Portfolio needs updating

wretchedgoat

Hey everyone,


I've been a lurker on this site for a long while now. Haven't really posted anything because I'm bad at keeping up. But I want to get back on it.
So I'm sure you've heard about the layoffs that have been happening lately, well I was struck by the layoff hammer while I was at Robomodo. My portfolio has yet to really achieve a standard that I've wanted and I don't really know how to go about it anymore. After seeing how focused a company is on a certain vision, I'm finding it difficult on what to populate a portfolio with. It seems like I basically need to pick a company and gear my portfolio towards them. What are your thoughts?



my portfolio

nullfed

Looking at your site, the first thing I see is that there's not much in the way of finished stuff in there. I know what you're saying about being bad at keeping up and finishing things is almost like a discipline in itself. I'm revamping my portfolio myself at the moment, so I know where you are coming from.

In your 'current work' section, finish the hobo. In your past work bit, there are 3 finished pieces but the renders are a bit uninspired and zoomed out.

your personal work section has some speed sculpts and an environment piece all of which could be part of something but right now feel a bit aimless. Do you have any of your work from Robomodo available to show - even if its just in-game screenshots if your stuff is under NDA?

It says in your 'about' section that you did some animation and then moved around between different areas. Are you aiming to be an animator with this portfolio, or a character artist or environment or a generalist? I honestly couldn't say for sure at the moment.

Animator - get some nice animations rendered and placed in a section of their own showing a variety of moves. Even if the character is a box-guy. Better still if the character is an up to date effort.

Character - finish a full-on next gen character and present it in a strong way, in a game engine like UDK or using a realtime shader in Maya. Look at some of the Comicon entries that have been posted here or at Gameartisans to get an idea of the kind of standard to aim for. Show construction shots, normal mapped only, hi-res sculpt wireframes and texture flats.
Then make a couple more. Finish your DW entry in your sig perhaps

Environment - use your current stuff as a starting point for an environment. If you're stuck for ideas, you could use a surround for one of your characters as a starting point:
It could help improve the presentation of you hobo if he was slumped in a typical alley setting for example, holding a liquor bottle in a brown paper bag and yelling at passers by. Set the scene and pose him accordingly and by the time you compile a checklist of stuff to include (dumpster, trash, building segment, doorway, fire escape section, streetlight etc, etc) you'll have the basis for a typical city scene that could be expanded or used as a jumpoff point for a bigger setting.

It can feel like a climb and all I can say is pick something and stick with it. If the results aren't portfolio worthy, use your experience to make the next thing better. Post stuff here or elsewhere, get input from friends (I find it useful to ask people who aren't in the industry at all sometimes. They make no allowances and will come up with the most astute crits sometimes).

Tailoring your portfolio for a particular job could be useful but they are still going to fit into the same few categories so the basis of your work should still be along those kind of lines. There's certainly nothing wrong with taking a game by a studio you are applying for and producing work which could fit into that world, for example (even getting it into the same engine for presentation purposes).
Good luck with it and don't let the layoff get you down. I've been laid off.. 3 times since 2000 so shit happens but if you want to get a job involving wearing a tie and watching the clock, you wouldn't be posting asking for advice, right?

SouthpawSid

FANTASTIC post nullfed. I'll simple second it all. Good luck and keep working wretchedgoat.

wretchedgoat

Nullfed - thanks for all of that. Really appreciate it. Being in the industry is what i want to do, and working at robomodo proved that. I'll be posting more

southpawsid- thanks

here's what i'm currently working on Frog Hobo