[critique] Just Graduated, Looking for Demo Reel Critique Please
polycounter lvl 2
Hello everyone,
I graduated from college last month, and I'm now searching for a job in the game industry as an environment artist. Could you please give me some honest feedback on my demo reel and website. Thank you.
here's the link: http://toyinobasa.wixsite.com/portfolio
I graduated from college last month, and I'm now searching for a job in the game industry as an environment artist. Could you please give me some honest feedback on my demo reel and website. Thank you.
here's the link: http://toyinobasa.wixsite.com/portfolio
Replies
For your work, the first page should be your breakdown section in reality. A demo Reel is usually of FX, animators, and riggers. Nobody wants to be forced to watch a video. People who hire want to go through fast and if they want to take there time they should be in control of that. Some might even skip your portfolio if they can't find what they want or become impatient. Artstation is a good example of how a website or entry page should look like. name and occupation on top. gallery or work on the bottom. The 3d model page with the video turntable animations should be put in your enviornment section for the area you use it. They look undone though. unless its a highpoly but we I or other people look at it. it looks like unfinished work.
star citizen is your strongest work. Chameleon and curiosity you should remove. The others or so so. Courtyard has potential but feels incomplete. You need to work on your metallic and roughness channels. Alot of things feel the same in that area form wood to concrete and walls. Your tiling for large areas also need work. Star Citizen didn't seem to have that issue though.
In your sci-fi room scene, when you show your models like this one, is this the in-game asset or your highpoly? If it's your in-game assets, then it's not a "game ready" asset due to the huge amount of edges. But it's fine if it's your highpoly.
I agree with the other replies that you should move to artstation instead of Wix. I didn't like navigating your website and many times I wanted to see a larger view of a screenshot but either you didn't have one or that Wix's picture viewer got janky.
I would completely remove your 3D Models section because untextured models just says that you're not able to finish a prop to completion. I also don't like how they're all animated turntables and would prefer large static screen shots, but thats my own preference.
It seems that you're not baking out any normal details or adding any using a program like Substance Painter. This is a very necessary skill to know if you're looking to get a game job.
Lastly, I would continue to improve on learning how to best present your scenes inside of Unreal. Unreal can produce some amazing results, but your scenes aren't fully taking advantage of what the engine can do. This includes better lighting your scenes and better representation of your PBR materials
http://www.clintoncrumpler.com/
As soon as they open your website they should be able to see all your work and who you are. Personally I wouldn't have a breakdowns page and would just have your 2-3 strongest pieces as seperate buttons or just have a main portfolio button to go back to.
Star Citizen:
Definitely your strongest piece.
I'd move the breakdowns to the bottom of the page so that someone can get a good look at all the final shots first.
I'm not a big fan of the marmoset turn arounds, they are quite aliased at the size they are and if you open them in full screen it takes you back to the top of the page when you close it. Also you are showing high poly wires for some assets but no low poly, to me it seems like the low poly is far more important, especially for games.
The turn around of your central holographic thing makes it look like your work is unfinished, although its just because the material isn't applied. If you want to show this prop I would do some nice renders in unreal of it alone. The turn around you have now doesn't really serve much purpose.
It would be nice to see low polys and texture sheets for things, I don't think I've seen any your portfolio yet.
Abandoned library:
This scene has a lot of potential but the lighting is really dull. Bring some interest to it, I'd diverge from your reference image and try to come up with something a bit more exciting.
http://www.dewboy.net/html/09_udk_library/library_abandoned_concept.jpg
https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/003/898/558/large/ng-zaccheus-matte-painting.jpg?1478341243
for example
Your images all have these darkening roll over effect, remove it if you can, its pretty annoying.
I'd remove curiosity and the chameleon. If you are going for a games job then you don't need prerendered stuff and they aren't your strongest works. I'd also get rid of the 3d models section, just show finished props that you've made for your scene. Unfinished/untextured meshes aren't that interesting to see unless they are really detailed and complex hard surface stuff (tor frick for example)
Your Resume seems solid design wise, if you can find a way to make it automatically fit to view that would be good, as for me I had to scroll slightly to see the whole thing. Also, I had to scroll down the page to see that I could download a pdf, maybe move that near to the top or put a link right above to make it obvious as soon as you open the page.
Good luck!