My portfolio is a mess and I refuse to go back to college (Portfolio Critique)
polycounter lvl 5
Hi all! I'm a freelance artist based out of Fayetteville Arkansas. I work on a lot of jobs that I either can't show or are not worth showing such as soap bottles, baby alarms, I even made litter box one time. The point is I want to be a bad ass game artist. But have no direction when it comes to what companies look for on portfolios. I can spend all of my free time every day making "things" but in the end when they're all laid out it's still a weak presentation. Anyways, no strings attached, I have no feelings for anything I've made so far. I expect bluntness, even if your comment is derogatory it's still helpful. I plan on moving my new portfolio to Sketchfab and scrapping my Carbonmade sub.
https://goswick.carbonmade.com/
Cheers
https://goswick.carbonmade.com/
Cheers
Replies
First things first, don't show your weak pieces, I don't wanna point fingers but if I had to name one would be the cupcake (lol), I highly suggest you to use the final render as the thumbnail on each work on your portfolio, because the first impression its the strongest, there are a couple of pieces that have a nice render but their thumbnail its an un-textured picture, and that won't make people click on it, also you should learn and practice PBR Texturing, the quality you can get its mind blown.
Too long didn't read version:
1.- Remove weak pieces
2.- Update thumbnails and be organized overall, the portfolio its a boring mess in its current state
3.- Learn PBR Texturing
Also, one of the biggest problems I see is your lack of presentation. It doesn't look like any thought was put into these renders. Plain boring background, flat lighting, many of them with no textures. This is unacceptable when applying for a game art position.
Yes your portfolio needs some help. You are already aware of this. I hope you take whatever is said here and improve. So please post again when you have a significant update. You can change websites if you want, but a new design, or address or layout will not help make your art look any better. Focus on your art first and making it presentable to a studio.
Getting into the industry as a junior is very hard, but it's doable. The trick is to focus on quality and prove that you can get the job done. You need to show your strong points as soon as the page is opened, and you will be judged on your worse job. That cupcake thing is fun on a blog, but this is going to cost you the job most of the time. Pick some of your best work and present it in a professional manner. Give information about the process, the programs used, the budget in time and triangles, ... Show that you know your stuff. Studios look for people who can get the job done, they don't want to take risks. There's thousands of applicants, it's a sad thing but any mistake will get you out without even an interview.
A good trick is to always think about the interview process. You will most likely be asked to go over you own porfolio and talk about it in front of the leads. Think of what you could say about every piece. Can you talk about interesting workflow you tried on that one? Can you talk about your strong points on this one? What exactly are you going to tell to the art director of a triple A studio when you come to the cupcake boy?
Also, try to think about what you want to become. You're looking to head into the prop art territory. That's fine, but keep in mind that any specialized position will probably require more quality. You'll be working only on props, so you need to nail it. Consider making something really impressive and make that your main piece. Avoid stuff like your buggy car. It's not bad at all, but it would be considered blockout/early wip by vehicle artists.
Like the others said, you got good stuff though. Be professional and focus on quality, you'll make it.
A lot of stuff and the best stuff is located at the bottom end of the page where you have to scroll and even click on it to really see it.
my suggestions:
1. make better textures for the ammo box
2. finish the leaf blower thing with a low-poly mesh and perfect normal bake
3. make new blade for the witch hunter sword and put it on sketchfab (might be your best asset)
4. model one big hero piece like the dune buggy (but no sketches and no WIPs)
Hey guys! how's this? It's not at sharp as GOBEE's bordered renderings but I think I will base my other project layouts like this template.
Remember, not everybody has good spatial awareness like us.
Now put a bit more information into the roughness / glossiness channel like dirt and dust. Then you can turn the light around a bit and it will look good with a visible specular reflection on it. You just need a clean presentation and thats it really.
- M1 Garand, Might be fixed with some texture improvements and better presentation, I think the presentation makes it look way worse than it actually is.
- Single shot blunderbuss, Weak textures and presentation.
- Unnamed shotgun, Same as above.
- Cupcake characters, doesn't show that much technical ability, the one on the top is creepy.
- Bolt arm, very under cooked, messy texture.
I notice a trend of some pretty weak materials, I'd say work on them and you'll see results. I'm using substance painter myself for the most part and would recommend it if you don't know any programs for pbr texturing.
Check it out guys! all of the cool tips and critiques you took time out of your day to give me are being applied! I bet that feels good doesn't it.
- The ammo box still needs work, I made the suggested changes, then rendered what I have now, and am back in Substance Painter continuing work on it. The rendering is to show changes made, as well as new background and layout.
Well, on that note I believe this thread is coming to a close, please feel free to add any more comments or critiques, I will be updating the rest of my portfolio to match the ammo box style! I really do appreciate the time taken to help, you're all a buncha pros.
I saw that, I'm not going to beat the dead horse; I definitely messed up on that maya bake. It's becoming more clear that I need to take more time on cleanup and presentation than I do on modeling.
Thank you man! These are unbelievable!
Hey everyone! I know it's been a while but the changes I was asked to make were pretty big!
Thanks again
goswick.carbonmade.com