Creating First portfolio (Looking for feedback)
polycounter lvl 9
Hello all! I am an aspiring environment artist hoping to land that all desirable studio position, but I have a slight problem, no portfolio. So I felt coming to you, the great Polycount community, to help me would be super beneficial. I will be posting some asset breakdowns and general portfolio goodness with the hopes of being critiqued and guided into landing my first studio job! Thank you again for your time and expertise! It is very much appreciated! =]
So to begin my first post I have an asset breakdown of a rock that I have recently completed. I have two different breakdowns, essentially displaying the same information in two different layouts. So the first question being, which of these layouts work better, and the second question being, what information do I typically want to include in these breakdowns?
So to begin my first post I have an asset breakdown of a rock that I have recently completed. I have two different breakdowns, essentially displaying the same information in two different layouts. So the first question being, which of these layouts work better, and the second question being, what information do I typically want to include in these breakdowns?
Replies
The key is to lead with the beauty shots that show off the model best, then show the breakdown.
I would also suggest not putting too much information in one spot. That AO/Curve/Edge/combined map is a bit too much for a relatively simple piece like this. The rock looks solid and it's best inside the game engine, so try to open with beauty shots out of the engine or your preferred renderer. Always open with your best pieces, breakdowns come later (they don't even necessarily have to be included in the gallery at all, referencing a polycount thread or a personal blog entry is perfectly valid). Generally, somebody visiting your portfolio and interested in hiring you will want to see your finished art and projects or in short: everything you've accomplished in your relevant profession so far, presented in a professional and equally visually pleasing manner. I know this is not an easy task if you just don't have much to show yet (and believe me, I suffer under similar circumstances), but I would stay away from WIP shots and anything, that you don't consider finished yourself. Still, if you have a project you know you won't finish but want to include in your portfolio because you spend a lot of time with it and deem it worthy, render it out in the best way possible, match it to your website's design and put it up there - and then move on to the next project.
Edit: Also, some practical critique on the second image. It's not optimal because it forces me to scroll down waaay to far for just one asset and the kind of information I'm getting. Try putting more pieces of information horizontally (for example all the textures). Also optimize the negative spaces by bringing the headings and general font size down by a lot and go for a more compact design. Also, grey backgrounds are common and totally okay to use, but it should not be the dominant element of the image, which it kind of is because you have that big border on the left side going all the way down.
Portfolio
Also, you planning to build any environments.
Also, read this
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122273
in particular
Also, personal preference but I feel people who have solid or really good work don't write crazy statements or have to write stuff like they are really passionate.
My English is bad, but the first sentence doesn't make sense. But, the about should probably just be your age, your name and maybe any education you have had.
anyway I think youre on the right track, but really focus on learning the right techniques.
Hope this helps
Tim
http://www.bogley.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40371&d=1294436305
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3886/14443782303_16f76a5d89_b.jpg
http://zebra400.com/2009-10-Northern%20NSW/slides/31-More%20interesting%20rocks%20in%20Bald%20Rock%20NP.JPG
https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/f5/71/98/parco-nazionale-dell.jpg
https://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-76fe19751aff69617e4543b64bfd69a8?convert_to_webp=true
https://c278592.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com/original/137232.jpg
http://www.freeimages.com/assets/3/21590/interesting-rocks-316458-m.jpg
Your shape, design and color choice is boring. Sure, it looks like its supposed to, and you probably will do this in a studio at some point, but this is your portfolio, the best of what you have to offer, I'm supposed to be wowed by your work, and all im looking at is 2 rocks. Make a scene man! Do something interesting. Your an artist! Put those color theory skills and composition skills to the test. If your coming into this with no art theory background, get up to speed on all of this. I can find a hundred people who can do that rock. What I want to see is someone who can take that boring subject madder and make it into something artistically interesting and unique.
Plus, a rock in the grass. Realy? Why not model air or something /sarcasm. Put that rock with other rocks. Put it in a scene. Make a unique image out of it. Add lighting. Add color. Do something that actually says your an environment artist, not someone who just started out modeling and made a rock because it was easy. The examples I showed yeah. All are pretty cool in there own way. Use references to get a good idea of lighting and composition.
Anyways, Id worry more about that then what a portfolio site looks like. Artstation is pretty good. You cannot go wrong with that. We all started somewhere. Just keep pushing it dude!
@tomenjerry I agree normally I would create the diffuse and normals as part of the whole, but the idea was to create a scaleable asset in which the texture would continue to have the same texel density no matter the scaling of the object. And I kept the Edge Cavity and AO seperate (Well combined into one texture atlas using the RGB Channels) To control different things within the texture. And as soon as I can I will post the HP Sculpt for you to check out.