Portfolio pieces: practical vs memorable
ngon master
For portfolio pieces is it better to do something different and original, say a banana pistol. Or something more practical like an AKA 47. Of course assume they are the same quality.
And I think we need a stickied 'portfolio questions' thread.
And I think we need a stickied 'portfolio questions' thread.
Replies
I think what a lot of artists are doing (more experienced ones seem to do this more effectively) is have their main portfolio website with kickass "practical" pieces... then they have their own blog, which can show weird ideas or what not that wouldn't necessarily "fit" on a professional portfolio website, but can show a more creative side of the artist.
If you are focusing on getting a nice professional portfolio together, I would personally say go with practical... but make it KICKASS! (easier said then done, I know...)
either original or practical
my stuff was unpractical and not even memorable
http://arriev.deviantart.com/art/Dewi-10632782
sure deviantart comment kinda cute ...
And who says you cant make a memorable banana pistol anyway?!?
http://www.art-machine.com/
Have a hard surface model, an organic, zbrush work, low poly, etc. Show that you know how to use those techniques. It could be applied in a crate or a cool unique environment or prop. That is up to you.
It's always important to remember that you are showcasing your abilities. Focus on that.
^^ This
Also if you make something practical you have to make it stand out from the crowd. If you make something unique you have to ground it in foundation that shows you can do practical things but that you are also creative.
I mean how many AK47's have you seen done? How many do you see that make you go WOW? You have to show you can be creative with practical things if you go that route or it will look boring.
So I guess you should incorperate both types of portfolio pieces. The ratio between both types is more or less up to you as it shows what kind of direction you are focussing as an artist.
If your protfolio only shows the generic dumpster a concrete barrier and an AK. Even if those are perfectly executed I would ask myself (as an employer) : "He has so much talent to bring those pieces to life, couldn't he come up with something more unique, less boring, more creative"
I think it's possible to do practical pieces for your portfolio without doing those assets you see flying arround so often. There are tons of things which will show your can do very acurate and realstic modeling / texturing.
This is one route. Also, 4-5 pieces is often enough to get a job. I say, why not make both? Have a couple of "normal" but awesome assets, and then some more original stuff. I try to keep an even balance in my portfolio at all times, constantly updating different parts of it, trying to show that I can do a little bit of everything.
That said, I wouldn't do generic stuff if you can. Things can be practical and memorable. The more often someone looks at a piece of your work and goes "oh yeah, I remember that one", the better imo.
Also, don't do an AK47 unless you can make it the best goddamn AK47 you've ever seen. Avoid the stuff that everyone else does (concrete barriers, dumpsters, barrels, commonly seen guns or knives, etc...).
Tailoring your folio to certain places also helps. No need to have lots of cute cartoony stuff if you want to work on FPS games. Yet if the quality is right you'll still beat sloppy artists that have FPS stuff in their folio. Nobody wants shoddy work
These are hardly polar opposites.
Practical is more important for getting your foot in the door, as it demonstrates that you won't require as much training. But for career advancement, you will need the more original pieces.
The problem with that is always the earning of money. I would love to just do what I like, but doing that won't make me any cashola. (or even get me a job in games) The only real alternatives then are becoming a starving artist, or having a paying day job while I work on this stuff in my free time.
Being a responsible adult, I am currently going with the latter option. My hope is that one of my side projects will be able to make enough money to fund continued development. Time is money. If I can earn enough money, I can spend it on the time I would need to realize some of my zany ideas for game development.
totally agree here. I think its rare to see new up and coming artists producing what were all calling "memorable" pieces. I think it takes a long ways to get to the point where you achieve such a product. Until then, you just gotta art it up.
Get a job, so you don't starve to death.
Become a kickass artist like pior.
follow piors' advice.
profit.
Edit: Seriously, I was thinking about this this morning. It's really up to you how you start your portfolio, whether it be with traditional assets or more "creative" ones, whatever that may be. Pick the one you most enjoy, but push yourself over time in the other direction. If you choose original stuff you'll naturally gravitate to what's "doable" and what works. You'll also pick up unique tricks and techniques no one else knows because you're just doing crazy stuff on your own that others may not have thought of, unique projects bring unique challenges and skillsets. On the downside, a lot of your projects will be failures and you may spend lots of time working on stuff that's of no benifit in any respect. It's a trade off. Working on more traditional stuff is the safer bet, you'll learn what you need to know in the process but you'll have a much harder time standing out. You don't want a portfolio with only crates, barrels, tanks, guns, fountains, etc, etc. They've been done to death and even very good versions of these assets wont help you stand out as much as you'd like them to. Don't get in the habit of doing only what's been done before, once you learn the basics of doing traditional objects you need to really start pushing yourself to do stuff that hasn't been done before, the stuff that can really sets you apart from others. But then again there are plenty of companies who just want crates and barrels in their level, just expect lots of competition for those jobs.
Often times concept art is not specific or detailed enough for an inexperienced artist. After you create enough practical stuff you will probably be better equipped to fill in the blanks that a concept art might leave you with.
Now I say this because this is what is best to have in your portfolio, not to say that you shouldn't be inspired to make your own creations for fun. If one happens to turn out cool then great, but if your going to be spending time on your portfolio, in order to get a job, you probably shouldn't be creating your own concepts.
For example, I made a German machine gun half a year ago. It has a lot of interesting elements that I never would have thought of myself; a cleaning kit, lubrication, a disc to mask the star-shaped flash (so as not to look any different from rifles to snipers), a range table, and so forth. On top of that, it made me think about how it was assembled and disassembled.
You know, just as you do life drawing to eventually create good characters, study real objects and environments if you want to do those.
I hope you're ok with me asking a question here.
My question....
When using other people's concepts how important is it to stay true to the concept?
Is it ok for me to change things up on my model based on the concept? Or do employers like you staying true to the concept...especially since it isn't yours?
It's not big changes to where it's not recognizable...just for example...the barrel of a tank, the concept is too blocky, I thought it would look better with some more curves.
I just don't know if it's better to show that I can stay true to other people's concepts or show that I can be creative and make changes to make it (hopefully) better?