[Portfolio] Ryan Lee, Environment Artist
Hi All...
Here is a link to my portfolio
As of last night I now have a BA in Game Production. I presented my portfolio to school officials and didn't really get any concrete criticism and am really looking to push myself to get better. I'll be honest on saying that I have put a lot of general school projects up there now but am trying to focus on environment design.
I'm looking for criticism as well as any internship/job possibilities.
Thanks!
Replies
Overall
-Site seems easy to navigate, there's art instantly in your face which is good.
-I like the fact that you have wireframe/AO on mouse over, you don't have it done for all the pieces like suddenly you decided to do it. You might want to be consistent with that.
-I think you lacking with the info on the pieces, no polycount, texture map size? Those seem to be essential to display with your work. Why not put that in with the programs used section on the left.
-The black background renders aren't helping you out with the hibernia bank/modular building. If your going to present these two pieces on a plain like this then you should texture them or remove them, the default UDK texture isn't helping.
-You should drop the maya renders and get some renders out of UDK even for the props/cars. You did use UDK for the environments I see.
Hibernia Bank
-I like the overall design of the building and the modeling seems clean.
-There are some areas where there is very noticeable tiling in the textures and they seem very blurry. What size maps are you using here?
-You could do more with the columns to make the ridges pop out more with the normals/AO.
Modular Building
-The way the windows come off the wall just dont seem natural, they appear to just be sitting there. The walls are flat and lack any other structural elements. It has some to do with the texture transition there also since there's no trim work.
-Textures again very blurry, especially the bricks on the ground level. If this is for a game where you could walk up to it on the street it would loose believability very fast.
-You have a big Ngon on the left wall, terminate those edge loops.
-Overall it's very bare/boxy lacking structural elements that make it feel like a real place.
Observation Room
-Lighting looks a bit flat.
-Perhaps you could design something to go in the center of the room, I'd don't see a solid focal point. Nothing really catches the eye, and I'd expect to see something interesting here just because it's a observation room.
-Lacking trims especially where the hallway meets the big room. Thats a harsh transition with the textures. In real life you'd never see that there's always trims moldings even in the simplest spaces.
Sanitation Room
-Environment is too clean especially for the purpose the space serves.
-Not quite seeing the story behind it especially in the shot where you have those random props shoved in the corner.
Aquatic Room
-The water isn't working actually it appears to just be a plain with a water image slapped on. Since your using UDK you should look it to dynamic fluid surface actors(something like that)it's not hard to set that up.
Rogue Challenger/Dharma Van
-The biggest thing is there is a inconsistent use of polygons. You have density issues with parts of the meshes being too detailed, ex:lights on front of the van. These models aren't hi-poly or low poly there a mix.
-How will these vehicles appear in game, are they drivable?
Sooo...This was the longest and most detailed post I've ever done but alot of things jumped out at me so I figured I drop in and share. There's alot of other stuff I could have touched on but I'll let a more experienced member drop in and give you their thoughts.
Good luck to you and keep posting your work on Polycount.
All your rooms and environments are huge and empty. You either need more assets or to tone down the scale, or better, a combination of both.
Your lighting needs work and ajr2764 was right that you need to create focal points in your environment and lead the viewer's (or player's) eye.
@ajr2764 your awesome! Your feedback has been very helpful.
@LateWhiteRabbit do you have any links/tuts for lighting? This seems to be a focal point for all my critiques and I obviously need some help...
My main critique would be that you have too many subpar and unfinished pieces of work. I wouldn't dedicate an entire page to a single prop, and your displaying your environments with default blue-checkered UDK material on the ground not only looks amateurish, it affects your actual piece.
I think that you should really spend a few months making 2-3 complete, finished, fleshed-out environments, upon which you could condense everything else on the site into 1-2 thumbnails. Right now its a bit of a stretch calling yourself an environment artist, and I think if you produced a couple killer pieces before you hit the job market, you would have yourself a pretty strong portfolio.
I have done a complete facelift to my portfolio site. The entire design has been redone as well as some new renders. I'm looking for some crits and feedback on my presented work, as well as the overall UI and flow of the site. Thanks!
http://www.ryanscottlee.com
Here is a preview of the new renders: