[Portfolio] Joshua Jones

PolyOrigami

Hey Guy,

PORTFOLIO: www.polyorigami.com

I've been on polycount for some time now and enjoy this online community.
I'm looking for some feedback and critique on my work so I can improve my craft. I have the up most respect for you guys and enjoy your commentary. Please say anything that you think is important. You cannot hurt my feeling I'm use to hard critique, I don't need any sugar coating. thanks in advance .

--Joshua Jones

ps. link to my blog shows more of my process

Samfisher84

takes too long to load images, i would like som larger images too

jeremiah_bigley

I think I kinda hate your gallery. I am not talking the content... I can't even really focus on the content for a couple of reasons.

Make your images larger. Like maybe linking to a larger version. And you have what feels like a bunch of randomly placed pieces. Was there a specific order to which you placed your pieces? And I think you should have your 2d work in it's own category.

I also don't like the way I can only view 4 thumbnails at a time. Doesn't feel like enough in this particular case for some reason.

Not really going to comment on your work because right now you need to get your website decent because it doesn't really matter how good or bad your work is, the website you have is going to drag it down. I can't get past the functionality of the site right now.


And I have a question. Is there any particular reason you decided to brand yourself as PolyOrigami? I am pretty sure this is subjective but I don't know if as a young artist (not saying I am not one) that you would want to "brand" yourself like that. I would say go for it on your URL. But maybe just have your name on your site. And this is something I would expect my 3d teacher, who used to be a graphic designer, to say when he would come across it.

Here is my wip site if you want to see Link

Hope that helps.

percydaman

Jeremiah_bigley, your site is really broken at moment. Most of the images link to the fire hydrant if they link to anything at all. Just in case your not aware.

jeremiah_bigley

I was aware... which is why I called it a WIP site they are just place holders until I get all my stuff done. Though this thread is meant to critique Josh's website... not mine. >.>

I gave him a link because most of the stuff I critiqued is more or less stuff that I followed for my own.

Seaseme

Man, you have to ditch the flash. You have some decent work, but the flash website is killing it. I honestly closed the tab before realizing I was going to write up a critique because it was taking so long. So I reopened the tab and was patient.

That's not what any employer would do. Ditch the flash, don't use lightbox, keep it simple. That's just my opinion however.

PolyOrigami

Thank guys, much appreciated.

will rework the issues tonight and tomorrow. I know html and css pretty well so losing the flash and killing the large file DL times shouldn't be much of an issue. Thanks for the feedback.

--Joshua

@Jeremaiah:
"Is there any particular reason you decided to brand yourself as PolyOrigami?"

My name is Joshua Jones. That is a very common name. There are also tons of joshua Jones doing some sort art out there. Confusion is pretty easy to do. Branding myself as PolyOrigami was easier than branding with my name and is much easier to google search.

Mike Yevin

imo lightbox is fine if your images loaded quickly, but when your uploading massive images or they optimized, anything will take a while to load. i suggest you ditch simpleviewer, as i tend to find that most people dont like it, and you have to hold the viewers interest right off the bat. also, think about utilizing some more of your on-screen space. the full size for your images should span all the way from one side of your layout to the other, or open in a new page all together (personally i hate this method).

megalmn2000

Images are really long to load, recruiters won't wait that long for that.
Also, I would avoid to use Flash too, as a web designer, because you can have some problems with the player and it's complicate. I would suggest you to use Carbonmade instead, it's easier and more clean, which is more professional.

percydaman

jeremiah_bigley wrote: »

I was aware... which is why I called it a WIP site they are just place holders until I get all my stuff done. Though this thread is meant to critique Josh's website... not mine. >.>

I gave him a link because most of the stuff I critiqued is more or less stuff that I followed for my own.

I wasn't trying to diss your site. Just wasn't sure if you we're aware. I like your site layout btw.

ZacD

I have 10meg internet and the images take 5 seconds to load, each, that's waaaaay too long.

jeremiah_bigley

percydaman wrote: »

I wasn't trying to diss your site. Just wasn't sure if you we're aware. I like your site layout btw.

I didn't say you were... I just thought is was weird that you went into someone else's thread to point out something on a critiquer's website and then not comment on the site for the person who was originally asking for help. lol

CandyStripes05

sounds like most of the main issues have already be covered...

umm but i suggest making your banner at the top thinner/shorter - height wise.. maybe cut out your website name since its in the url so there is really no need for it, im also not a big fan of your thumbnails on the left and the portfolio piece beside them, it draws focus away from the work

but my website is still relatively new too and in need of a face lift so what do i know :P

System

Nothing really bothered me and the work I think looked very good, at least from what I could see, which brings me into agreement with everyone else that you need bigger images. Maybe 3 times as big as you have now!

JustinPunio

Great work, great style. Hm your site has a good layout and colour scheme. However it would be good to be able to see larger images. Loading times are a bit haphazard, some images load quick, but when it moves to the next set of images it's well over several seconds for me. Previous posters have said as much, so definately correct this before you link employers to your site ^^

percydaman

jeremiah_bigley wrote: »

I didn't say you were... I just thought is was weird that you went into someone else's thread to point out something on a critiquer's website and then not comment on the site for the person who was originally asking for help. lol

Point taken. I didn't remark on the OP's site because my crits we're already mentioned.

cholden

Yea man, this site is working against your career. It's a blank web page, then a minute later it's 4 thumbnails. You have effectively hidden your talents better than most of the terrible web sites I've seen in the last year. We have to wait upwards of a minute before your next set of 4 thumbnails load. Forget the content, this site is so archaic no one will ever see it.

If there was ever a better subject of someone that should read this article FROM SIX YEARS AGO that set the standard, it's you. http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39516

I mean, you must realize how slow and stupid this is. I can't even save your images by right clicking on them. Oh, who was that one guy that applied a few months back? I don't know, his retard web site wouldn't let me right click and save his images so he's not in my folder of job submissions we collected. Let's hire this other guy. Yes, that REALLY happens.

Forget about yourself, your ego, your fancy plans and consider an employer that just got hundred emails of portfolios in their inbox. Then consider how slow you're giving them all your content. How much work they have to go to just to see anything. It's almost like you hate employers with what's going on here. Give us a simple gallery PLEASE.

Alberto Rdrgz

Bigger images, simpler layout, faster loading times.

System

cholden wrote: »

Forget about yourself, your ego, your fancy plans and consider an employer that just got hundred emails of portfolios in their inbox. Then consider how slow you're giving them all your content. How much work they have to go to just to see anything.

Oh yeah, I'm getting that now, images ARE slow to load! Must have been crosseyed or tired this morning and missed it among the slurps of coffee and eye rubbing. Also the thumbnail system is strange and slow, I agree. I hope the op reads all these useful crits as they help alot of people including me. Still haven't found a job though but I know why at least.

jeremiah_bigley

Maybe I am the only one who isn't having the issue with it loading slow. Images pop up within a second or so.

graylen

If you still want to keep the same design just use jquery instead of flash. same effects a lot less loading time and it works perfectly on mac and ios machines that don't support flash.

PolyOrigami

thanks everyone.

PolyOrigami

Hey Guys,

Free time has been harder to come by. however, I took the flash element out of the website, linked up the thumbnails. I have yet to split the 3d and 2d work into separate galleries. thats on my to do. Hopefully there are no more issues with load times and the images are bigger and clearer to read. Please post your thoughts. Thanks again.

PORTFOLIO: www.polyorigami.com

--Joshua Jones

ariofighter

Your page loads fast for me, from what I have read here was an earlier problem. I have a mild nit pick. Is there any way you could put a few pixels of space in between each piece. Right now it all bleeds into one very long picture and I have to tell myself that these two very different pieces are not related.

I also think when you break apart the work into categories, it may help with the massive overload of a lot of very different types of work.

Other then that nit pick keep it up.

megalmn2000

Better now. For the content, I would suggest you to bake an ambient occlusion map and then just overlay it on your diffuse map (using the "Multiply" blending mode on Photoshop). This will give a little bit more depth and contrast to your mesh because the textures looks really flat. This will give more interest.

PolyOrigami

Thanks for the advice will be working on and fixing up the 3d pieces shortly. a simple AO bake should be easy enough for some of the pieces.

---
create 3d and 2d section inside "gallery" tab. Seemed to cumbersome to create a whole new tab for each part. Will create a divider for the 2 sections shortly. since you can't immediately tell when one starts and the other finishes.

If you think I still need another tab to separate the 2d and 3d section instead, tell me. It can be done if this doesn't feel natural enough or is unintuitive.

also added padding around the images to give them more "breathing room".
---
This has been going slower than once though due to outside sources. thanks for your feed back and patience.

website: www.PolyOrigami.com