Jason Lavoie | Environment Artist (New Portfolio Site)
polycounter lvl 18
Hey all 
So to kick this thread off I just wanted to say that starting Monday I'll be working for Unknown Worlds as a contract Environment Artist, working on Natural Selection 2. Big thanks to Matt (Ooghijmiqtxxa) Regan for letting the guys know about me at Unknown Worlds (very friendly / talented bunch of people). The contract itself is for a month (to start out with) and hopefully if I do well, there will be options to continue, but i do think it is just as important for me to have my portfolio site up to date for any chances at an in-studio gig
TAA DAAA!
www.JasonLavoie.net
So that is the newly updated site with some "newer" work on it, as well as some touched up pieces + some stuff that I haven't pimped yet. I currently have some wips up there as well (the demon throne project) which I would like to finalize sooner then later.
So I'd like to know what you talented bunch of polycounters think, any crits on my work / site accessibility / design is muchly appreciated... and if anyone knows of companies who are looking for a more junior Environment Artist, please let me know
I'm really pumped for what the future holds, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for this awesome sauce community that continuously inspires me and pushes me to become a better artist!
Hugs and kisses!
I think it's time for some sleep now
So to kick this thread off I just wanted to say that starting Monday I'll be working for Unknown Worlds as a contract Environment Artist, working on Natural Selection 2. Big thanks to Matt (Ooghijmiqtxxa) Regan for letting the guys know about me at Unknown Worlds (very friendly / talented bunch of people). The contract itself is for a month (to start out with) and hopefully if I do well, there will be options to continue, but i do think it is just as important for me to have my portfolio site up to date for any chances at an in-studio gig
TAA DAAA!
www.JasonLavoie.net
So that is the newly updated site with some "newer" work on it, as well as some touched up pieces + some stuff that I haven't pimped yet. I currently have some wips up there as well (the demon throne project) which I would like to finalize sooner then later.
So I'd like to know what you talented bunch of polycounters think, any crits on my work / site accessibility / design is muchly appreciated... and if anyone knows of companies who are looking for a more junior Environment Artist, please let me know
I'm really pumped for what the future holds, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for this awesome sauce community that continuously inspires me and pushes me to become a better artist!
Hugs and kisses!
I think it's time for some sleep now
Replies
Congrats, good luck on getting a full time gig.
My guess is that lots of people are going to say they hate the pop up window things with the arrows, I'm not a big fan of them either, I'd prefer a page with all the images in each set that you can just scroll down and look at them all.
and I think so too, g'night!
Good luck on your job hunt.
I think you should make the website background for your site the same shade of gray. That white background is annoying.
I think you should render your building in the various building section with the same background as your ally scene building.
I am also not a big fan of the window box thing, so much clicking to do and if i wanted to look at an environment as a whole quickly i couldnt.
I am also a big fan of construction sheets including wireframes, flats, texture sizes and tricounts. I know you show a few wires for the buildings and a few flats but only 1 thing with a tri count, the sci fi scene had no wire break downs and no textures sizes.
Anyway great work as always and have fun at Unknown World!
By the sounds of some of the comments, it seems you may have already made changes to the site.
That aside - the new look is great. It's simple and your content pops off the page. Don't sweat the site design, you're not looking for web work
I actually don't mind lightbox for the images. If anything, the dimming effect around the image adds a touch of contrast to the whole making it look quite sharp.
High poly stuff looks great.
I second Autocon - I'd like some flats and wires.
Oh yea - the autoshop re-lit w/ Lightmass looks great. Good job man. And congrats on the contract gig.
-Tyler
haha no dude it looks great like I told you the other night.
I do suggest this though.
in your technical break down when you are showing off your models in editor and such, If you did any sort of complex shaders at all , I highly suggest showing after your model /texture break down a screen of your shader break down.
If you didnt do anything complex asside from a multiply here or a lerp there, then ignore this completely
Your work is solid and your presentation is good, and your focus and skills are very clear. I just hope whatever company you apply for has a place for someone as awesome as you.
Remember not to hump the bosses leg your 1st week
I'd be tempted to replace the high poly thumb with the pistol instead, just feel it's a stronger and more interesting piece to look at for a thumbnail
lol. See you made a website change, still like it
good work man ! and congrats !
As for the work itself, for the lone building I don't really dig the "Auto Repair" text, seems rather out of place and doesn't pop out a lot.
As for the rest, great colors and interesting composition, if you want to shine it off, try laying over the shade/wires on the images or do a mouse over.
Best of luck.
Edit: I'd also love higher resolution shots of your work. I run @ 1920x1200 and for me, I like to get shots at or near that resolution to see as much detail as possible.
RE: Lightbox hate; Lots of negativity from HR & hiring peeps for it. I, mistakenly thought you couldn't right-click to save as, or also r-click save target as, but it appears you can. SO! My justification for that criticism is greatly diminished!
I think you should put some of your older work on the site or post up the older work for us to choose what should go on your site. Because a lot of employers will see that you have great art but would be interested in seeing more.
On the site, I really don't like the Next arrows. It's hard to see/notice at first and the lag after clicking on it may make some people think that there are only 2 images. Otherwise it's nice.
Good luck!
Awesome update, always like seeing your work. Your site has a nice clean design that's simple and has easy access to the goods. You know, I really don't see what the hate on for Lightbox is. I like it, it's easy to update, gets the job done, etc. There might be a little bit of lag, but I think it's easily something you can look past..
So the biggest thing i've taken away from this is... a) people seem to be split on lightbox... for now I'm going to keep it though and b) ... MORE CONSTRUCTION SHOTS!
Ok so, I will defiantly put up more construction shots + breaking down what I used for the project.
Remi - I want to do a couple of "technical" shots or even small videos showing some of the particle effects / material effects I made for the Demon Throne scene, but I'm always hesitant because I usually throw shit together, so it may not be the most efficient way of doing things.
ScoobyDoofus - I'm actually going to put up "more" work in a Misc section, that just has either props or some sketches in it, I really need to get that stuff up quick, but it may take a couple days to round up everything.
As for the higher res screens, although I HAVE higher res screens, most people are still in the 1280 x 720 age of screen resolutions, and I rather not have them do a lot of scrolling just to see part of the image. Most images have a width of 1000 pixels, I figure that would be enough.
One thing I have noticed about lightbox, when the arrows load (the images) you can't right click and save the screenshot, because it splits the images in half and acts like a link... is there anyway I can chance the distance of the link box? (if that makes sense) because before everything loads, you can right click and save image...
Thanks everyone again, I'll put those crits into full force this week, and hopefully have a more informative portfolio.
I wonder why you removed that snow themed level, I thought it looked kickass and very atmospheric!
As for the site itself I'd get rid of lightbox, it's quite annoying (it's nearly impossible to save images with lightbox). Just create a separate page for each section. Don't forget to include more technical information, such as texture resolutions, breakdowns etc...
Grats on the job!
And on that note, more breakdowns
Your work is awesome. And I think anyone would be able to tell you're talented and more importantly competent.
One last thing, not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but you need your CONTACT INFO! Somewhere very apparent on the front page.
Grats on the work btw, hope you find something permanent soon!
open sites in tabs, look at pictures (if they're fullblown already) and enjoy the artsy stuff
if not fullblown and there are thumbnails, it goes like that:
open sites in tabs, look at thumbnails, and clicktabclicktabclicktabclickclickclickclickclickclickclick on everything that looks interesting and enjoy
lightbox sites i tend to close much easier which kinda makes me feel bad to not take my time, but it just annoys me, being forced by the portfoliocreator to view the images in a certain way. and it's just slow as hell.
it's like some extra decision detection interconnection the lightswitch at my home, asking me if i'd like the shutter to opened instead, cause it gives light also, when it should be clear that i want the lights to be on or/off - and that's the best metaphor i could come up with after staring at the screen for 5 minutes
to cut a long story short. in every single post about recruiters these industry people say, how they don't have much time and want the content delivered at once and not wanting to browse and wait, so i don't see a single reason why people should use lightbox on their site. maybe it's easier for them to set it up - but only from a userbrowsing side it's a huge letdown - period.
and to be really honest. while browsing your portfolio i looked at seforins, victorcortis and autocons sites (all of these guys posted in your thread) and captured all of their content in a minute, while i couldn't do that with your site, which, imo, is a shame
i mean in the end it's a competition and i don't think that this thinking differs much in the world of recruiters. when you have so and so many guys of the same skillset but can't look at the art fast enough, i'd go for the ones that displays work as fast as possible and dismiss your site because of that reason.
i'm sorry, you just been blablablaed, by me. got my period of monthly polycount posting
A few ideas on the site though
- Portfolio Button simply returns you the homepage. Which could be pretty confusing when pressed from the homepage. Seems like nothing's happening until you figure this out.%|
I suggetst you make a single button that stand for "Resume" on the homepage. And for the "Portfolio" on you resume page;
- Some Images feel really small at the moment. And really left me desiring for bigger ones. It obviously is better for a clearer evaluation of your work;
Cheers!=)
good luck with the contract gig man
Congrats on getting a new contract job
Acumen - That was pretty in-depth, so thank you for that. I will be removing Lightbox and going to a more traditional way of displaying the images. Overall I think you nailed it, currently my lightbox setup is slow, now I can change the speed of it... but I think by having the images all laid out (for each piece) that'll have a better impact (more efficient).
d1ver - I think by removing light box I can now add links to higher res images without looking weird, I will keep the default images for viewing on the site (so the width's are all the same, looks cleaner in my opinion) but provide links to images that have higher res (more so the presentation shots).
Hopefully I can get this all sorted out by the end of the week, thanks again for all the help!
The site is top notch, but i do agree with everyone's comments and Im sure your already making changes as i speak so no crits from me.
all the best buddy!
Cheers,
Arman
shame you spelled Refinery wrong.
Also, according to lightbox, the refinery is "These are some High Poly pieces from various Projects. Most start in 3D max then go to Zbrush."
WORD
http://www.jasonlavoie.net/
yeah i definitely agree....youve grown so much as an artist. excellent. you make me pollute my pants
nah... what i really like about your attitude is how you listen to peoples advice and take everything into consideration in order to accomplish your ultimate goal. im sure, it won't take long, till you finally get what you deserve !
i especially like your high poly assets - the more cartoony stuff in the middle. shows a great touch of your skill diversity.
and finally i can browse and tab through your site and get all the art and info i need. great improvements !
i'd darken the light grey background a bit. just a tiny tiny bit. contast is juuuuuust a tad too high, for my taste
This is how all folios should be - big, simply coded, easy to nagivate and chock full of high res, high quality art with a minimum of clicking and fancy nonsense.
Would be nice to see more of a breakdown of the Demon Throne piece, though
I still haven't forgotten about the video idea for the Demon Throne piece, I would really like to do a quick recording just going through and breaking stuff down...
One day... soonish.
And once again (3rd I am posting here) to tell you that your works great!!