[portfolio] John Henderson
It has been a shamefully long time since I've posted here, but I saw some traffic on my site from this page so I felt like it might be a good idea to give an update.
Thanks everyone for all the great feed back! There are still some pieces I'd like to drop, but I am much happier with the layout I have and this feedback definitely led to me finding work. I'm now a full time design consultant at an interactive media company in Memphis! I'm also still very open to freelance opportunities.
I find that I'm getting way more attention for my 2D work, and have been focusing my efforts on improving and expanding my portfolio in that direction. Again, thanks! Feel free to add more feedback on the new layout.
My website is still http://www.hendart.com. Original post in quotes below.
Thanks everyone for all the great feed back! There are still some pieces I'd like to drop, but I am much happier with the layout I have and this feedback definitely led to me finding work. I'm now a full time design consultant at an interactive media company in Memphis! I'm also still very open to freelance opportunities.
I find that I'm getting way more attention for my 2D work, and have been focusing my efforts on improving and expanding my portfolio in that direction. Again, thanks! Feel free to add more feedback on the new layout.
My website is still http://www.hendart.com. Original post in quotes below.
Hey all,
I just graduated recently (and am looking for work). I've been posting on here a lot, but I haven't yet put up my portfolio for critique. I'm looking for critique of my work examples, but I am open to critique of the site layout as well. (I have spent a lot of time tweaking it already with feedback from friends and pros I met at ECGC)
Please take a look! Here is the link: http://www.hendart.com
Right now, there is no title next to my name, but I'd like to call myself a 2D & 3D Concept Artist. At the most right now I think I could only call myself a character concept artist. So, any suggestions you have for things I could do and put into my portfolio that would help me find the job I want would be great! Thanks!
Things I plan to do/add:
- Next/Previous navigation for portfolio pieces, so that you can just click "next" to go to the next one, instead of back to the portfolio page.
- Environment Concept Art
- Sketchbook/Additional/Older Works page, linked at the bottom of the portfolio
Replies
Right now your body of work lacks focus, is too small, and is too amateurish in its execution. You need to be better at self editing. Ask yourself "Is this work competitive?". If it is not then it has no place on your portfolio.
I'd suggest ditching any projects you did at your school. Also, pick a specialization and focus all your efforts on it. If you want to do concept art really push your illustration skills. Try to improve your design sense by studying industrial design - look at other artists' works. If you are going to do characters in 3D practice and study anatomy. If you want to do environments make something in UDK.
Start some new, fresh personal projects. Pick simple subject matter. I'm sure you learned a lot at your school, now it is time to focus all you have learned into specialized pieces.
Easier said than done, but go for it. Good luck.
Thanks for your comments! I think you made some pretty good points there and bringing my work to a higher standard and creating a focused body of work is definitely something I want to prioritize--I just need to roll up my sleeves and produce more pieces that fall into the right category and show the skills employers are looking for.
I will think about changing the name of my Cyberpunk Assassin piece, but you didn't say what about the piece makes it look amateur to you. Could you be more specific? Thanks again.
The complete straight on view and lack of any type of emotion is what does it for me design wise. In terms of execution your color choices and rendering could be much much better. First off completely straight on poses are a big no no because they are flat out boring. Turning his body and head even 15 degrees would make him look a lot more interesting because then you would getting a better sense of how that mask thing looks. As for emotion that can be accomplished a couple different ways, however with a completely covered face and no body that is nearly impossible. If you do go with a masked figure then the only way to produce emotion is through gesture and pose.
Ahhh I see, thanks! Well that is definitely something I can put toward my next piece! I think I will work on making a list of things like this that need to be shown in the work I create, so that my next piece of work will carry with it the emotion that you are talking about. I've got something in mind that might be perfect!
http://www.hendart.com/mutant.html
Do you think I should have this piece up instead of the Beornheard thing?
Sure. To me it looks amateur because of both its execution and its design. From an execution standpoint I do not think you brought out the forms. This is especially evident in the neck/upper chest area. It feels flat - the brush strokes are doing nothing to help extract the shapes. Your concept does not inform about material definition. I do not know if that purple part is metal, plastic, cloth. The hair does not look like hair. I do not know where the mask ends and the hair begins. The anatomy looks incorrect on the neck area.
From a design standpoint it is not compelling. The purple under-suit, the hair sticking out of the mask, the greebles around the neck - it all feels disjointed. I don't know if he's supposed to be a high-tech assassin or a desert nomad. Ultimately I have no emotion when looking at it. And it would be up to the character modeler making this guy to save the design.
Sorry if all of this sounds harsh but you must understand that as soon as you say the words "I am looking for work" you must open yourself up to such feedback because you are up against hundreds of other people applying for the same jobs.
Right now it has big round Disney like eyes. It looks curious instead of deadly.
Those sort of ideas are the basis of character design.
Well, initially my brain wants to flee from my skull and curl up in a fetal position somewhere safe, haha!
In all seriousness, though, I realize what you and the others who have commented are doing for me here. I think you're saying exactly what an Art Director would think if they looked at my stuff, but due to a busy schedule full of deadlines and looking at hundreds of other portfolios, would never have the time to tell me.
Combined with the other comments here I think I have a lot to do but, I've been given a really good pool of feedback I can put into action. This is what I need if I'm going to succeed, so I'm grateful for the comments and suggestions!
Maybe in the initial post, I should have said something else, like "I've just recently graduated, and need to improve my work to an employable level." At any rate, one of the things I see over and over as a requirement is the ability to take critique and follow directions--and you said it yourself. If I'm going to be looking for a job I have to open myself up to this kind of feedback. It would be a much worse experience to be hearing this on the job, so I'm glad that I'm getting it now!
I'll keep responding to comments and taking notes. Eventually I'll hammer out a plan for improvement, using all of this info as a guide. Right now it's sounding like I should can all of the work I have on my site and get some better things up there.
I do have to say that overall the portfolio does lack focus. My first impression is character artist.
As far as your level goes my only real critiques would be to make the doors open quicker and make the cut scenes shorter. Try to not take control away from the player. I try and avoid it whenever possible. Also make the potions more noticeable adding a glow effect to them would be cool. The glowing would help attract the players attention and make them stick out.
Notice how when you go to grab the first green potion, it is hard to distinguish what the player needs to focus on in that room. Everything is green. If just the potion was green and the room was some other color it would immediately draw the players attention.
- D. Carmine
So pick a specialization and put all your effort into it, it's not just about being a good sculpter. You need to nail the material definition, anatomy and even if you do all that, you have to nail the lighting and the pose to make it look both well presented and executed.
Have a think about it, and come back to us
You really should default to your portfolio; for your purposes, it's the most important part of your site.
On the portfolio pages, the various connection icons take up almost a third of the horizontal space, which is really far more than they need. Move them above the images (or onto the banner), and expand the thumbnails to fill the remaining space. The thumbnails could really be 2-4 times their current size. Remember that the primary thing you're 'selling' with a portfolio is the art; everything else is secondary - have contact information available, but don't shove it down the viewers' throat.
I'm really not a fan of the gallery/slideshow; I much prefer clicking on an image and having a larger version of just that image appear. As it is, I have to click on two things to get to the full image, and I have to hunt for the close button (which is in the wrong corner, btw).
- Move the social icons somewhere else or at least make the list vertical as they take up way too much space.
- Add additional shots for the 3D projects. The biggest offender here would definitely be the UDK puzzle level as it looks nice but is way too zoomed out so I can't see anything.
- Make some breakdown shots where you show wireframes and textures for the 3D work as well.
- And last but certainly not least: Make it more obvious what you actually want to work with as right it's very hard to tell if you want to do 2D, 3D or design work.
Also to be honest I would scrap most of the design section as it is overall pretty weak in my opinion. I like the Squidlord and Pixel 8 logo but I would say the rest is pretty meh. It also seems that the source material for some of the designs is kind of bland which doesn't really do anything to help.
You want your viewers to know what you do and where to go within the first 5 seconds of opening your page, you want a certain flow to the menus, and you always want to show your art first, front and center, as big as you can.
There's always a debate about an "about" page. Some people like to have people know who they are, like to let the work speak. Either way, that's personal preference, but I would really suggest against having it as your main page. It feels clunky, and its just more text I have to get through before seeing the art.
Since this post is about the layout more then the work, I think the "separate" portfolios are the biggest killer. For me to see all of your art, it's 8 button clicks(not including zoomed shots or detailed pictures). That might seem nit picky, but the general rule of thumb is that within 2 or 3 you can get from anywhere to anywhere. I would suggest just one massive scroll portfolio with dividers that separate your different skill sets, or if you are extremely passionate about the work, selecting one folio to be your main page with fully zoomed pictures, and having the others be in your main menu bar.
You don't need a contact menu if you have the contact widgets. Axe that and just make the widgets floaters that appear on every page. If your information is on your resume they can/will get in touch with you.
How worth it is the "store" link? Do you make much on sales, do people know your work enough to want to purchase it? These aren't questions you have to answer here, but you should ask yourself. If it's on your site, HR will be questioning it, and it should either give the page all the time it deserves or just get rid of it.
If it seems intense, its because I see a lot of portfolios that are set up in a similar way, or in a way that hurts the work more then helping it. Luckily, a good 20 hours or so will go a long way and give you a solid setup that you won't have to change for a long long time. Keep it simple!! At that point it will be all about your work, but until then making your layout as clean, impactful, and professional as possible should be your goal. Keep fighting the good fight!
illustration and graphic design can be one category as well.
contact, about and resume can all be one page.
if you wish to put twitter and other social stuff, put it in front of your name. it's really annoying to see it following me.
hope it helps.
If you are a Character Artist that likes to sketch people at the food court after work make a blog/tumblr for that. No need to have that be on your main site. You can link to it so employers could learn a bit more into what you like and what you're all about. But it also won't make that stuff what you're judged on.
A lot of people have spent time giving you some great advice (some of which I'm echoing here). I would read through this whole thread and try to work in the advice.
If its your website, find a way to make it represent you in the cleanest most professional way possible. Wordpress is just another tool. Good luck man