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[Portfolio] – Lynda Miller

Hello!

My name is Lynda, and I was really hoping for some good critique on my current portfolio. I graduated from DigiPen Institute of Technology in 2009 and, like many people, have had trouble finding steady work. I'm most interested in being a 3D Character Artist and am getting a little hazzy on what I actually need to build up my portfolio (besides simply more ZBrush examples).

Here's my portfolio link: http://www.impdragon.com

Any critique you could offer - particularly on my 2D/3D art itself - would be wonderful. Thanks, guys!

-Lynda

Replies

  • haikai
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    haikai polycounter lvl 8
    I noticed you had a model from an Anet concept so this feedback pertains to that particular one:

    I think having more detailed textures would help a lot. At the moment most of your textures appear to be pretty generalized such as a local color and then a slight material pattern on top. I recommend going beyond the concept and taking a look at more references and really getting the texture to feel convincing.

    Your normal map could also be a bit more detailed. In addition to a finer sculpt, it helps to add a bit of surface noise, especially on a creature like that. Additionally the specular map makes it feel more smooth and shiny than I think it's supposed to be.

    Good luck!
  • achillesian
    feel that this should be in the front, the bug thats currently in the front doesnt have much texture. So use this one for hand painted style along with orc fort, and then make a 10k+ tri human character with norm map probably

    3d_terraEther1_LG.jpg
  • fabio brasilien
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    fabio brasilien polycounter lvl 11
    I agree with them...You have to much stuff. And some of them are not the same quality than others.
    In 2D it is critical. Remove some of them, leave like 5 or 10, maybe 15 of your best work.
    Also I miss some textures. You show wireframe, final model, but no textures.
    And like achillesian said, that orc fort and those guys are your best work in my opinion. They should be the first ones. :thumbup:
    Also I found at the end how to see your work on higher resolution. It was not clear for me at the begining... :\
  • vofff
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    vofff polycounter lvl 10
    It took 10 sec for me checking over your site, the most I was attached to was the first pic showing a scorpion a like what-ever. Your 3d stuff is stronger than 2d, I could suggest you should pic 4-5 best work of your 3d and work a bit more. Your diff,spec,nm isnt good enough, not eye catching. Your pic should be high rez too. Otherwise gj it just have to be better :)
  • lymiller
    Thanks, everyone. As difficult as it is to hear I agree with basically everything you said.

    Do companies like to see wireframes? With my newer works (which will replace many of the ones there) I do plan on including sample texture files -- I assume based on your comments that companies like to see those.

    At this point I'm going to be doing a lot of work on my portfolio preparing for GDC next year, and I know I need more detailed normal maps, a high-res human, and maybe some hard-surface props -- at least. Though environment modeling is much more in demand these days, I really feel like character modeling is my strength -- I just need to use ZBrush more.

    Again -- thank you so much! A few of you I recognize from work I was browsing yesterday.
  • samgriffiths
    You need to show companies that you understand what goes into creating a quality character, that will include showing wires.

    As you said, the only way to improve if to keep working as much as possible, GDC next year is your goal, so start working today - theres no better time to start.
  • Avanthera
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    Avanthera polycounter lvl 10
    A lot of companies specifically state on their site that they require wireframes, maps, tricount, and for it to be rendered in a game engine.
    I think you need to just start working, hard. try to get a few pieces done in a row, and dont even touch your portfolio or render out the pieces. If you really challenge yourself, you will be surprised at how much you improve.
    Then render out your work and pop it onto the site. :)

    The orc barracks look the closest to professional in-game work on your site, but that's only saying if the texture sizes and tri count are pretty low.

    Also, to become a character artist, you will need to be really awesome with the entire game art workflow and have a few years experience as another kind of 3d artist in-house.
    Or, you will need to be Godlike and not need any experience. I would shoot for a prop/environment role, and then work my way up.
    Good luck!
  • Ryan Smith
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    Ryan Smith polycounter lvl 11
    Hey Lynda.

    What i was going to say has already been said, so let me make an alternative suggestion.

    Try to get in the habit of getting reference, and doing some speed sculpting or speed modeling for at least an hour every day. We are in an industry where practice and reiteration literally makes ALL the difference. The more time you put in, the better you'll get.
  • lymiller
    Thank you! I think the speed sculpting is a great idea -- it's lower stress, fun, and obviously beneficial.

    So... actually, this brings to mind some other questions I have about portfolios. During my time at college I was constantly barraged with "NO, companies only want to see finished work, no works-in-progress!" but I see sculpts with no textures on so many websites. What is the "real" opinion on works-in-progress on a portfolio? This has always bothered me because I have constantly gotten opposite responses from so many people.

    Also.. I'll totally work on that "being God-like" thing. lol
  • Ex-Ray
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    Ex-Ray polycounter lvl 12
    lymiller wrote: »
    So... actually, this brings to mind some other questions I have about portfolios. During my time at college I was constantly barraged with "NO, companies only want to see finished work, no works-in-progress!" but I see sculpts with no textures on so many websites. What is the "real" opinion on works-in-progress on a portfolio? This has always bothered me because I have constantly gotten opposite responses from so many people.

    In my opinion I would only show finished works with plenty of breakdown images to support it, full transparency nothing to hide sort of attitude. You want the online portfolio to make a lasting impression so I wouldn't want unfinished work there.

    When you see the high res mesh/sculps It's always cooler to see the finished article.

    By all mean in the interview you could have some WIP stuff that you could show if needed.
  • Goat Justice
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    Goat Justice polycounter lvl 10
    What is the tri-count on that orc barracks? Like several other posters, I was going to call it one of your best... then I saw the wires.

    There are a LOT of extra edge loops on that thing.

    If the edges aren't contributing to the silhouette, or allowing for some sort of clever texture tiling, they shouldn't be there.
  • lymiller
    What is the tri-count on that orc barracks? Like several other posters, I was going to call it one of your best... then I saw the wires.

    There are a LOT of extra edge loops on that thing.

    If the edges aren't contributing to the silhouette, or allowing for some sort of clever texture tiling, they shouldn't be there.

    Yeah, I agree with you. At the time I had been doing too much low poly so I was going to try doing a "high res" model -- I know now that isn't quite what "high res" means. If it'll look better as a lower-poly model I'll get rid of a bunch of those loops.

    Thanks a bunch! When I get some fixes and renders going I may post them on this thread. I appreciate all the helpful advice. :)
  • LRoy
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    LRoy polycounter lvl 14
    Can you post the textures for the barracks? It looks like you can mirror a lot of that if you haven't already.
  • Goat Justice
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    Goat Justice polycounter lvl 10
    It's not so much about how it looks aesthetically, but what it says to someone who is evaluating your work. Things like extra edges, inefficient texturing, or uneven pixel density indicate a lack of experience. Like you said, when you went into it you didn't quite know what you were getting into, and future projects will likely not have the same issues.

    The final textured piece is pretty nice, but since its drawn from a cartoony source and presented in an RTS framing the expectation is for something with RTS like efficiency. The good news is that a lot of those loops don't appear to be UV seams, so you can probably just remove them without having to fix any texture issues.

    It is ok to have extra loops in the actual high poly mesh from a high-poly project since it will only be used to bake normals onto an efficient low-poly copy. For those sorts of projects, though it is often a good idea to show both high and low poly meshes in a comparison render.

    Definitely post stuff as you make revisions or move on to new work.
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