Looking for a portfolio critique/advice.

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  Alemja hero character

  Oct 2018

  You have some really nice stuff! Overally I think you have some good skills but you need that final push to make things better. I'll try and go through every entry

  
  

  • Bathroom - remove this, it's really lackluster compared to your other mini dioramas
  • Peacekeeper and Troublemaker - I like these, but I think your presentation is really letting you down on your images. It looks really nice in the Sketchfab viewer with the subtle lighting and blue backlight, the images are just meh in comparison. I would also show wires and texture sheets, give us specs!
  • Mail Keeper - This is really cute! This should probably be first on your portfolio, again show us wires and textures. If I was to give minor nit-picky crits, it would be to re-work the tree, it's the weakest part, add a little bit more color variation and AO to the textures (if you can) to liven them up and push them more and take the time to add a little more character to some parts, grass at the base, boards that are slightly crooked, rotate the owl so it's not dead on, things like that.
  • Desert portal - very nice, this one has a texture sheet. Again if I was to be nit-picky it would be to add an element that has a different color to bring in some extra interest (cacti or colored tarp perhaps?), there is a lot of brown in this one, but overall it's very nice. This should also be one of the first ones you show
    
  • The Strange Lands - Wooden boards are a little too same-y across the building on this one. You have some nice props in here, but it doesn't feel like it's in a cohesive scene, everything is kinda apart from each other and not really interacting. Like have the bushes growing around the fallen log, have grass grown around the rocks and stumps, make the cabin not a rectangle etc. If you fixed up the wooden boards to give variation and re-arrange all of the vegetation this could look so much better.
  • Stylized PBR Texture pack - I would have the corner scenes compiled into 1 image, like you have for the wall patterns lower on the page, it will give your pack more visual oomph and help it be more appealing. Put it on the Artstation store too!
  • Greatsword of Frozen Hells Fan-Art - This is good, I'm not a fan of the brown background on sketchfab though, a blu-ish grey would present your work better imo
  • Demonic Potion - This is good, give us wires and texture sheets
  • Darkenblade Fan-Art - You only have 1 version in the sketchfab, it should have both.Would liek to see wires, textures and a little more color variation on the textures. This might be one you get rid of
  • Light of the Titans Fan-Art - noise freqency is a little high on this, but I think it's overall good, just need wires and texture sheets. Also always start with your final renders, sculpts should come after in image order.
    
  • Dragon Defender Set Fan-Art - This needs some more color variation in the texture, but overall I like it. Since it's older you can replace it as you make new work
  • I would get rid of the rest - WildStar Signboard Fan-Art, Prideful Gladiator's Gavel Fan Art, Sublade Fan-Art and Halcyon Death Fan-Art. They just don't age as well as your other work and you've clearly improved since then.

  
  

  I hope you find this helpful!
  

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  qwedeath polycounter lvl 9

  Oct 2018

  @Alemja Hello, thanks a lot for such detailed review i am shocked haha. This will help me a lot, definetely will redo/tweak some pieces and come back later with the update. 
  As for texture sheets and wireframe you can check them in Sketchfab viewer, but i can add them as external screenshots in the future if you think this will help. Also as for Peacekeeper and Troublemaker screenshots, i like to attach unlit screens to pieces with handpainted textures just to show how it will look without lighting.  

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  Alemja hero character

  Oct 2018

  As for texture sheets and wireframe you can check them in Sketchfab viewer, but i can add them as external screenshots in the future if you think this will help. Also as for Peacekeeper and Troublemaker screenshots, i like to attach unlit screens to pieces with handpainted textures just to show how it will look without lighting.  

  I'm glad you found it helpful!
  

  
  

  Definitely do external sheets, they are helpful for when sketchfab can't or won't work. We also can't see how your textures are laid out in Sketchfab and that can be really important information to show if you're doing tiled textures or trim sheets.

  
  

  Peacekeeper and Troublemaker just don't have great presentations for the unlit textures and it just seems super obvious when you compart it to the sketchfab. The background is too light, they just feel so flat here is a quick mock-up to show what I mean (adjustments on the right)

  
  

  I tried to make the background echo the way it looks on sketchfab with the darker background and the "spot" light, it just adds way more interest to your renders if you take the time to give them a little more love.

  
  

  Another thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that you should always lead with the pretty renders first on your project page. Then some breakdowns then sketchfab and the sculpts last. The reason for that is same as what I said above, sketchfab can't or won't always load, or worse people won't take the time to look at it. Images are there to give them all of the info they need to know with a quick scroll because recruiters and art leads only have so much time in the day and other candidates to look at.
  

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  qwedeath polycounter lvl 9

  Oct 2018

  @Alemja Thanks again! Some really good info for me, i have troubles with presentation thats for sure 

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