Student in need of Polycounts Wisdom (aka portfolio critique)
polycounter lvl 11
Hi guys 
I am currently a second semester student studying Animation & Game in Germany.
In a little more than half a year I'll have to do an intership, so I think it would be best to start applying next month or so. Which brings me to an essential point, the portfolio:
www.shyralon.weebly.com
I would be very thankfull for every piece of advise you can give me.
Really tear my portfolio apart and be as harsh as needed, I really want to improve as much as I can.
One thing I am not really sure about is the 2d art section on the main page.
Since my main focus is doing 3d art, I should probably remove it.
But then again, wouldn't it be better for an internship to have (and show) atleast a basic understanding of all aspects onvolved? Really not sure about this one.
I also have a few head sculpts which I kinda like, but these are no finished characters, but only highpolysculpts and one retopoed head. Do you think it would make sense to include them to show a basic understanding of human face anatomy (atleast I hope it's a basic understanding...)?
I think I could have time for about one more portfolio piece, anything that is missing and should be in every portfolio? Any recomendations?
Thanks again for your time and advise, have a nice day
I am currently a second semester student studying Animation & Game in Germany.
In a little more than half a year I'll have to do an intership, so I think it would be best to start applying next month or so. Which brings me to an essential point, the portfolio:
www.shyralon.weebly.com
I would be very thankfull for every piece of advise you can give me.
Really tear my portfolio apart and be as harsh as needed, I really want to improve as much as I can.
One thing I am not really sure about is the 2d art section on the main page.
Since my main focus is doing 3d art, I should probably remove it.
But then again, wouldn't it be better for an internship to have (and show) atleast a basic understanding of all aspects onvolved? Really not sure about this one.
I also have a few head sculpts which I kinda like, but these are no finished characters, but only highpolysculpts and one retopoed head. Do you think it would make sense to include them to show a basic understanding of human face anatomy (atleast I hope it's a basic understanding...)?
I think I could have time for about one more portfolio piece, anything that is missing and should be in every portfolio? Any recomendations?
Thanks again for your time and advise, have a nice day
Replies
First of all, thanks for posting. It's good to see new artists joining the forum and requesting critique
Also, what kind of role are you going for? The portfolio looks predominantly environment art, but has aspirations of programmer and character art too. May be worth streamlining your work to only the pieces that suit a particular role.
Ok, to start with the good points, I like the Boy of Silence, nice and painterly. Personally, I think it needs more details on the outfit, but that's just me. The group project looks quite novel too, and it's a good showcase of teamwork for an interview.
The grassland camp environment has a good vista and foliage, but is flat and lackluster when it gets to the area's focal point, the camp itself. The textures could also use work, as they feel flat and pastelly. The ground needs more detail and the scene could benefit from a few crisp shadows to break up the areas where the assets touch the ground.
I'd strongly recommend reading up on PBR, Unreal 4's shader system, to get the most out of those swords' metallic properties.
In terms of enviro dressing, it needs more smaller-scale detail like rocks, arrowheads and other such stuff. Consider hanging some lights from or otherwise exaggerating that tent in the middle for a focal point:) Some dynamic flickering on the burning torches would also look good...if it was darker. Maybe adjust your lighting for early evening to justify these more and give your scene some extra kick.
Your shots for this environment are also very small, and I wouldn't have the first image dominated by those software logos. Scale them down and use UE4's screenshot tool, located in the left corner arrow's dropdown on the viewport. It'll give you much bigger shots to show
The Lost Temple is your better piece here, with nice lighting and feel with the colours and reflections. It's a good starting point for going down the handpainted route (certainly more than I've attempted in that regard). Your video for that one stutters in the intro, which is kind of a shame, but it may just be your recording software, IDK. if you were to go back to that one, add some more foliage around the base of the columns, and some ivy on the walls. Maybe even crack open the ceiling and let some light in to the cental monolith
Your 2-d stuff is not too bad, to be honest. If it's an illustration/cartoonist role you want, they'll be useful, if it's concept artist, ditch the more cartoony ones like Santa and add some landscape drawings. If not any of these, hide it for now. 2-D is valuable stuff, but your internship won't require it, and it will distract from your other stuff.
As for your new portfolio piece, if it's an environment, make something small and awesome, like an office or a diner. This will give you more time to nail the finer details and really show what you can do.
Ok, phew! Sorry if I rambled on. Hope that helps you man, and good luck going for the internship
Also, this is more of just a pet peeve of mine, but if you are going to do fan art for something, don't show it off unless it's as good or better than the art your basing it off of. I don't think your silence boy achieves that.
Nice portfolio, really dig those environments.
However I'll just rephrase what a lot of other 3d artists have said before: unless your 2D art is amazing, it will only make room for doubt. If you want to keep your 2D work, I reckon you should pick a very limited amount of your best pieces and leave the rest. Afterall the main highlight here are your 3D abilities.
Hope this helps!
What I changed so far:
- updated medieval camp environment with higher es screenshot
- tweaked the lighting of the camp a bit to try and make it less flat
- removed the 2d section (even though it was a hard decision for me, since I really liked some of the stuff - but I just don't want to be a 2d guy...)
What I plan to do:
- Add supporting loops to the boy of silence to make deformations easier
- add a cv to the about page (saw this on a lot of other folios, think it would be a good thing, right?)
- add a border with name and website addres to EVERY image
shadacer:
Thanks a lot to this detailed critique, lots of usefull stuff in there.
As for the deciding-on-role-thing: the problem is, I really have no idea what exactly I want to do in 3d, I did lots of environment in the past but recently discovered zbrush and character sculpting and had a lot of fun with this.
Is it really that important to be already specialised even for an internship?
As for the lost temple environment, unfortunately I don't have acces to a lot of the scene files any more, so there is not a whole lot I can change about that..
For the grassland camp I tried to present it in a better way and may add some detail to it
Zedblade:
The deformation thing is a very good point, never really thought about it.
Will add more loops to the deforming areas.
As for the fanart thing, I don't think I agree with you (but maybe I'm wrong?
I'm just thinking, being able to model based on a concept is a really important thing to show. And to be honest I don't see a difference between modeling from a random concept or from the concept of an existing game. Furthermore, I really don't want to exclude the boy of silence from my portfolio, since I think it's one of my strongest pieces.
TomGT:
Glad you like it.
I have removed the 2d section now, heard that a few more times already, so I think it's the best decision.
victorqribeiro:
Glad you like the game!
Right now it's only about 5 minutes long (1 level).
There's a download link for that on my portfolio.
Since this was a student project, I don't think we will continue working on this, since I have to do portfolio stuff now and a new project next semester.
Another thing I am not sure about are these head sculpts/models:
I personally really like them, but then again, I am not sure if it would look to unorganized/unfinished for a portfolio..
Environments are your strong point and I would highly advise you stick with that. The busts you have here and your character on your portfolio show potential but if you want to put your best foot forward I think its only gonna hurt you to show any of it. The character on your portfolios biggest down fall is the design. I'm assuming its your own, and unless you are a professional character concept artist you really don't want to do that. The idea is ok, but the forms are very off putting and not ideal by any measure. Also the sculpts here look like they could be done in an hour or two. They scream "new to character art/zbrush" to me. There is nothing wrong with that, you are new to all this, however; you want to come off as a professional and its just not at that level. The problem with character art is if you are even just slightly off, shit looks terrible and wrong. That's why I usually try to steer people away from characters until they are more experienced. Envirnoments aren't easy either but I think you got a better chance at that based on what I've seen. But in any event Id go one way or the other. Don't try to do everything its just not realistic. Good luck tho man, and post up some WIP here so you can get crits as you go. Not sure if you have been doing that.
Thanks for your critique, really helpfull.
So I decided to keep the faces out of my portfolio.
Not sure if I am getting you right with the design of the character, but it's not done by me, it's the boy of silence concept out of the bioshock infinite artbook
While I agree with you that it might not be suitable for a character artist, I really don't want to take the boy of silence out, because I personally feel that it's one of my best pieces and (even tho its no environment) still shows at least an understanding of the process (atleast I hope so..)
But all of you guys are probably right, I should focus on environment for now, so I picked a concept from the monthly noob challenge I really like as a new portfolio piece
A general thing, do you guys think I even have a chance of getting an internship with my current skill level (+ maybe the progress of 1 or 2 month..)? I am having a lot of problems judging what skill level is expected for an internship, so if anyone could say a few words about this, I would be really thankful
id cut that video of the skeleton it draws away from whats important and animations speak student quality which you don't want
also no reason to include the marmoset logo cluttering your image, you don't do it for the others
neither. The blog has pretty messy formatting - Aside pretty decent Id say, keep on going
Yeah, really have to get the domain stuff, already on my to do list.
What exactly do you mean by messy blog? Contentwise or design wise?
Which aspect of the blog would need a rework?
About the icon thing, I have heard from a lot of people already that this is quite a good way to show where it's rendered in (which is really an important fact to know wether it's "just" vray/keyshot/whatever or rendered in realtime, especially for games), that's why I really like adding the icon
Sci fi this time, because I think thats missing right now a bit.
Based on a concept by Cory Strader.
Will post progress in this thread here, since it's aimed at an addition for my portfolio.
thanks for your reply. I moved the boy of Silence tot he bottom of the page, as you advised, and tested some poses, but didn't get anything I like out of it, but I will continue on working on a posed render.
@FourtyNights
That's what I want to do.
Would love to hear some critiques again, since I want to start applying next week or so.
www.shyralon.weebly.com
Still have to rework the contact section and add a cv and stuff.
Your latest work looks a lot better tho, and I think you should start another new environment now. The thing is, you should be improving rapidly at this stage so don't get too attached to old stuff. Personally, I think if you could just create one environment at a really high level of quality (like this: http://www.polycount.com/2015/04/09/the-throne-room-1st-place-winner/) You would have all you need to show in your portfolio. This would def. get you an art test at most studios. I think your on the right path tho and showing lots of improvement here, so keep up the good work!
Medieval grasslands and lost temple are weak. Like BradMyers said, try and get another enviro done and, if it turns out well, replace those 2 with it. Sometimes less is more, you don't want weak pieces dragging your other ones down.
I agree with you on the lost temple and took it out of the folio.
Still not sure about the boy of silence, just feels somehow wrong for more to cut it, but since so many people said that already I decided to remove him anyways.
I would love to do another scene (and I'm pretty sure I will keep working on my portfolio), but I am already quite late to start applying, so I am not sure if I can afford the time to make an entire new piece (especially when it has to be portfolio quality..).. Have to think about it for a bit
[edit] just to add to this. Job opportunities come and go. If you wait you will definitely miss your chance as certain positions fill up. So I'd apply everywhere I can now, while you work on a new scene simultaneously. When your new scene is done, look for new places to apply and just keep doing that till you get your foot in the door.
the thing is just that I have to do the internship during a certain timeframe given by my university, so I was just talking about "finishing" my portfolio for the applications I will send out the next time
In the last few months I continued working on my portfolio and have a few new projects up.
I also found a nice internship I will be starting next month, so thank you all for your previous critiques
As always, be as honest and brutal as needed.
Portfolio : www.shyralon.weebly.com