Advice on my portfolio
Hi everyone. This is my first post on poly count. I know there are many threads talking about this topic however if you could spare the time to help me out i would really appreciate it.
I'm a second year student at university studying computer games technology. I'm aspiring to become a environment artist and would like some advice on how best to gain access to the industry with this role.
My problem is that my portfolio is not all environment work right now and was wondering if instead of purely focusing on environment art (as i don't have much under my belt yet)should i post all of my good quality work so as to not dissuade any potential employers.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks.:)
https://www.behance.net/LewisOliver
I'm a second year student at university studying computer games technology. I'm aspiring to become a environment artist and would like some advice on how best to gain access to the industry with this role.
My problem is that my portfolio is not all environment work right now and was wondering if instead of purely focusing on environment art (as i don't have much under my belt yet)should i post all of my good quality work so as to not dissuade any potential employers.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks.:)
https://www.behance.net/LewisOliver
Replies
I would advise removing the character and 2D work and concentrating on environments and props. I say this because they are bringing the overall quality down.
In your environments I'd like to see better materials, learning some PBR resolves that issue. All of the surfaces look quite matte right now.
Reference point of comparison is key, if you're comparing your work to students in your class then it may indeed be good quality. However, you're going to need to aim higher. Nothing feels "finished" but that's ok given that you're currently learning and are a student.
My best advice is to consistently post your work on Polycount and implement the feedback that you get. Good job!
I was thinking that my 2D art should come down and my character, at least until its finished.
I have been experimenting with PBR in unreal engine 4 so when i have some solid work using it ill make sure to include some.
Thank you for the feedback, ill be sure to post on poly count regularly to improve my work.
The site itself.
The overall layout is cluttered with a lot of mostly useless info right up front. That stuff matters but should take a backseat to your art which should be front and center and in the persons face. I'm not too familiar with Behance or what layouts it offers, but there are a lot of portfolio building sites out there that do great job of creating a minimalist portfolio with the art taking center stage. www.Carbonmade.com www.weebly.com www.portfoliobox.net even www.blogger.com can do a decent minimalist portfolio. Most of them are super easy to use and free so not being able to create a proper portfolio comes off as putting in a minimal amount of effort.
If you can, spring for your own domain name, it can help but it isn't critical. It's easier for people to remember if you tell them a simple URL like "oliverArt.com" instead of "behance.net/LewisOliver". Plus it looks a little more professional when you send out links. Now keep in mind that is all predicated on the fact that you have jaw dropping art. Just getting a great URL and a minimalist portfolio won't land you jack diddly without the art. Which brings me to the next point...
The art
It's a decent start but not going to land you a job. Sorry if that sounds brutal but I don't want to pull any punches. It's a tough market to enter and you should look at with your eyes wide open.
You're portfolio shows a lot of potential and it shows that you have some of the basics down but it needs refinement and practice. You're job winning portfolio is a few more environments away, hopefully that sounds like good news and you're jazzed to do better, because that's a mindset employers look for also.
Your portfolio shows you're making progress and that is encouraging but you need to keep at it because each piece you create is a step forward over your previous work. You need to ABF Always Be Flushing out your portfolio. That's really the only way anyone gets to the level they need to be.
Here is some feedback on some of the pieces in your portfolio
The Barrel is extremely low poly and blocky. It's a very very basic object,that is in a lot of "student portfolios", you can make a cylinder, hooray.
Research what you're building
Being able to research objects and critique your own art is critical. You need to drill down deeper than what your average gamer sees. Spending a few min digging around on google learning about how and why something is made will save you a ton of time and give you a lot of material to work with. When you don't, you get "the student barrel".
The proportions of the boards on the barrel are too thick and generally the boards of a barrel are refined and sanded to a pretty high degree, the wood is dense and as blemish free as they can get it. It shouldn't look like fence, rough unrefined porous and unlikely to seal anything inside.
The straps look painted on and the material doesn't look like metal. The type of metal used on barrels is typically pretty refined and not pitted and full of imperfections. This type of metal is almost always defined by it's reflective properties which are defined by the material but your shader only has two aspects of the material, color and bump, no reflection. This is bad news for metal... You can only define a very narrow type of metal without some kind of reflection. This tells me you haven't made much metal or if you have you don't think anyone else will care? Lazy or inept, not what you want
The straps don't seem to have their own volume or be a separate entity. There isn't any AO around the, and there is very little evidence that they are actually restraining the wood. Also most barrels have a strap around the top and bottom rim. If anything knocks against one of those boards it can create a leak.
The nails don't make sense on a barrel and they show up in odd places, like around the inner rim. There are a lot of knots, they try not to use knotty wood because it can create a lot of problems when the knots shrink.
There shouldn't be two 1024 maps, you should be able to get it done with a single 512 or 256.
This doesn't look like it was baked from a higher poly mesh and since I don't see any other sculpted models in your portfolio, it's probably not a skill you have worked on yet?
The normals look generated from the diffuse which was photosourced. The fact that it started out as a photo isn't bad, that happens all the time. The fact that it looks like it was photosourced is bad.
So you're probably thinking... "Ok, remove the barrel?"
The solution isn't to remove the barrel from your portfolio, but to replace it with a barrel that kicks ass! Or better yet a storeroom full of kickass barrels with amazing composition, lighting and a bit of a story to the shot.
So you're probably thinking... "F*ck I suck at this"
The industry expects more than what you currently have to offer. The good news is that you know you can do better, otherwise you wouldn't be asking for advice, heh.
You'll either buckle under the weight of what you have to do, or dig down and find what it takes to keep moving forward. It's up to you to do it, the school won't do it for you, they might help with some guidance but you'll have to put in the hard work to make it happen. If you feel like giving up just remember that this skill, the persistence and the tenacity to not give in to that little voice that says its ok to quit, that skill carries over into everything else you do in life. Even if you decide to leave the industry. It's best you master it now
Your portfolio is only as good as your weakest piece.
Learn to maintain consistency. I almost made the mistake of being too attached to art that wasn't helping me at all. Focus all your energy on only showcasing pieces that are meant to look good. If you worked on something you didn't give it your all, either fix it or get rid of it.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150133
Again thank you for all the time you put into your responses.
Actually I think behance is like the biggest site where you can find commercial art in graphic design / architectural previsualizations or advertising, plus it's backed by Adobe now. I would definitely not call it amateurish, but it might not be ideal to showcase real-time art (you're mostly limited by image size)