Character Artist Demo Reel - 2009
Hello,
This is my first post, and my first demo reel. I know that it needs alot of work and want to make a new demo reel with new assets.
I'd love any advice and critiques. I just graduated from Full Sail in December and am now trying to find a job.
Thanks for everything
http://vimeo.com/9915745
PS. I already know that the video quality isn't the best >.<
This is my first post, and my first demo reel. I know that it needs alot of work and want to make a new demo reel with new assets.
I'd love any advice and critiques. I just graduated from Full Sail in December and am now trying to find a job.
Thanks for everything
http://vimeo.com/9915745
PS. I already know that the video quality isn't the best >.<
Replies
The other two characters look alright but the textures could use a bit of sharpening/more contrast as they look a little blurry (could just be the video quality). I'm also not sure how much you benefit from having that gameplay footage in the reel but that's up to you.
Pros. Love the pedestal on the first one and I really like the wireframe transitions. The camera on the cowgirl is pretty awesome and goes perfectly with the pose shes in.
Your last character is definitely your weakest. The pose seems weird because it looks like you didn't consider the gun design as much. The rear arm should be pivoted up from the shoulder so that her hand doesn't look like it's holding as delicately. Imagine if you were holding one. You would want your hand to line up with your arm to help absorb the recoil. It also looks like she would get kicked in the face by her gun every time she took a shot. Her cheek should be against the side of the gun, not against the end (don't know my gun parts). The end should be resting against her shoulder, again for absorbing recoil.
Areas too improve in my opinion would be materials/shaders. Texture's sure, but don't forget material properties. It is just as important. I'd try pusing your lighting a bit further, play around with coloring lights as well.
Oh, and whats up with colors on that last gameplay video? It's like the color range is clamped at grey or something. Gameplay looks quite nice. I like those big tentacles in the far distance. Some skybox or color ramp for the sky?
Good luck with your reel.
Well, I'm sorry to say I think you are going about this wrong.
First off, demo reels are generally a bad idea. It's actually much better to simply have high res images of your characters with breakdowns like polycounts, software used and texture sheets.
There are many problems with demo reels such as having long loading times, lower resolution than images, and compatibility pitfalls.
Overall, demo reels for modelers isn't something that works well. The only time I would really recommend them is if you are an animator.
If you simply must have a demo reel, then again, you are sort of going about it wrong.
Potential employers have to look threw tons of portfolio sites, and the slightest inconvenience is enough to make them throw yours aside and move to the next portfolio.
So when it comes to portfolio sites, and demo reels the most important thing you can do is quickly relay information to the viewer with no fluff. The camera spinning back and forth, reversing, and slowly panning is way too slow to get us the big picture. Your demo reel lasts over 2 minutes, but I feel like there is really 1 minute worth of content there at best. It might not seem like that big of a deal to you, but trust me, to employers it is a major headache, and you want to avoid upsetting them for sure!
As kodde said, textures are your biggest downfall art wise. You will need to work on them more until you get up to a level where you will land a job. Are you bakeing your normals off a high poly model?
I'm sorry if any of this sounds harsh, but it is the reality of the game industry I am afraid. It's just super competitive now so you will have to up your skills quite a bit still.
If it's any consolation, I have been trying to get a studio job for over 2 years now since I graduated. But if you keep working hard you will get there! Good luck!
NOW! if you want a job in with a studio some day.... trying to become a character designer is a tough one. That is a very competitive area that I would tell most to stay away from. Unless your already creating next gen looking characters that will be in the next big game... as of right now to be honest and to help you out, I say focus on modeling props and making them look great! game studios are always in need of prop creators.... I say when you get a job with that, then you can practice at your character design on the side. Starting off in the industry most have to start off as a grunt at the bottom doing the more simple things at first. Heck, they might not even have you modeling anything off the bat yet. Might be laying out UV's or something. The point is, whatever it is they have you start off with, its a start, its apart of the team and its doing what you love doing best.
The character design stuff always seems so cool to do! I had to beat that out of my brain, so now I am working on creating some great looking high poly model objects that have great looking shapes and are unique looking. Then from there will go back creating the low poly, normal map, texture them and present them really nice. Then when you get a job with a game studio, you can learn the techniques and tricks from all those bad ass lead character artist.... even most of them started somewhere low in the industry working their way up.
This of course are my thoughts on all this... and things that I have listened to from people in the industry that are trying to help me get there to.
This is image from my site which is linked off a thumbnail, i actually need to go back and fix it up to show a larger wireframe image but i just wanted to give an example of what i meant.
Also i was surprised when i saw "normal map" on some of your characters, since i actually couldn't see any sign of a normal map on the characters themselves
Everything that has been said is true, the game industry is a ridiculously hard industry to get into atm, i've been looking for full time work for over a year and a half and barely got any work.. a few trickles of freelance work and the rest is part time completely unrelated jobs in my own time.
But it's like anything, keep plugging away and honing you skills. Eventually something will open up and then you pounce.
You absolutely must have high-res still images showing off your work, only a few places will ask for a demo reel. It's a nice thing to have but not necessary for 90% of game studios (film is different).
That said, if you do show a demo reel you need to change quite a bit.
First and foremost your reel is way too long for the amount of work you have to show. Most recruiters I've talked to suggest the following format.
1. Opening Frame with your name, contact info and "character modeler".
2. Quick turntables of your models, no lingering shots, weird pans, or artsy camera angles. Instead it should follow a progression similar to this.
- Show concept art if you have it
- 6 second turntable of wireframe
- 6 second turntable of grayscale with normals (very optional depending on the model)
- 6 second turntable of beauty shot (if for a game company do it in an Engine/realtime)
- Quick Pan of UV layout and texture sheets (game companies)
- Next model.
3. Start with your strongest piece, don't show anything that isn't your best work.
4. In general you shouldn't spend more than 20 seconds on one thing unless it really deserves it.
5. End with your info again.
I would specifically do the above. In addition to having still images like Raider suggested on your website.
Cut the gameplay stuff at the end, it isn't up to par with your other stuff, unless you can dramatically improve the quality and footage.
As far as your actual work goes, it looks like you have some really solid modeling skills and know what your doing. However with that said, you really need a male character on your reel that shows off your knowledge of anatomy and muscle. Your texturing also left something to be desired for.
I hope this doesn't come across as harsh. I see potential here, but realize that a lot of these people here like Raider, and Brad are your competition for a job and your skills need to reflect that. Luckily polycount is a great place to learn and get critiques for this sort of thing, even from your competition! It's a great community that wants to help each other succeed.
Keep at it and dedicate yourself and you'll find success. Your work is actually quite good for a recent grad compared to most of what I've seen.
Just a note: I'm not in the industry yet either, so take this all with a grain of salt
As for your work, it's pretty solid, but I recommend taking a look at the work of high profile game artists and seeing what you can do to get as close to that as possible. Your weakest area, as others said, is probably your texturing, and that's going to be a pretty important thing for almost any art position. Second, I would try to get more details and form out of your high resolution models because the normal maps aren't adding a whole lot at the moment.
I think you've shown that you have a decent foundation to build on, but perhaps the criticism that I'd most like to communicate is that I feel your characters are lacking the sense of "are these characters I would see in a real game?" It's important to demonstrate that you can fit in with genres and art styles that are common in games today. After all, you probably won't find yourself designing your own characters once you start working (at least, not right away). There's no reason to limit your work by only using your own designs if you could possibly create a more interesting model by using someone else's concept. This isn't to say that your characters are bad designs, but are they designs that most game companies want to see?
Good luck with everything!
I know I have alot of room for improvement, and I'm going to prove that I can do it now