Portfolio Quality? (BIG DL)

[skrubbles]

Here's some recent concept work of mine and I was just curious if this stuff is good enough quality for being in my portfolio or if I need a lot more practice before I'm actually able to land a job as a concept artist for a game company... please give me your thoughts...

thank you

http://www.skrubbles.net/images/portfolio.jpg

[gasmask]

DAM dude, these are very nice, what i really admire about you is that you work your ass off even with having ur other obligations just for the pure love of this crafy, ur well on ur way and im sure you could get a job or at least intern, its just hard to get a job as a concept artist, they are more scarce than 3d jobs and i think with good networking skills you could land one, in the meantime, keep practicen, and about your stuff, i really enjoy your paints and your 4 legged creatures, especially that one in pen, you should so more stuff just pen, you seem really good at it, my only reals are, the one guy in marker, reminds me too much or predator and id just keep workin on the markering, good practice for marker techs are fengs tutorial and ovcaorse take something done by say him, or someone else, and try to render something exatly like they did, this isnt really copying someones style because most concept artists like feng, spinefinger etc. learned the same render methods at art center and thats pretty universal the way they teach rendering, plus the best book in the world, creative marker techniques in combination with mixed media, basically everything to know about rendering, but good luck finding it, its out of print but seriously teaches you the same all the great school teach as far as rendering goes.....also, for highlights, try gel pen and colored pencil/white or wite out or guache. good luck!!

[jilted_one]

cool stuff man, i like the pens asmuch as the rendered stuff.

[skrubbles]

gasmask - thanks for the crit... I tried looking for the book... I found that it was sold out at amazon.com but at barnesandnoble.com I found "Creative Marker Techniques: A Mixed Media Guide" by Yoshiharu Shimizu... this book was printed a month before the book you mentioned but it has the same exact ISBN number... so either someone screwed up or it just has two titles... and aparently it is in stock at barnes and noble for only $49.95. My birthday is coming up (sept 26th) and my mom and dad wanna know what to get me... I'll just have them send me some money to get that... and maybe one or two of those cool new feng instructional dvds that gnomon is coming out with soon.

jilted_one - thank you... I'm still practicing so hopefully I'll be getting better at both :)

[marc_taro]

Good looking work, shows skill with media. I try to give serious comments to people who look like they really want 'em - so I'm going to say you need to focus on your drawing. Decide if these are paintings or if they're concept art - because right now they are in-between, and that's just going to slow down your modellers and frustrate the texture artists. Your team needs DETAIL from the concept artist. It's your job to provide the ideas as clearly as possible.

I see a lot of great brushwork in the fabric (And some JFoster in the design) but the painting is getting in the way of the concept. Especialy that last monster...

If you want game work, you will do better with stronger anatomy and structure - draw the actual shapes of the objects clearly and cleanly. Draw the real muscles of those monsters, not just the skin texture.

Those pistols are good examples - they are just masses of shape - not clear enough to build from.

If you want illustration work, then keep going the way you are, but work on gesture and lighting. Stuff is a bit stiff now and color tends to monochrome. I'm only an average illustrator, so I can't help you much there....

Great stuff - good luck -

mth

[Blind]

Originally posted by skrubbles
I tried looking for the book... I found that it was sold out at amazon.com but at barnesandnoble.com I found "Creative Marker Techniques: A Mixed Media Guide" by Yoshiharu Shimizu...Hey skrubbles... the same author has another book out, called New Marker Techniques. I've never read it, and markers aren't my thing, so I'm not sure if it's any good... but I thought you might be interested. Nice work up there, btw!

[jezelf]

there's some great stuff here. my personal fav is the first picture, as marc_taro says, quiet Jon Foster - but it's still a cool image and plenty of life.

marc_taro is right. concept art for yourself and be illustrational, if you're in a team it's all about giving as much information about the structure of your design as possible.

for example - if you want more control over your designs, when you draw a creature from the front - remember to draw it from behind. so you might want to draw straight on, or 3/4 views. with the face on, if you draw the character with it's arms raised like a crucified way, then it makes the modeller's life easier. It also makes the texture artist's life easier because they could then effectively draw over your art to keep it as true as possible. its ultimatly up to you how much information you provide. generally you are setting a direction.

It can also depend on time, and your situation if you have a small amount of time a 3/4 view will do, but if you have more time I like to give as much info as possible.

additionally its cool to let the modeller/ texture artist to have some creative input (you are a team and artists themselves after all, rather than machines) - but that's something you will find out when you get the chance - give some thought in your concepts of what is do-able, polygon counts and texture space too. this is something that only comes with experience, but I would advise not to worry about that just now if you're trying to break in.

as for your question, yes I think you have a good chance. I would suggest once you have a decent sized portfolio send your work out, but also keep creating more things. build a larger of variety of work. cowboy stuff, racing games, vehicles and buildings etc. Concept art is more about the love of drawing anything, than wanting to work on the next half-life game. the more you can concept up, the more versatile you'll be and therefore more of an asset to a company.

Don't shy away from drawing parts of the body that you may feel are your weak areas (goes for drawing in general really)because they will still have to be built if you've drawn it or not and I would think you would like to have a say on the look of it as a concept artist.

also think of the texture that you are doing. again you could let texture artists do this. it would be cool to give them a lead, which is what you have done in some of your art. again -ask yourself just how much control do you want? Personally, I would do as much as I can, then I know I've done all I can to shape the character/building/craft/creature into my vision, which when it works, gives you more job satisfaction.

Unfortunately its not a great time for success in the development empolyment at the moment. companies have been dropping like flies all around, so, though I wish it will be to the contrary, there may not be many positions available right now. The positive side to this is that you can keep building your work up, improving. I would say you are at entry level, and you can only get better!

variety is the key. keep submitting your work. never let any rejections or lack on contact worry you. sometimes the knack is to catch a development company when they are at the end of one project, so keep an eye on the previews of games in the press and submit to those dev houses first so you can get in with a chance on the next project at the right time.

anyway - I've been waffling on - sorry 'bout that.my site's (http://www.jezelf.co.uk/) got some pics on it as concept art was the thing I started on in the games industry. have a look if you think it might help. apologies if Ive said stuff that you already know about.good luck!
best wishes
Jez

[Marko Djurdjevic]

OK,

here's my 2 cents.

#1: yes

#2: weak pose, weak concept; no

#3: uninspired concept; no

#4 rough sketches are sweet. yes!

#5: yes

#6: interesting concept. You could work this one out. yes!

#7: OK, but not top of the heap.

All in all, you need to pay more attention on variety. At the moment, all you have are some monster-concepts and one single character-painting. Put life-studies in, backgrounds, vehicles, characters & villians and some rendered pieces to round it up.

Marko

[skrubbles]

marc_taro - I agree on what you said about the painted ones... I should work on more structure and try not to hide things... I'd just like to have a say in the colors for some things and possibly help out the texture artist so they know what direction to go with the colors... I'll work on my painting skills alot... I'm still trying to get a grasp basic color theory and lighting.

Blind - Thanks for the heads up... I can use all the info I can get on markering... I think I'm gonna get me a couple of dem purty feng dvds coming out soon.

jezelf - Thank you for all the info :) I already touched on the painted stuff in my reply to marc (above) so there's no need to repeat myself there... I know its not easy to become a concept artist in the games industry that's why I'm trying to practice as much as a I can in my spare time... like you said, I can only get better. I've started working on vehicles... need to start doing props and environments though... so I have a lot of work ahead of me :) If only I could take a month of work and just draw my ass off... that would help out SO MUCH! But that won't happen :( I'll just have to continue not getting much sleep. lol

Marko Djurdjevic - WOW, thank you for the post! I really admire your work. I agree with all your crits, and not just because YOU said it, but because I've felt the same way about 'em... just wanted to know if others did too. Btw, I tried sending you a PM but your box was full... so I sent you an e-mail instead.

[neble]

wow, some great comments. Nice website jezelf, I especially like your paintings.

Anyhow, I'm a model and texture artist at a game company. I've done a lot of work with and without sketches, and from high detail, to really rough sketches. I think you've got what it takes to work in this industry. You might have to start at a starter company, or even move to another city, but it'll get your foot in the door.

Keep your painting up, you never know if someday the company your with, will want a mag cover or extras for the game etc.

As for your concepts, they're something I, as a modeler, could work from. You would want a couple more views of a character and a color pallete, if the colors weren't added, but overall I perfer to get something that I can add my artistic imput to.

High detail images and paintings should be left for finished pieces, and examples you want to blow people away with. In games the deadlines you have shouldn't allow you to do one anyways. If your lucky you can get by with adding color and muscle structure to your sketches. Then again, the more you do the faster you will get and the more you can add.

I personally like to work from unfinished pieces. My friend, a fellow modeler, and I just had this conversation a week back, and he prefers to work from a finished piece and make it exactly like it was drawn. So, your on your way, because as you get into the industry, your going to have cater you art to what is demanded by the company and it's artists.

Good start, by the way. Your first painting kicks ass. You will want to do some environment concepts too, it will help broaden your worth.

[jezelf]

skrubbles - it's always a long road ahead - took me 4 years of dedicated work before I got my break. 4 years of sacrifies -but then I was so wrapped up in it I didnt really notice! It kinda depends on how badly you want something - you'll get there in the end if you put the effort in. good luck, mate.

neble - thanks. hope to put some more up next week, but that'll be older, rather than newer work, and acrylics and inks rather than photoshop. I do intend to start doing more digital paintings as I enjoyed doing those (dispite the errors)

I tried looking at your site, but couldnt get past the menu page, plus your menus didnt show for me, just got the old red x and the link didnt work.

best wishes,all
jez.