[Portfolio] Alex Martin Prop Artist

Xelan101

Alright so I've got quite a few questions for Polycount

I've got a domain name and a website here http://www.theartofalexmartin.com/The_Art_of_Alex_Martin/3D_Models.html

This site was built in iweb, unfortunately (or for the most part fortunately) I changed out my Mac laptop for a much more powerful PC laptop, however this meant that I was no longer in possession of iweb.

Because of this I have to recreate or redesign my website using a new web creation software and I've yet to find a cheap (read free) program that I feel comfortable using to do this.

My other option is to simply build a portfolio site out of a blog and have my domain name point to that, I've taken the time to build said blog http://alexmartinportfolio.blogspot.com/ at least until I can find a way to make a new and improved site, or possibly use said blog as the new and improved site.

Website link again: http://www.theartofalexmartin.com/The_Art_of_Alex_Martin/3D_Models.html

Blog link again: http://alexmartinportfolio.blogspot.com/

So my big questions are as follows

1. What's the general rule/feeling about using a Blog for a Portfolio? Is it frowned upon? A big industry no no? etc...

2. What are some free web creation softwares that Polycount would recommend using to rebuild/redesign my site if that's the general consensus


I'd like critiques on the design of both websites if possible, and critiques of the content of the blog only.

I pared down what I had on the old site and updated the content with what I feel is my newest and best work. I will be adding to it in the near future with new pieces.

Thanks in advance, I hope that polycount can help me make a portfolio worthy of an internship and with any luck a job once I graduate.




EDIT

Alright so since no one told me that blogs were the devil, I've decided that I'll just stick with the blog as my portfolio, it's more professional and cleaner looking than my old site and far easier to update. I'm currently working on a way to get www.theartofalexmartin.com to redirect to the blog directly. Because at this point the site is mostly broken o.O

Blog link: http://alexmartinportfolio.blogspot.com/

I've created individual images for the textured model, wireframes, and textures

Added a text version of my resume on the blog and a jpeg version as well (I may rework that to try and get a downloadable PDF version on there, but I've yet to find a reliable way to do that on a blog...)

And I removed the home page by turning the High Poly page into the home page and renaming it.

Any other crits would be awesome on both the layout of the site itself and the content. I should be updating with more and more content soon, I'm hoping to end up with 8-10 or so good pieces on the portfolio site at a time, obviously rotating out old and outdated pieces as needed.

oobersli

blog is fine if formatted right. kill your intro/about page and just put images on it or thumbnails for images there. people don't want to read where to click for art, they want to see where to click.

and just a persona preference of mine.. tone down how much content you have on each image. you have your textures/wire images with multiple views on one image. Make one with just nice rendered shots from 1 or at most 2 good angles. then have another for the wireframe. the presentation is less mucked up and easier to read. The airship cannon image is the prime example of what I'm talking about. you're putting too much info on one image.

also might consider using a different source for your resume. pdf or word format are usually fine. the site yours was on had some funkyness when I tried clicked on it and took a while. most people would just get bored and skip over ya by then.

Xelan101

I've been trying to figure out how to kill the intro page... for some reason the home page just defaults to the home screen for posts, even if I remove the home page from the top bar... I added the instructions on where to click because otherwise it just took you to an empty blog homepage with the side bar ready to click... I'm gonna see if I can figure out how to fix that and if I can't I'll just add a post on the home page with one of the 3 links up top and change that one to home.

Thanks for the info on cleaning up the pages, I was starting down that path with having the textures separate but you're right the wires and textured shots have no reason to be on the same page so I might as well give them their own cleaner pages

As for the resume, the Scribd thing was one of the few ways I found online that would allow me to embed a readable version of my resume on the blog, but I agree it's not the best solution... I'm gonna keep looking for some way to just get the pdf version on there... or maybe worst come to worst a jpg of the document to view and a link to a downloadable PDF version...

Thanks for the suggestions

tekmatic

I would get rid of your online username from your actual name. If you are going to use this site to look for work then it does not look very professional.

SgtNasty

You have to change your font and font colour, it's making everything really hard to read. Try to avoid the wacky fonts.

The background tiled textures are pretty heavy handed, and don't exactly mesh well together (concrete and whatever that dark stuff is). I would recommend simplifying it.

The actual presentation of your art isn't fantastic either. I'm not a fan of using lightbox. I think most people generally prefer clicking on an image and then getting a new tab with a high resolution version. Your models all have one image that tries to show everything, but doesn't actually show much of anything in good detail.

Read this thread.

Xelan101

Alright so since no one told me that blogs were the devil, I've decided that I'll just stick with the blog as my portfolio, it's more professional and cleaner looking than my old site and far easier to update. I'm currently working on a way to get www.theartofalexmartin.com to redirect to the blog directly. Because at this point the site is mostly broken o.O

Blog link: http://alexmartinportfolio.blogspot.com/

I've created individual images for the textured model, wireframes, and textures

Added a text version of my resume on the blog and a jpeg version as well (I may rework that to try and get a downloadable PDF version on there, but I've yet to find a reliable way to do that on a blog...)

And I removed the home page by turning the High Poly page into the home page and renaming it.

Any other crits would be awesome on both the layout of the site itself and the content. I should be updating with more and more content soon, I'm hoping to end up with 8-10 or so good pieces on the portfolio site at a time, obviously rotating out old and outdated pieces as needed.

Xelan101

Bumping for some feedback. I'd like to get crits on the changes to the blog site before I start trying to use it for internship applications and such...

http://alexmartinportfolio.blogspot.com/

ZacD

The preview images are incredibly small, you can't see whats going on without clicking them.