I'd like to see a subtle rotation of the camera, like you were walking around in the environment, or doing a quick orbit. It is a striking start to the reel though!

Avanthera

If you are looking for an environment role, then I think you should have at least 2 more environmental scenes to offset all of the character/concept work.

Isaiah Sherman

I've still got time before I graduate, so I will definitely be doing more environment work.

Autocon

Loved the concepts of the weapons. As soon as I saw them I though oh those are bad ass I would love to see them modeled. And then you had 2 done which was awesome! Would love to see the full set though but thats just me.

But the lighting on the renders of the weapons it was too dark, I couldnt see much of the detail for most of the spin, I would brighten it up a bit more, and if there handpainted no normals then you wont have to work about losing your normal maps by blowing them out a little.

vcortis

I actually think Haiasi did all the swords, I remember seeing the thread a while back... at least I think he did.

achillesian

will devs thumbing through portfolios get confused when they see the same goblin in 50 or so portfolios?

Spug

No, it will only increase Mop's awesomeness lolz.

Disco Stu

Or will they be relieved to finally see something else than a splash damage harbor scene?

Isaiah Sherman

Autocon: Thanks for the advice. I thought the same thing but no one else was mentioning it, so I thought it may have just been me.

vcortis is correct . If you'd like to see all the swords, visit this link here:
http://www.shermancg.com/_swords.html


I do credit MoP in his goblin work, so maybe that will get some people looking at his website! I have a shit ton of give aways for GDC, and some of them include his goblin that has a link to his website on the card.


We're having troubles burning the first DVD, don't need this stress right now

Isaiah Sherman

Okay, the swords are updated.

Does the video seem updated to you? I refreshed the page and it jumped to and older version, then refreshed again and it shows my most recent version....

For those that have seen it before:
Are shadows removed on goblin?
Music quieter?
Swords marginally brighter?

If yes to all, then it's the most recent version.

Autocon

Oh sweet, I don't know how I could have missed that thread, they look great. Very nice progression of improvement from sword to sword. Looks like they really are being upgraded each time.

I wouldn't stress to much about the DVD, more about your print folio/business cards/tear out sheets (which I only gave away like 5 at Austin but Austin was lame). Never did the DVD thing myself. Just make sure you can explain your art well and it looks great in print, IE dont do a shitty job at Kinkos the day of GDC ( both times ).

Isaiah Sherman

Yeah, I've spent about $350 on materials so far. Demo reels, DVD cover sleeves. resume inserts, business cards, flat-packet print outs, and give away cards.

Definitely spent the extra buck for all my stuff for GDC. I'm taking this conference seriously so I feel the money spent is money possibly earned back if I can get some good connections with new friends in the industry!

Hope I can see a lot of you next week. would really like to meet a lot of you in person !