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A Greenhorn (me) looking to start his portfolio

Hi there everyone ! First time here and I have to say I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the stuff you guys and gals do :)
Up until now I've only dwelled in modding for C&C Renegade (late Westwood's only FPS in the franchise) and decided I wouldn't want all this experience to go to waste but instead capitalize it, refine it and maybe break into the industry some day (that's practically the same reason I started studying Games Design at uni).

Alas, I have piled up a couple of renders throughout these past ... 4-5 years, most of them work in progress shots (simple renders usually) and I thought maybe I could sort them out and polish the best of them so I can lay the foundations for my portfolio.

In-game rendered stuff :

Allied Barracks, Pillboxes and other random bits made for a Renegade2 mod :
barracks.jpg

Load screen for the Alpha version of the same mod :
load-screen.jpg

Random village buildings for a Dune-inspired Renegade mod :
Village2.PNG

Max-rendered game assets :

Civilian building featured in the loadscreen map :
buildone_1.jpg

buildone_side2.jpg

buildone_side1.jpg

Soviet Spyplane :
spyplane02.jpg

Same model, wireframe :
spyplane-w.jpg

Previous Dune assets, demonstrating modularity :
arks_building3b.jpg

Ideas for Harkonnen-themed slums housing :
module.jpg

Variations of the same modular housing unit :
neighbourhood.jpg

Generic high-rise apartment complex (another idea for Harknonnen civilian buildings) :
building.jpg

Public Propaganda Telescreen, back view with human reference :
telescreen2.jpg

Misc stuff (not done for any game in particular) :

"Space bar" render (my first attempt at doing a animation, stoped working on it until I learn how to properly optimize render times) :
spacebar.png

Animation sequence from the same project as the space bar (never got too far due to long rendering times - most likely my fault) :
http://youtu.be/EDzQNIOL6wk

M29 Grizzly from Mass Effect :
M29-Grizzly3.jpg



That about wraps it up. Sorry for spamming the place with images, hopefully not all of them are crap haha, but that's why I came here : to get my ass kicked and improve myself !

Replies

  • BogdanV
    Maybe I should've posted in Game Art Workshop instead ? Or what I've posted is beyond redemption...
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    Hi, welcome to Polycount :) People are probably not saying anything because what you're showing is just a lot of work in progress and they really don't know where to start. I wouldn't put any of these in your portfolio now, simply for the reason that they are all works in progress. So I'd say your choices are pretty much: pick one of them and start a new thread where you take it to a finish, or call them all practice and begin something new!
  • Darkleopard
    Hi there! As jess said, a lot of this seems to be WIP. I would also like to note that most of the images you posted were of large objects/many objects at once.

    Coming from someone who's still new to 3d myself, i would highly recommend starting with some smaller objects which range across different materials like wooden boxes, or metal crates. It is much easier when starting out to focus on small items then large scenes.

    Another piece of advice i have is make sure you read these forums as often as you can. They are a not only a huge inspiration, but you will get an insight into the workflows that can really help you improve your work.

    I would defiantly grab a heap of reference for a small object and make a new thread here as you work through it so we can give you some feedback!

    Hope that helps!
  • BogdanV
    I'm sorry if my writing wasn't too concise. Indeed they are works in progress, that's why I was hoping I could find a way to filter the most promising ones so I can concentrate on those.

    I definetly wouldn't stick any of them as they are right now in a portfolio haha!
    Still, its probably best that I decide for myself what to focus on instead of asking around. Thanks for your insight !
  • North
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    North polycounter lvl 7
    The general rule of thumb is that your portfolio is only as strong as your worst piece.

    With that in mind, I use this site mainly to see what the bar is set to; Try finding the most visually stunning piece in on the forums that matches your style. Your worst piece should be 10 times better than that. Using that mentality, you shouldn't ever have a problem finding work. As for right now, it looks like you don't have a clear understanding of next gen game art. I would use the wiki to your advantage and gain some knowledge. We are in a time right now where the current boundary of game art is being pushed far beyond what the current standard is. It is probably the worst time to be a student right now because most institutions are behind that curve / have no idea what next generation art is.

    I wish you luck. It will be a long road but with persistence and dedication you'll get there soon enough.
  • slipsius
    Quite frankly nothing in here is portfolio ready. I would suggest starting fresh stuff, focusing on small props for now to get your texturing skills up. The thing about art is that after so much time working on a single piece, the speed at which your skill increases actually diminishes rapidly, which is why I think you shouldnt try and fix these up. You learn with everything you do, so a lot of the times, especially early on in your career / learning process, its better to just call it done and move on to the next thing. It may not be portfolio ready, and thats fine. not everything you make will be. Especially at the start. But the next thing you do, the quality will be that much better than your last one, and probably in half the time.

    If you want to do a scene, think of a scene you want to do, grey box it out, then go piece by piece, prop by prop. focusing on quality, not speed. You`ll get faster with time. Watch tutorials, ask on here for feed back. But really take your time and focus on quality and your skill level will increase ten fold.

    To go on the starting new things is better thing. When I animate, it will get to a point where the piece is better than the last thing i did, but its still not as good as I see in my mind. But that's because my skill doesnt meet my imagination yet. But since im still learning (and always will be), my workflow is constantly improving. So I could spend 5 days poilishing every little thing to make it just right, or if i start a new piece, i`ll have a better animation in just a day or two. You really do have to know when to say ok, lets see how I do from the start.

    Hope this helps. cheers
  • ikarus
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    ikarus polycounter lvl 10
    gg romania, cool stuff you have here :) keep up the good work
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