Professional Artist Portfolios

We were also tasked to do research into professional artist portfolios which i can definitely see is beneficial, as much as it could make me feel pretty rubbish, id rather look at it as something i aim to reach and success over rather than feel rubbish about how much better they are than me.

Mashru Mishu.

He has one of the strongest portfolios ive seen which is why he is first. Most of his work are high poly realism sculpts baked to lower poly meshes, most limited to the tri count of consoles. He also has an immaculate eye for human and creature anatomy, lighting, form and structure which is show clearly throughout all his work. He also has amazing textures for all his characters. Not only that, but his website is clear and easy to navigate website, with a simple, short web address.

The main thing that is lacked in his work that i see if that he doesn't really take the poses of his characters very far which most of them just standing in a pretty natural stance no matter the character, and also the fact that he doesn't have much stylised work, but it is clear that he wants to go in the direction of realism. From first impressions though, he doesn't fail to impress. Also when you look at his CV, he has ticked off all but a few of the criteria as he has no 2D work.

Popov-SM

His work is all stylised, which could also explain why there isn't much work on his website, mainly because from what ive seen so far, the industry is heavy on realism at the moment. This doesn't mean his work is bad though because is 2D concepts are incredible, full of interesting and unique designs. it is clear that his main strength is his 2D work. He has some good 3D models too but none which are completely made by him (he has made the model but not the texture.) His portfolio isn't great, but im putting him in as research as his stylised, 2D and 3D artwork is just amazing. i do wish he had wire frames of the models though.

Rodrigue Pralier 

He has worked on EA's Army of Two series and also Bioware's Mass Effect 2. What i like about it is that he has some much work that shows a variety between realism and stylised, all of such a high standard as well. He he shows various realism and stylised sculpts as well, but also he has amazing 2D rendering skills as well. This is the best porfolio in terms of body and standard of work that ive seen.

The problems i have with it though is that there is sooo much work to see its almost too much, and you have to sift through to find his best work, which is just too laborious for a developer. Also i do think his presentation could be better as well, as there isn't any form of justification of alignment of the work. this is just me though because i feel that i could present it better. Also quite a few of his models dont have wireframes, texture maps, and are not posed. Although this may not be a problem since most of the models are for games,  which implies that they are correct in every aspect to be in a game.

Jonathan Fletcher

He has entered a few times into the various Dominance Wars but what i love most about his work is his textures. For some its almost like they are paintings, not models, they are pretty deceiving, although im not sure if this is a good thing, i think they look great because its something different. His 2D artwork is pretty good, although ive seen better, but when you see his 3D and texture skills, it makes up for it. His presentation of the portfolio is one of the best ive seen as well as its clear and concise.

 Slipgatecentral

His entry for Dominance War was absolutely amazing, one of my most favourite models ive seen mainly because i love the concept and design/style of it, and its all for next gen spec as well. I could only really find his deviantart page, which isnt the best but it gives an idea of his talent. He is not only a great modeller, but also a great conceptual artist and digital painter, which is shown through his page. If it wasnt for the deviantart page, his work would have good presentation as he shows, wireframes, textures used and high and low poly sculpts, all that an industry wants to see for 3D.

Paul Richards

Paul Richards has some outstanding concept work, something of a standard that i would love to reach. He is a 2D concept artist, that has worked on many games, one being Darksiders which i loved for its design. The reason i researched him is mainly for his concept art skill and that its a level i have to reach for the industry. It is clear that to be a concept artist, you must be varied in all elements of the design process including characters, environments, props etc. If i want to be a 2D/3D character artist, that means i will only be focused   on characters, but i will need the skills of character and creature anatomy and form to be as strong as his work. The problem with his site, is that his presentation is really bad, as there is nothing showing his best works, its just lists of artwork, and it actually would look really boring if his artwork wasn't so good. 

Overall each of the portfolios i have put up have elements which are strong about them which will help me to construct my portfolio with work that is relevant for the specific job. Also from looking at the portfolios, i can clearly see how they managed to get to that specific outcome, which gives me a better idea of how to reach that standard, as it is not just practice by itself. Here is a list of what i have learnt from seeing these portfolios:

• Good Presentation - Needs to be clear, concise with the best and relevant work you have that appeals to that employer and job. This will also help it look interesting.
• Easy to Navigate - If its difficult to get around from artwork to CV, im sure that most employers would just give up.
• Show your best artwork as soon as the page is opened - This will get the employers attention straight away if the work is impressive.
• Make sure contact details are easily in vision - Just make sure its not too in your face.
• Show a variety of work - no employer would want to see everything the same, so show that you can vary your work in terms of style and demographic.