Struggling to break back into the Industry- Folio ?
Hey there, I've been out of work as an 3d artist for a while and sick to back teeth of having the same conversations with recruitment agents or seeing adverts asking for a "3D artist with AMAZING 2D skills that can animate while doing vector art and solid concepting skills". I'm contemplating chucking it in now.
I thought perhaps a bit of feedback from the community would spot what I'm missing. I've tried out for a few jobs over the last 6 months and got to interview stages 5 times completed a number of art tests but never progressed to filling the post.Can anyone here offer any critical advice based on my folio's content.
http://www.philmccabe.com/
History wise I was made redundant back in 2010 and since then muddled through working remotely (terribly boring TBH sitting on your todd all day as opposed to working with folk in an office) or worked at the local uni but relocations never been a factor I've always been up from moving down from the sticks for the job.
Anyway i thought i'd see if anyone had some helpful advice
Cheers
-Phil
I thought perhaps a bit of feedback from the community would spot what I'm missing. I've tried out for a few jobs over the last 6 months and got to interview stages 5 times completed a number of art tests but never progressed to filling the post.Can anyone here offer any critical advice based on my folio's content.
http://www.philmccabe.com/
History wise I was made redundant back in 2010 and since then muddled through working remotely (terribly boring TBH sitting on your todd all day as opposed to working with folk in an office) or worked at the local uni but relocations never been a factor I've always been up from moving down from the sticks for the job.
Anyway i thought i'd see if anyone had some helpful advice
Cheers
-Phil
Replies
Also it might be worth it to look into Indie studios. You have good skills in a lot of areas and that is something that indies want.
Overall just keep at it. I have been struggling to get back into the Industry for almost a year now. Jumping from one small freelance gig to another. I am just now getting somewhere. Also I have been working in games for over 3 years now without a full time position. It's really rough competitive times right now. Keep making art!
Agree 100%. The models themselves seem to be really solid but you're missing the last 20%!!
I think the fire extinguisher and the lamp could use a new set of textures (PBR obviously). If you really nail the textures and spend a few hours really trying to present it SUPER well in Toolbag those pieces will pop!
For the fire extinguisher for example, REALLY study the fine details of one. Usually, the paint has a slight waviness to it and maybe a few areas where too much paint was applied. If you can get those small details down I think it will really help.
The level of quality you should be aiming for is not "as good as" those in a game, but better. The limiting factor for professionals is (usually) not skill, but time; art directors typically assume that you have unlimited time to work on your portfolio, and only stop when you get bored or can't improve any further.
I'd advise that you pick 4-6 of your best pieces, and polish them. If any of the pieces were professional rather than personal, then indicate it in the description.
Also, rendering in a game engine would show that you understand the complete process, from concept to inclusion in a game.
A lot of us have been in this situation. But don't give up. There are a few things that I have seen from my experience that people need to understand:
Sometimes, you need to go where the game studios are. You need to get your face in front of their face. An email or LinkedIn connection will only get you so far when you are thousand miles away. It's been true for me that it's not always what you know, but who you know. Make friends.
Something that I have been noticing recently is, you can be the greatest artist of all time. But if you're an asshole (not saying you are, I don't know you) and you can't work with other people, you're not going to be in this industry very long. Negative attitudes are contagious. It can destroy a team. You have to be a genuinely nice person and demonstrate that go-get-em attitude as often as possible. You certainly don't need to have the greatest personality in the world (ever meet a programmer?) but it really can help. And unfortunately, so can brown nosing. Yes, it happens, and I shake my head every time I see how effective it is.
With that said, I like that you have Characters and Environments. I would argue the exact opposite for mobile and smaller indie studios as that's what they want to see. Someone that can do a variety of work. I can't say the same for AAA so it depends on where you are applying. Tailor your portfolio for where you want to be and soldier on my friend.
The sketchbook shows you can draw.
Kill the character stuff, it's by far your weakest work - but you have it as the first things you see.
The props are generally good. Remove that gun, that's weak and boxy.
The environments as good I think - but one or two grabs? Give us more!
In summary:
Kill the characters, show more shots and breakdowns. Remove that boxy gun.
"Art test my second piece in UDK" punctuation maybe?
"It was a great to experiment with the Unreal Dev Kit..." -a ?
Your skin is especially weak. Sure, not every model needs to be pushed to a pores and blemishes level, nor can every character have maps down to the subdermis detail, but right now you're lacking some pretty basic creases, and the spec/gloss seems to be just super flat, but without the intent of handpainted detailing it just looks... mediocre, and not very impressive.
The super close up of the Walking Dead model's flat, muddy skin texture for the character section is probably a bad idea (eye casings probably shouldn't have that much spec, either). I'd probably choose the second Orc render as the cover image; it's much cleaner and the work is far more solid and "finished", moreso than any of your other characters.
While you're at it, I'd personally move the orc up top and redo the first image of him shown. Pose him, and render in Marmoset so your Normals don't look so... Bump-map-y. Maybe go with a darker background just for the posed one, but stick with the clean white for the breakdown renders. Those are fine. That's just what I think would show off the piece well of course, you know your work and might be able to come up with something even better.
The screencap of her from Zbrush with the lines from the canvas going across the sculpt is kinda strange, too. You're clearly capable of more than this; Your prop presentation is much better, and even further down the page here are well presented sculpts and better renders, so what gives? It really makes it feel like you just don't care enough (even if that's not the case). Sidenote, you could have stood to give more texture space to the dreds to allow for more than just the one texture on every single strand. It's super obvious.
Your "Art test my second piece in UDK" piece is pretty weak, I'd remove it entirely. I've seen other people tackle this scene, and I've seen them do better; always a bad idea to have something people can draw direct comparisons to.
The abandoned school is pretty nice, and your professional work is good.
Question. Are you ordering your pieces in terms of most recent? Because near every page has a bad piece at the top, some pretty good pieces in the middle, then a mixed bag towards the bottom, and its hard to tell if you've ordered it by what you think is best, Least recent to most recent, or Most recent to least.
All in all, your portfolio is lacking focus. It's hard for me to tell what you like doing, what you're best at and what you want to be. It leaves me feeling a little confused at what you're really capable of, especially in regards to characters.
I suggest you cull all your weakest pieces, evaluate what you want out of your career, and go from there.
(Tried to make this easier to read.)
Take it further. If this is only your second piece in UDK imagine what your further UDK pieces would be like (hopefully better)!
But at this point, I would scrap UDK and pick up UE4 and try and get a strong grasp on PBR.
You've got the fundamentals down. I would just continue to work on new pieces and replace older/weaker pieces. Keep on pushing yourself to new heights!
Hang in there!
stevsnton89- Thank you for the reply I'm reconsidering where I want to be and what I want to do I think from the general consensus the props is a good place to start. I've culled the folio to start rebuilding the props section first. I hear you regarding short contract it’s not easy thanks for the encouragement I hope you get the position your after very soon!
Slosh - thanks very much for taking the time to look and reply I see that I've lost focus and working from home lost that critical push to make better work I'll be reigning in my scope with new pieces for a props folio based on your advice.
beefaroni - thanks mate like a said I think it’s a product of not having a critical eye something that I could perhaps get form becoming more active on the forum perhaps? The next piece I do will go for that last 20%
Dwalker - Again thanks and I'll take that on board keep it smaller and more focussed on quality. Try to push it beyond what I see in game now. I do use marmoset 2 now do you think it better to go with a purely Unreal or Cry engine display?
Gobee - I hear you regarding having both environments and characters it is a little confusing what to do sometimes. Do I cover all the bases and have a little of everything or really specialise on one aspect? I think I'd left more art in with each rejection trying to chase more and more jobs.
I'm sure it’s not a personality thing more likely it’s a sh*t work thing. Thanks for the encouragement
Rick - cheers I'm a big fan of bullet points. The characters are gone as I said I'm refocussing on props till I can nail 4 good pieces. I'll really work on the presentation and breakdowns hopefully I’ll improve and it would be nice to have the clear out and a fresh start with work I think.
PerHaggmark- em... thanks
NegevPro and BagelHero - thanks for the encouragement I appreciate it. As I've said above I'll be focusing more and presenting better, fewer pieces.
Tobbo - Thanks man I'll push it further with new pieces. You'd recommend UE4 over Marmoset 2's PBR?
Thanks again everyone
You could use Toolbag 2 for scenes as well, but I would use that opportunity to learn and become familiar with constructing scenes, lighting, etc. inside of UE4. It's also nice to show on your portfolio/resume that you know what you are doing in UE4 and that you can achieve professional results inside of it.