My Portfolio (3D Artist)

Hello :)

Here is a link to some stuff I dabbled in: Joel Jansen Portfolio

Please, I would appreciate some criticism on my work or even the whole website in general.

Thanking ya kindly.

Comments

  • edited
    Hi there!

    I have a bunch of criticism about the website... :P

    I like that most of the site sits on one page that I can scroll through, but it's a pity I have wait for the slideshows. Waiting for them is really frustrating. I'd add a way to scroll quickly through the slideshow (buttons/scrollwheel), or better, get rid of the slideshows completely and rather show important images on the page statically.

    I feel your contact details should always be visible.

    I don't like the boxes -- there doesn't seem to be a consistent layout/alignment for them. There are different font sizes, different box widths, and it makes things look chaotic.

    There are quite a lot of spelling mistakes. (Ones that I remember include "professional", "mining", "virtual", "assets", "reflections"...)

    I'm also not a fan of the content of the text itself, especially when it sounds like marketing. Like, everyone's going to say that they strive to do the best work they can, pay attention to details, etc. I think that if you include text descriptions, then the main use is in saying what parts of the image were done by you (as opposed to someone else in your team). e.g. ("I did the model and textures for the vehicles.") Short and sweet, and doesn't come across as a salesperson. :P

    Overall, I'd suggest keeping it simple. You're not trying to get a job as a web designer, so rather focus your efforts on presenting your work as efficiently and cleanly as you can.

    Check out Adam Bromell's portfolio: http://adambromell.com/. In terms of design, it's stupidly simple, but all of the important information is right there at the top, very clear. After that, it's just a dump of work, but every image shows wireframes, textures/UVs, a highpoly/sculpt, or beauty shot, and every model is well-lit. It won't win any web design awards, but I'm pretty sure HR, recruiters and art directors who visit his site love him for not wasting their time. XD And those are the people you're putting up a portfolio for.

    --
    Your textures are packed pretty tightly, which is great! :D Do you lay them out manually, or use some other packing software?

    I really liked the treehouse concept drawing.

    It was cool seeing how many game projects you've worked on in your personal time. It would've been nice to see some gameplay footage.

    I don't think your models are lit nicely, which is a pity, because it makes what might be decent models look mediocre. With the professional work I can maybe understand as being some kind of limitation in the engine your company uses (I wouldn't know), but in your personal work, being Unity/Blender/Max, I know what the capabilities are, and the lighting you've got isn't very flattering. If you don't want to take the time to light things well (I get that -- not everyone likes doing lighting), then I'd recommend sticking your models in something like Marmoset Toolbag, where the preset IBL already look pretty good.

    It's nice seeing work-in-progress stuff, but then I think it should be for a reason. e.g. to show wireframes, vert/tri counts, or UVs/textures, or a clay-render sculpt. I think all your shots should be either those, or beauty shots. I don't think it's useful to be including shots of a Unity interface in general. I definitely don't want to see scenes that are incomplete, with some models textured and others blank. I mean, unless you think it's showing a potential employer some other skill that I can't see?

    I hope you find that useful!
    Thanked by 2pieter dislekcia
  • Thanks for the feed back @Elyaradine. I really appreciate this.
    I like that most of the site sits on one page that I can scroll through, but it's a pity I have wait for the slideshows. Waiting for them is really frustrating. I'd add a way to scroll quickly through the slideshow (buttons/scrollwheel), or better, get rid of the slideshows completely and rather show important images on the page statically.
    I see how the slideshows can put a potential employer off, I guess I should perhaps cut down on quantity of images I have on the site and focus more on quality per image. I do have a flaw when it comes to what content base I should put up there, hence I put so much up. I suppose I just wanted to showcase all of my work, and then in that case, I wont know which ones to "write off" from the site.
    I feel your contact details should always be visible.
    I am going to be redoing the whole site, making my contact details always visible.
    I don't like the boxes -- there doesn't seem to be a consistent layout/alignment for them. There are different font sizes, different box widths, and it makes things look chaotic.
    Those hideous, trashy boxtrolls will be dealt with the swift, fair but brutal hand of justice, and will never see the light of day again! :D
    There are quite a lot of spelling mistakes. (Ones that I remember include "professional", "mining", "virtual", "assets", "reflections"...)
    Yeah.... about that spelling errors... There just really is no excuse for that. I will eradicate all nonsensical words! But do forgive me, I do shomtymz failz att shpellings :(
    Maybe I subconsciously typed all those horrid words because the other voice in my head took over and wanted to shout out to the world about this dreadful place called South African! And that it was trying to expose all the injustice that has happened to me while in SA. It was trying to tell the world that I experienced terrible misfortune in these here lands! That the gypsy woman's prophecies have come true! That the cow moo at you while you're in SA! That the door close on you! That the the rain water splash in your face! That the educational system fails you!
    The world must know the truth!
    I'm also not a fan of the content of the text itself, especially when it sounds like marketing. Like, everyone's going to say that they strive to do the best work they can, pay attention to details, etc. I think that if you include text descriptions, then the main use is in saying what parts of the image were done by you (as opposed to someone else in your team). e.g. ("I did the model and textures for the vehicles.") Short and sweet, and doesn't come across as a salesperson. :P
    Excuse me I blacked out there for a second, but regarding all those loathsome text and text boxes, I figured I do not have that much actual completed work done so I'll just compromise by offloading incalculable amounts of text into the viewer's brain. Maybe this would have helped in my favor as the reader would get intoxicated or disorientated at all the text boxes and thus consider my portfolio to be acceptable. I was clearly wrong in this, and I will be referring to the old (KISS) Keep It Simple, Stupid principle.
    Check out Adam Bromell's portfolio: http://adambromell.com/. In terms of design, it's stupidly simple, but all of the important information is right there at the top, very clear....
    Adam Bromell's website is great! It's simple and no one is being bombarded with illogical text or pyramid schemes! I will keep this in mind.
    Your textures are packed pretty tightly, which is great! :D Do you lay them out manually, or use some other packing software?
    My UV layout is all packed by me, (and not the other evil entity in my head)
    I really liked the treehouse concept drawing.
    Thank you. :) Perhaps I should put this as some sort of section in my new site, on its own? Although I do have quite a knack for starting a project and then halfway through, I would discard it or start another project instead. This is not good, and I'm working on this. The Treehouse model is incomplete (a lot of my stuff is) do I still put it up for display?
    Um, regarding video footage of gameplay... I haven't completed a game to date, which is sad really (yet I keep starting all these damn projects!)
    I don't think your models are lit nicely, which is a pity, because it makes what might be decent models look mediocre....
    I agree. It is quite dark. It's almost as if I had been creating all of my models within the Batcave, while simultaneously fighting crime at night (That's why all of my models are incomplete). But yes it is something that I need to work on and improve on.
    My old company's engine had terrible lighting capabilities, and so I needed to paint in all of the lighting myself.
    I don't think it's useful to be including shots of a Unity interface in general....
    Yeah, I do have some shoddy screenshot skills, but I just wanted to show it as a work in progress, but you're right... all of my work shouldn't be 'work in progress"


    Thank you so much for taking the time to go through my portfolio and giving me advice on how I can enhance or improve on it. I really do appreciate this.
    I shall get to work on my next big project to produce the one portfolio that will defy gravity... well my gravity anyway :P
    Thanked by 1dislekcia
  • Fishface said:
    I really liked the treehouse concept drawing.
    Thank you. :) Perhaps I should put this as some sort of section in my new site, on its own? Although I do have quite a knack for starting a project and then halfway through, I would discard it or start another project instead. This is not good, and I'm working on this. The Treehouse model is incomplete (a lot of my stuff is) do I still put it up for display?
    Just so we're clear, I'm talking about this one:
    image

    (I don't remember seeing a 3D model, though I could've missed it. Also, I had to screenshot it instead of linking it directly because the slideshow made it difficult for me to get the image link. :P) It just looked like something that would be pretty fun to paint, especially with the window in the back to cast some nice shapes of light and shadow around. :D

    Great, good luck! :)
    Thanked by 1dislekcia
  • Hello again!

    It's been a while, and I've been busy but I finally got around to completing and redoing my new portfolio.

    Joel Jansen Portfolio 2

    I've adjusted it accordingly (Thanks Elyaradine :D) removed some stuff, added new ones and kept some others.
    Once again, please do check it out! And feel free to constructively scold me for the potential monstrosities I have committed :D

    Thank you for your time.
  • The website is way better! :)

    I think my only big criticism with it is that using the lightbox-like plugin (or whatever it's called, the thing that shows in image at a time) seems to force the images to load one at a time. I mean, it's my own fault that I had a game alpha downloading in the background and a SC2 stream waiting on me, but having to wait for each image to load when I click next, as opposed to just leaving the page to load all of the images and then scrolling through them (the way you'd get with ordinary, static images) is, again, kind of wasting a potential recruiter/HR person's time. Even if it preloaded the larger images somehow, they'd be an improvement. (I just want to reiterate that what you're selling here is the actual work in your portfolio, and not what sorts of fancy animations or plugins you can use in the website, and that it's generally better to keep it simple unless the plugin genuinely improves the efficiency and ease-of-use in every way.)

    I think your lighting's still not strong, which makes your work generally look cheap. I'd recommend looking at some professional photography and trying to copy what you think the light placements, colours and intensities are. It'd probably help a whole lot for you to be using some sort of GI solution too, like baking lightmaps or some equivalent. The lighting looking good would also rely partially on your materials being set up well.

    I think it's probably worth picking up that skill anyway, even if modelling is your main thing -- partly because I don't know of any game artists who only do modelling (most artists tend to be generalists), but also partly because the art of lighting something attractively is very much a part of making beautiful art in the first place, and that knowing what you're looking for in your lighting could improve how you model too (e.g. adding bevels of the right size to introduce highlights on some surface edges, or considering the kinds of shadows parts of the model might cast that could be interesting, etc.).

    Keep it up man!
    Thanked by 1Fishface
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