Portfolio feedback and critique

CybranM · Jul 2019

Hi everyone, I've been working on my portfolio for quite a while and now that I've updated my website I'd love to get some feedback on both.

Ideally I'd hope to get a job as a prop, vehicle or weapons artist as hardsurface modelling is what I'm best at.

I tried to keep the quality the assets as high as I could but I'm not sure if I've spread them out too much in terms of what they are (IE one vehicle, a few props and two weapons) and if I should have focused on making only one typ of asset.

I've tried to streamline my website as best I could to showcase the assets without much clutter or hiding them behind menus.

Website link: https://www.martinholmstrom.com/

Artstation link: https://www.artstation.com/martinholmstrom

I'd appreciate any and all feedback on my portfolio

Lucas Annunziata · Jul 2019

Hey @CybranM

I think your work is pretty decent. Your modelling and baking skills seem solid, but your texturing while competent is lacking that extra love. Right now everything in your portfolio is super clean and lacks much weathering or story telling. You've got some chips here and there on things, but I'd like to see you take an asset and rough it up a bit more and add something unique to it.

The УTБ 12 Exterior is a good example of this where you could push a bit more visual interest. I'm now sure how you are doing the snow blending but it all looks uniform and bland.

CybranM · Jul 2019

@Lucas Annunziata Thanks for the honest feedback.
I agree with your view on the texturing and it's something I'll work on improving. In regards to the УTБ-12 exterior, I bit off a bit more than I could chew when I tried a lot of new things at the same time and in the end it came out worse than I had hoped.

Zi0 · Jul 2019

The УTБ 12 Exterior should get some more love, its your strongest piece. The environments its in look pretty boring, lighting isnt great etc. IMO you would be better of by ditching it and the snow and go for a simple but more readable render, some examples below:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lVl4Ak
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XBGVPY
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oOQVoW

The sphere droid is nice but could use better lighting

CybranM · Jul 2019

@Zi0 Thanks for the feedback, I'll update the environment and lighting for the УTБ-12 but since I used masked tiling materials for the textures I'm unsure if I can make them look much better. The Zil 135 you linked is superb and when I make another vehicle I'll definitely go that route, with unique instead of masked tiling textures. I hoped I could get better closeup resolution with the masked tiling textures but the downsides were harsher than I first thought.

I'll add updating lighting for the Sphere Droid to my todo list

Shrike · Jul 2019

the models are good but the texturing needs to be more developed, especially on the russian vehicle, the outside looks rather fake with the lack of wear and the clean even surface with the baked details, that needs either an overhaul or should be cut, the interior looks better, likely by nature of the interior things, but could also have a lot more granularity in the texturing

Not a fan of the orange and medium gray style of the website, it looks a bit cheesy, different colors would help, and medium gray is rarely good anywhere

Also you can't mix a such extreme sci-fi font and then use serifs for your descriptions
Text also needs space, make sure to have proper spacing in the navigation or even in the watermarks

Id also just cut the UTS and the axe

CybranM · Jul 2019

@Shrike Thanks for the great feedback and for taking the time to look at the website.
I'll look into what I can do with the УTБ-12 exterior, I might overhaul it and use unique textures since both you and Zi0 thought it needed work.

I'll tweak the website based on your feedback, it helps a lot to get someone else's opinion on the design.
My todo list is growing

JonJo · Jul 2019

@CybranM Yo dude, your portfolio is looking good! I think there are definitely a couple of things you could improve upon though. Your primary pieces (the camera and the droid) are very nice, but lack strong presentation or interesting texturing. Might be worth studying some of the texturing done by Dekogon Artists or by Mario Dalla Bona on his Mad Bombers Basement project. I think if you pushed the textures and materials on your assets a bit further, it will go a long way.

You could also update the presentations and thumbnails of your older pieces to be a bit more uniform with your other pieces. It's less distracting and more professional.

I would also scrap the grenade project honestly. The colors are rather ugly and it just screams tutorial. I'm not knocking your hard surface skills here at all, it's clear you know what you're doing, but showing this just reduces the originality of your portfolio as I've seen that prop all over the place. First result on google when I searched for Sci-fi grenade, not a good look! Showing originality like you have with your other works is so much more valuable at this stage.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/5e/nekljx1k1y3y.jpg

I think you might also be struggling to find something if you're trying to aim for 3 different types of jobs. Vehicle, Weapons, Props, Hard Surface. These are usually different jobs completely in triple A and if you're trying to do all of them, your focus is split making your portfolio look average in all these areas instead of amazing in one. Whichever you have the most passion for, put all your energy into that.

I agree with some of the comments other people made about your colour scheme too, the orange is a bit much. The big orange text that says "Martin Holmstrom" at the bottom of each screenshot and thumbnail is so distracting. Personal opinion time - I don't think it's worth watermarking your work with an email link. Artists looking to hire people will be already be looking on artstation or polycount so throwing this in there just detracts from your piece.

Some big ideas here for how to push your portfolio forward take it or leave it, I know I've suggested some pretty large changes to your portfolio. I really like your work and I see a lot of potential in your latest pieces. Keep it up dude, more sick art, more sick presentation, and getting your name out there on social media platforms to help boost your presence will help massively.

Best of luck bud.

CybranM · Jul 2019

@JonJo Thanks for the detailed feedback, it really helps.
Mario Dalla Bona's models are superb and I agree that texturing is something I have to work on improving. I find it hard to make the objects feel worn without it being overdone.

I'll definitely go back and update the images to remove the watermark and you bring up a good point about the scifi grenade, I'll remove it. It's hard to decide what I want to focus on but I agree that I should pick one "field" instead of spreading out.

In regards to the orange on the website, I can either tone it down, change the colour to something else or make it black & white.
Toned down example:

Same as it is now but reduced the % of orange on the screen

Blue example:

White example:

I think the white/grey is the weakest but I'd love to hear your opinion on which one you prefer

I really appreciate you taking the time to give feedback so I definitely wont "leave it"

JonJo · Jul 2019

@CybranM
Glad to hear the advice was of some use. You're definitely close, just another couple of solid pieces really pushing yourself, and refining some of your older work. Personally, I like the blue scheme the most. It's very readable and quite easy on the eyes. Best of luck moving forward dude, I look forward to seeing how things go

Portfolio feedback and critique

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