Portfolio Analyses

In groups, we spent some time looking at other 3D artists portfolios. I focused on 3D environment portfolios and prop portfolios as these are the areas I am most interested in. From analysing these I have made a few conclusions about what makes a good portfolio.

1) Images of art are the most important feature
- The images are large, clear, show off the art well and are quick to load. Spending a long time waiting for an image to load, to find out that it is badly composed or does not show good 3D skills is a waste of peoples time. The first thing that a viewer should see on your portfolio is your artwork. It should be easy to find, view and be shown off to its best. Cropping images to hide errors or having tiny images shows lack of confidence and will not look good to potential employees.

2) Clear contact details
- Make it easy for a prospective employee to find out how to contact you. Make your name clear on each piece or page so they associate the good work with you. Make sure there are multiple ways to contact you. Phone numbers, emails (with appropriate names) and social sites such as LinkedIn should be available.

3) Only show your best work
- A single image of bad work can drag down the whole portfolio.

4) Be specific
- Tailor your portfolio to the job area that you are looking into. Don't have animation, characters and environments on there unless you are going for a generalist role in a small indie company and aim to show you can manage all tasks.

Research into Job roles

I began to look at the careers pages of various game studios to see what they were expecting from future employees and began to compile a list of what each role contains and what the essential characteristics are.

Environment Artists:

• Understanding of real-world architecture and composition
• Creating and maintaining in-game environments
• Creating models, textures and in-game items from concepts
• Creating in-game lighting
• Consistent art style
• Ability to work in a team
• Advanced 3D and 2D skills
• Ability to learn software quickly
• Self-motivation

Prop Artists

• Model, texture and create collision on in-game assets
• Ensure art style is consistent
• Strong communication skills and team work
• Strong problem solving skills
• Advanced 3D and 2D skills
• Able to adapt to different software and techniques

I feel I am most suited to being a prop or object artist as there's a higher chance of working on many different things, whereas with an environment it means spending a long time working on one piece. However I enjoy placing assets around a scene and set-dressing. I feel that either of these job roles would be good for me. Maybe starting off as a prop artist to get to know the industry and moving on to environments. This would also give me time to work out if prop art is for me or if I want to work on larger scale projects.

EDIT: I found that there were a lot more jobs available for environment artists at this time and feel that having a portfolio designed for this will show off my prop work as well so will tailor my portfolio to environments.

Initial Thoughts

During and after the first lecture for PPD this year, time was spent looking at what base skills we would be gaining from the module. This helped me understand better what will be required of me in the industry. I feel the most important aspects I need to work on are my interviewing skills as well as my confidence in giving presentations about my work. I will also be focusing on making a professional looking website with a show reel and high quality images of my work.

It became clear to me that I was not very aware about what each job role in the industry involved. I would like to work in the prop or environment areas of the games industry so will take some time to research the different job roles in these areas. This will mean that I can tailor myself and my portfolio to the needs of these roles.