Melissa Cramer Portfolio

Mel

Recent graduate interested in Game Development, Concept Art, 3D modelling and Animation.

My Coroflot Portfolio:

http://www.coroflot.com/Melissa_Cramer#keyword=Melissa_Cramer

Any feedback on my portfolio would be greatly appreciated.


Here are a few examples:

PanicLiquid8or

Your artwork has an epic fantasy feel to it, reminiscent of Final Fantasy's style. So rich in detail and awe-inspiring.

Mel

Thank you very much. I do enjoy a bit of fantasy, especially in landscape or world design.

Elyaradine

I actually missed the portfolio itself; I went to the linked page, saw only three images there, and left, and it was only later that I was pointed to the fact that there's a separate portfolio page, with grouped categories and so on. I'm not a fan of that kind of layout. Your contact details (phone number? email address?) aren't readily available, and it's more difficult for me to get an overall feel for your work without having to open multiple links. I'd far favour having all of your work on one page, and your contact details clearly shown.

I thought the shots of the ship in the air were the better pieces. I get the feel of epicness and scale and atmosphere, and that's pretty awesome. The lighting in the game work wasn't good; some of the shots (especially those of the ship in water) felt very overexposed, and things like stretching textures on the terrain look a lot more obvious because of the flatness in the lighting. I think sticking some colour correction postprocess on your camera would help a lot with mood. I think greens or purples could sell the storm better (rather than overall being grey), and some lower-contrast warmth could sell the more peaceful bits of the game.

Otherwise, keep drawing and painting, and make more games!

Is there a particular studio or particular art style you're looking to get into?

Mel

Thank you for the feedback, Elyaradine.

I unfortunately cannot change the layout of my portfolio, so I have been looking around for other portfolio sites that I can use. I will definitely add contact details and get a better flow to my portfolio. I will post the new portfolio as soon as it's ready.

I agree on the lighting, it was a struggle throughout the entire project. My partner and I are looking to further develop the game and focus more on the polish. Thank you for your advice.

At this point in time I'm not sure what kind of style I'm leaning towards. I take inspiration from games such as The Witcher. I enjoy creating fantasy work with elements of realism. I also focus mainly on landscape and nature. I'm starting to create more work so I can get a better understanding of where I'm heading.

quintond

@Mel: Have you tried Behance?

https://www.behance.net/

Mel

quintond said:

@Mel: Have you tried Behance?

https://www.behance.net/

I was looking at Behance. I also came across Carbonmade.

https://carbonmade.com/

I think I will try them both.

kidult

@Mel - Yeah use them both. behance has people looking through profiles while a carbonmade site can be used as a portfolio to direct employers or clients too. I would also suggest doing a search on local companies and seeing what types of games they're making and the style or artwork. Not many local studios will be doing AAA quality graphics like the Witcher. Also trying to get employment overseas in big studios can be very tricky coming from SA, due to work visas etc. You may need to shift your focus to become more "employable".
I personally work as a freelancer (which is REAALLY hard, would not recommend at 1st) which does allow you to pretty mush pursue any look / feel or style.

Elyaradine

Ah, I thought you might be focusing more on landscapes because of how many were in your portfolio, but I wasn't sure if they were actually all just many landscapes/environments done for 1 or 2 projects. I don't know if you're in a position to be able to take some online classes, but I've taken quite a few and found them very valuable.

I find Nathan Fowkes's pace to be a bit slow, but what he teaches is top class imo. The mentored courses on Schoolism work you pretty hard (which is a good thing, and WAY expensive now with the horrible exchange rate), but you can also access the videos themselves for a 15USD/month subscription (although you've really got to be disciplined about doing the assignments every week without someone checking up on you).

Environment design with Nathan Fowkes

Mel

@kidult
Thank you for the advice. After looking at some studios, I'd like to brush up my skills with Maya and look into making art that would be useful for mobile as well. Right now I'm looking at working in South Africa and possibly studying further, so I will be adding more work to my portfolio that would appeal to a wider audience.

@Elyaradine
The Nathan Fowkes' environment course looks fantastic. I'll also look around and try find some tutorials on landscape specifically.

I created a new portfolio on Behance (Thanks for the tip quintond)

It still has categories, although it's much easier to see what is going on.

https://www.behance.net/Melissa_Cramer