Looking for environment art portfolio critique!
polycounter lvl 5
Hi everyone!!
As I continue to add some more work to my website I have been trying to figure out the best way to display my images, and I would love some feedback!
Here is my site: www.beth-carter.com
Mainly, on each project page, would it be more effective to have images in a slideshow, or one after another for people to scroll though?
Slideshow: can see all images at a glance and choose which one to view (good visibility), but images end up being smaller and not as easy to see necessarily. Also has way more clicks to see each image
Scrolling: Can view images at full size and no clicking is required, but will people not want to scroll through everything? And if the first image is large enough that you cannot see a preview of the second, will it deter people from scrolling at all?
The first project page (Teller Office) shows the scrolling method, all the others currently have slideshows.
I am also debating removing some of the prop pieces I have up, they are a little dated now that I added the newest project today, but am still up in the air.
Any other feedback or advice would be great too, I am applying to all kinds of jobs now that I recently relocated to the San Francisco area so anything helps!
As I continue to add some more work to my website I have been trying to figure out the best way to display my images, and I would love some feedback!
Here is my site: www.beth-carter.com
Mainly, on each project page, would it be more effective to have images in a slideshow, or one after another for people to scroll though?
Slideshow: can see all images at a glance and choose which one to view (good visibility), but images end up being smaller and not as easy to see necessarily. Also has way more clicks to see each image
Scrolling: Can view images at full size and no clicking is required, but will people not want to scroll through everything? And if the first image is large enough that you cannot see a preview of the second, will it deter people from scrolling at all?
The first project page (Teller Office) shows the scrolling method, all the others currently have slideshows.
I am also debating removing some of the prop pieces I have up, they are a little dated now that I added the newest project today, but am still up in the air.
Any other feedback or advice would be great too, I am applying to all kinds of jobs now that I recently relocated to the San Francisco area so anything helps!
Replies
Most people don't really read much of the text, they want your work to speak for yourself. And they want to do it quickly, since there is tons of applications and so little time in their day for you. Try to keep that in mind
Personally I'd tend to say use the gallery method, with slightly bigger previews and instead of going on a sub-page, use the gallery directly and write short texts below/above the different thumbnails to describe it.
I would rethink the presentation for the swamp enviroment. It looks really unnatural to just have it go into nothingness like that. Instead of having it be on a stand or whatever its on, just stick more trees in the background and add a depth fog to mask off the background. Since it's a swamp the fog will be appropriate and your background won't just be an endless void.
Moreover, why is the swamp water completely untextured?
Xaragoth: I like your idea of having multiple galleries on one page, though I agree I'll have to work a bit to find a better gallery style so the images can be larger in each one. Yea I want people to be able to see as much as possible, which is why I originally have projects on their own page; then people can pick and choose what they want to see.
Count Vader: I see your point about having larger images, maybe I should just have the images larger or have a click for full size. As for the swamp, after taking longer on the project than initially planned I decided to finish the piece as a diorama and give it a base to sit on. The water is one thing I'd love to revisit and figure out a better way to do it
I disagree with this personally. I see leads and other hiring managers going through work and they actually do not mind clicking on different project sub sections. It gives a clear understanding of what project the assets belong to, and especially if you have worked on many projects, it can absolutely organize the work. I might be biased on this, as my port has it (which is incredibly outdated... late 2012 from when I was still going through school), but I feel it is not a hindrance to showing off work at all. Though having all your work on one page is not a bad thing either. It really comes down to personal preference honestly. Some of the best portfolios I have viewed use both methods of viewing on a single page and another using sub sections. Just make it easy for the user to jump out of the sub section and back to the directory and you should have zero problem with the layout. Anything more than one click to view your content though... Problem. That one click can be used for the sub sections though.
Overall the site is simple and easy to navigate. I'd recommend displaying real contact information rather than a series of forms, many individuals feel annoyed to have to fill out a form. If you're concerned about spam bots gathering your information you can upload an image of your contact information to reduce spam tracking. In my experience it's not an issue anyway.
Also this might venture into personal preference but I'd move the high poly page onto a section on the homepage. That way you can just call it your homepage of all your work. And remember to only have your best work displayed too.
Nice work btw!
An art director will only look at a portfolio for 2-6 seconds before tossing it. The milliseconds (or often many seconds in the case of your website) it takes to load images is the difference between that director looking at your work, or just moving on to the next of hundreds of portfolio links they get.
Wireframes and texture sheets are helpful, especially to potential employers.
Overall, I think you need to push your materials a bit to get a realistic look. The metal needs specular and possibly reflections as well. On your suit case, give the stickers a bit of life - add bubbles & creases to the normals, wear away some of the color to reveal the white base underneath. (Looking closely at your image, I'd say that most of the semi-transparent portions in your existing material should be white.)
The white mouse-over on the images in the teller office are counter-intuitive and don't seem to do anything. Typically, you'd have a dark image that would revert to normal on mouse-over, but only when clicking on the image does anything.
If you don't want to publish your contact information, just remove the contact page. You already have your e-mail address, which should be enough. I would, however, change the text on your banner to a proper mailto: link.
I am glad to hear that the homepage is working well and that going from it to each project is easy. I like the advice about the contact page as well, I probably never needed to have that haha.
@Vertrucio - Thanks for the advice about my image loading time, I will look into that!
@DWalker - I didn't realize the teller office images had a lighter color on the mouse over, that must have bled over from giving my clickable images that effect. I will definitely give that a look. Thank you again for your advice about material definition, that is something I am working to improve on
Does anyone see anything that could be edited or possibly something I might have missed?
Here's another link:
www.beth-carter.com
Is it possible that I am showing too much that might be "okay" work, instead of just a couple that are higher quality?