Hi all,
I have just recently started a course in game art at university and I wanted to recieve some criticisms or advice as to what direction I should take my portfolio in to land a job as an artist in the games industry. Im still learning the pipeline for creating game assets so I dont have many to showcase however any critism on any part of my portfolio will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.
Replies
In my opinion you've got a really strong start, so keep on keeping on and you should be fine when the time comes to start applying.
My main critique of the overall portfolio would be the AK-47 and the Star-Wars droid. They scream chamferzone tutorial, and although I'm not an employer, I feel it might not show much originality. Lots of people have very similar things on their portfolios and you don't want your hard work to be lumped in with all the other very similar pieces.
Your weapons are pretty cool, the revolver is especially badass. I think you need to spend the time to chamfer some of those hard edges. The Revolver and Carnifex are starting to look like CAD models from some places, and edges that hard could potentially cause some real anti-aliasing problems if thrown into game. It might not be as "realistic", but I think it would look a lot nicer.
Aside from that, I'd say spend your uni time split between your modules and personal work. It's a real boon when you go into an interview and can say your portfolio consists of mostly personal work. It shows you do it for pleasure in your free time, not just because the course demands it. As for landing a job, it might be advisable to start looking at what interests you (either character, environment, prop, weapon, vehicle) and then moving forward with that when you're into your second year. Take some time to experiment and find what really inspires you, then build a portfolio around it.
Finally, find a good balance between work and friends / family, you're life is just as important as your work! Good luck with Uni! It'll be a blast!