Crit my Portfolio.
Hey everyone,
I am relatively new to polycount, but thought that using it to get some criticisms on my portfolio would be great...
joey-stinks.com
This is my first website, and it is certainly a WIP. A few things that I am aware of are a couple of the links non-existent (the second and third tiles in row two), and I have no demo reel up at the moment.
I hope to have these corrected, more content up, and any other corrections that come up through this thread taken care of shortly.
Thanks in advance!!
Joe.
I am relatively new to polycount, but thought that using it to get some criticisms on my portfolio would be great...
joey-stinks.com
This is my first website, and it is certainly a WIP. A few things that I am aware of are a couple of the links non-existent (the second and third tiles in row two), and I have no demo reel up at the moment.
I hope to have these corrected, more content up, and any other corrections that come up through this thread taken care of shortly.
Thanks in advance!!
Joe.
Replies
welcome to polycount!
Maybe you should change your web adresse with http://joey-doesnt-stink.com unless thats already taken because your Hi poly work looks cool!
You show nice knowledge about baking and modeling but I d really like to see something finished. Your website lacks color. Id put like a gray/desaturated color on the back ground and make colorfull props so that your work pop out. Right now, my eye doesnt really know where to go.
I would suggest to check out some unreal tutorials here: http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?p=951210 or http://hourences.com/book/tutorialsindex.htm
and learn about UE3 materials and texturing to push your work to push the presentation further.
Keep up the good work, you are on the right path.
Good luck.
The only images you should have on your site should only be a header for your name/title if you're using a more unique font and blending styles for some effects (right now they don't really compliment the text they just kind of make everything look blurry)
...and the thumbnails/main images for your portfolio pieces.
I'd recommend swapping out the navigation for a CSS navigation bar that you can style to fit your color scheme. These can also have rollovers but they won't be nearly as large filesize wise as image rollovers.
Also, definitely work on a different color scheme. Find a better one here: http://www.colorschemedesigner.com/
You want colors that are unified but also complimental. Dull red, bleak yellow, and grey isn't very appealing to the eye. I would get rid of the grey all together unless you're going to use a greyscale color scheme.
Other than that, I'd say pick a different thumbnail than the pencil sketch portrait or whatever it is on the front page to something a little better like the last building on your sketchbook page. Also, fix the background image so it either scales or tiles dynamically depending on the resolution, right now it ends right in the middle of my browser since I have a widescreen monitor (most people do these days).
Welcome to polycount by the way, hope this helps.
use a better light setup,- add more brightness and color in the rendering. Instead of a white light maybe go for a light orange one that better fakes the sun warmth in the rendering.
some thumbnails like this one fail to work
all in all all you portfolio pieces lack COLOR, they are all just grey and at most just unfinished pieces.
Your resume is nicely structured just to say something nice.
So what to do?
- work on some textures
- make brighter (proper) renderings that are visually readable in shape and content
- fix the thumbnails
- maybe reduce the header logo (it takes like 30% of vertical space screen) - its simply to big
- change the button fonts (times new roman? - almost as bad as comic sans - never use that font every experienced designer will see that right away)
- rename "home" to portfolio or gallery - home is so 90's which is past
like anyone else that picks default windows fonts , here is a good free resource to get good fonts (not just fany, but actually readable and functional - which is more important as fancy in a portfolio)
http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=501&page=1&nb_ppp_old=10&text=Type+your+text+here&nb_ppp=50&psize=xs&classt=pop
Anyways, I believe you CAN get a job with just high poly work, but your going to have to be amazing at it if you go this route. You would need work like X-Convict or Kevin Johnstone for example (look them up here on Polycount if you don't know them).
So yes, you should start texturing stuff more, checkout this tutorial for starters:
http://eat3d.com/texturing
Also, I suggest you start modeling more normal stuff instead of sci-fi for a little while. Trying making cars, helicopters, buildings etc. These sort of models you can get good references of, and people will be able to tell if you built them accurately. It's too subject to personal opinion when you model things that don't actually exist in reality. Especially when you are starting out.
Good luck man, and keep it up. It looks like your headed in the right direction.
Brad, you were correct in that I was thinking that the URL would be catchy....this thread has proven otherwise, and I have already registered for JoeSteinke.com as its replacement.
I also realize that each prop should end up fully textured. I threw most of them up to have a bit of content, and am aware that they are not complete.
Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction, and I will continue to post my progress.
Joe.
(I would also like to apologize for not following forum etiquette and incorrectly titling my portfolio thread. I just got around to reading the rules thread.)
The thing that struck me most about your work was the lack of color......
http://www.poopinmymouth.com/ for example. Nobody cares about his domain because he's awesome at what he does.
Point being, with how hard it is to get a job in the games industry this day and age, you don't want anything that could potentially deter employers even if it is something as stupid as a url. While the url may not actually hurt him, it certainly won't help. And to be honest, people trying to break into the industry these days need all the help they can get. Anyways, I think its better to be safe then sorry and simply make a new url as jsteinke79 has apparently already done.
Ahh remembered what it was, www.mr-chompers.com looks like he's using to pimp photography.
The best one being that he met with an art director at a company he had applied to a year or so before at E3 or GDC (one of the gaming Expo type events) anyway the AD guy was like 'Hey,so your Ben Mathis, PoopinMyMouth...ya know when you applied to us,I didn't even check your site becuase I thought it was a joke,I threw your apllication out straight away, it wasn't until afew months later one of our artists commented about it and I was proved very wrong, but why have a site named that?" you get the general jist.:).
John
Personally I'm not really a fan of arbitrary decorative lines here and there, like underneath the buttons and to the side. I'd advise bigger single colour shapes instead of many tiny lines and forms with contrasting values.
Not sure if you are aware but there is white to the right of your site, but maybe that is part of the wip-ness.
lol poop, I was just gonna say his url could be "joeyeatschocolatecoveredturds" as long as the work is good
but thats just me...just like some1 else said, an art director could look at it and dismiss it right then n there, where I would laugh and actually check it out...you take a risk, its up to you