Professional portfolio development 

In this module I will be learning and understanding how to create a portfolio by researching into what creates a good industry port folio and looking into different techniques to use. I will also be having mock interviews with people to get a sense of what the industry will ask. by the end of it I would of learned how to self promote myself through a website I will create, a show reel of my work and researching into key elements of what it takes to get into the industry.

  

The first lecture we had looks into what the dos and do nots are in a game industry standard portfolio. what I first earned was with the showing of my work only show the best of my things and leave it out if I have any doubt about it. another thing was to make my portfolio clear and bold and not hide thing as it will show a lack of confidence and have everything facing the right way. with text keep it simple and hot have massive graffiti style writing as the employer would be put off by this, have it bold and clear. avoid stereotyping in your work such as racial backgrounds, from the yakuza to villains voiced by Allan rick man. try to also avoid thing such as half naked elf's as it would come of sexist. If I was going to have videos in my portfolio make sure they loaded fast or even the images in the portfolio as it would waste everyone's time. keep the music to a low volume and nothing dub step. these were just some of the key featured I would have to look at when creating my portfolio and were quite helpful and lightly touch on. I would later on delve a bit deeper into these areas    

the lecture I just had was about job roles in the industry. I know I want to be a environment artist and some key thing I was told was with that role it would involve level and asset creating from concept art and reference, designing levels from the created leads and designers and you are subjected to a lengthy q and a process. this was good to know as it gave me a look into what the industry would require for you to work as a environment artist. I wanted to now go off and look at the requirements for environment artists in the industry and see what it takes. I did a bit of research when I got home and fould on Eat 3D (http://eat3d.com/forums/general-chat/what-it-takes-be-environment-artist) a good post on what it takes to become a environment artist. the key thing I read and took away from this were

•  you must separate yourself from the herd meaning show a different style in your textures, theme, detail and show a great visual impact and show a visual story with a environment. 
• try to spend as much times on texturing as you would modelling as one isn't complete without the other.
• as a novice environment artist start timing how long your work would take as improving this would show to company your working for the less expandable you are and most studios need the best work done quickly

this was really good advice as it was from someone who in the industry. it seems I need to improve on my skills to be quicker and improve on my textures if I want to become good for the industry.

Another thing I looked at after that was a  few job roles on linked in such as a just t bio ware(https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/30560472?trk=jserp_job_details_text)  as an environment artist. the key things in the duties and responsibility of the role are 

• being able to create high quality 3D environment including assets, texturing, and lighting
• closely following art and design concepts
• participating in visual comparisons and critiques

and the requirements

Bachelor’s (BA) degree from an accredited 4-year college or university or equivalent industry experience preferred

• 3+ years’ experience in the game industry is preferred (or demonstrated equivalent environment work)
• An understanding of Real time Graphics issues. Having shipped one or more titles a definite plus
• Proficient knowledge of MAX and/or other 3D software package, Photoshop, Z-Brush
• Ability to work within a style, including a style set by another artist
• Solid understanding of colour theory, and be able to create balanced & appealing colour palettes
• Experience using proprietary editors, software and tools
• Skilled at modelling supporting assets with or without concepts and designs
• The ability to create custom materials and all associated maps (bump, normal, parallax, spec, etc.) for new or existing assets
• Understanding of material shaders and proprietary tools
• Thorough understanding of architecture and nature
• Solid understand the aesthetics of environment, function vs. form relationships, as well as what makes a game level fun and intriguing

so it seems what I have looked at so far companies what you to have experience  in the industry which means I would need to find some work experience to have on my cv another thing is the programs they use are the ones I use at university so I would just need to improve on them. overall if I wanted to get this role I fell I need to improve on my overall work and start looking into and learning about shaders but this is a quite high qualified job profile which would require me to have already shipped a game so I am going to try and find a job that offers work experience or a lower benchmark. 

I've started to look into junior/graduate  artist roles as I probably wouldn't get into a environment artist job straight away  and that would be they way to get into the industry. one I came across though was a role at Rockstar as a junior artist the description was strong modelling skills are not good enough and they want stunning immersive environment which I don't think I can produce at this stage but as its rockstar I expect nothing less. This does however how me what is required for a junior artist and I took away these key points of what required and responsibility (http://www.glassdoor.co.uk/job-listing/junior-artist-JV_IC2671300_KO0,13_IE20887.htm?jl=1196786963&paoIdKey=MA==)

• a positive person with a passion for games and their development
• ability to work in a team and under deadlines
• expertise in 3D studio max and Photoshop
• game experience preferred
• a understanding of lighting and aesthetic details is preferred

taking away for this I fell as though if I had a really strong portfolio and really high detailed worked they would accept me into the role. other thing such as the programs and working in a team I have gained from university. for now it seems I do need to improve on my 3D work if I want to work at such a high established industry. 

While I was researching these job I can across a good post on advice for graduate artists and about your CV and general tips, it showed examples of work and had a bit about how to present yours. 

(http://www.datascope.co.uk/graduate_advice_artist.html)

there was quite a few handy little tips on there such as

• make sure you come across passionate about games
• for your CV show models and environments you've don in your spare times and not just in projects at university.
• as well as a 3d object show a image of the wire frame to show how you've constructed them and some highly rendered images 

so far within my research it seems the general thing for a interview is to show your passion for games not just trough your work but through what you say and how you come across. other thing I have noticed are there are a few thing I still need to learn such as complex lighting and shaders as some jobs require this.     

this week were looking into doing mock interviews. we got given an art job for a company called mind candy to have a interview with.  the job role was for a game called moshi monsters and there looking for people to join there team. the description of the kind of person they are looking for is a quirky edge, a positive attitude and a driving passion.  I was first to ask question to the interviewee and with the research I done with my job search came up with some questions such as 

• what made you want to work here
• how can you build apon games you play and make them better
• what would you bring to the team?
• what's your biggest weakness
• how do you feel about working through crunch time?

I tried to keep the questions simple as we didn't have long and there was 3 of us. we all used these questions on each other and the next part was to be the interviewee. these were my answers to the above questions

• I'm a huge fan of moshi monster as I've played it from the day it was launched, it has grown massively rapidly and I would like to be part of the team that push the potential growth of moshi monsters.
• for example Clash of clans is another really fast selling game, its one of my favourites on a mobile platform and I have often wondered how I could improve it. one way I think is as its a rts it could add a element to it that allows you to take control of a single character and play more like a role playing game as well as a real time strategy. 
• I would bring experience in working as a team as that's how I work at university and ive done projects on the mobile as well as unreal engine for AAA games as you are, as a company producing thing for the mobile as well as consoles I cha bring experience for quite a few angles. 
• my workspace tends to become a bit disorganised when I get into a project but recently I've been using thing such as dropbox and onedrive to save on paper and keep everything backed up and I can aces it anywhere. 
• I find the final push is were I give it everything I got as I would push for that bit more of perfection towards the end so Ill be ok with it. 

the next task we were put with was researching the games/films industry. my group was tasked with finding about the games industry and more specifically being a 3D artists in the uk and creating a presentation about it. I was tasked with finding how the games industry is like in the uk. doing research I found quite a few things out

• employment in the games industry is the highest its ever been since 2008. investment in the industry and tax revenues are also up. 
• the contribution to uk gdp has risen to 1.02bn 
• mobile and tablet devices have created a significant market for games, jobs are being created due to this. 
• the closure if big gaming studios has been followed up by a surge of small start up companies.
•  the advent of games tax relief is stimulating growth. GTR brings the cost of developing games down and it adds incentive to invest in the games industry. 

from my research its good to see that the industry is getting stronger in the uk as this is were I want to get a job. I am also happy mobile gaming how have a big market as that a aspect I would like to get into and create games for. with there now being smaller companies and more of them it helps me in trying to find a job and creates more opportunities, especially for people who have graduated as its more likely a smaller company would take you on and that's one way of me getting the experience I need to work for the bigger companies such as rockstar.

today lecture consisted of looking in creating a show reel for my work. some good tips I took away from the lecture was

• make the show-reel 1.5-2mins long
• demonstrate breakdowns such as wire-frames
• show shots in game engine
• show realism

there just a few tips from the presentation but they were a good baseline to start with when looking into creating my show-reel. After the lecture I started researching and looking at environment artists show-reels. and what It takes to create a good one. I first came across on you tube was by hus zekayi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP4vgkcHEuE) thing i liked about it were

• the first environment shown was a realism mansion and as he was going through with the camera he showed the breakdown of the environment at the same time and then it switched back to having textures.
• there was a verity of environments set in different areas, the first one was quite modem but the second one was si-fi and the third one was from the Chinese dynasty. I like this because it shows a variety of art styles
• the music was smooth and calm and flowed well with the environments

what I took away from this was I would like to have that same breakdown effect, have my cameras moving along normal and my scene switches to wire-frame and them switches back to being textured. another thing is to show a verity of environments and different art styles not just one. the cameras were also good in the scene as they went through and not only showed to environment as a whole but went and showed the little details as well. 

another environment show-reel I found was by everett gunther (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_DCid1J6AE) things i liked about his show reel are 

• The first environment was really nice and the camera angles he used picked up all the details such as the foliage
• the next scene showed assets he used in the scene but then he sowed show he changed them such as the colour and adding rust to not make the cars all looked the same even though they use the same model. 
• the third scene the cameras were really smooth and just curved around the details such as the cannons and quite close up which picked up detail while showing allot. 

what I took away from this was showing things such as how you kept a asset modular but changed it for variation is a good idea. I also liked how he showed a breakdown of his textures. another thing was he cameras they ran through the scene quite slow and smooth so you could see all the detail.


the things that seem to be a running theme in a environment artists show reels are they all have at least 2 environment that include realism. they also all have different themes to show that you can work and adapt to different art styles. with the cameras they were quite slow and started of quite far away to show of the whole of the scene and for close ups the camera would curve round the focused object. another thing would be to show a breakdown of the environment while going through it with the camera is quite good. ill take these things into consideration when looking into creating my show reel . this weeks presentation looked into what it takes to create a good c.v. there was quite a few good tips, the ones that stood out for me were

The header should be at the top of the page, Name,Address,Phone number,Email and Website

keep any sentences short 

make sure your artwork is appropriate for the company you wish to apply

add some creations to the header. 

after this we had a second round of mock interviews we had to prepare for so I went away and looked at some jobs. one I found was for space ape games as a environment artist. how I prepared for this was researching the games they had previously created. they had created a game called samurai siege which seems to be there most popular game. I then downloaded it onto my phone and had a play around with it.. it works the same as clash of clans so I was familiar with this style of game and already had ideas on how to improve a mmo strategy game which I could mention.  I also learned the company specialises in mobile games so I mention why keen interest in getting into the mobile side of gaming. my group used the questions we used before in the previous interview as feedback said they were good questions to ask. below you will see my answers to the questions I was asked.

• what made you want to work here

I am a big fan of your samurai siege game, I play it all the time and I love the artsyle as its the sort of art style I specialise in, I also have  a big interest in the mobile gaming area as its becoming a massive industry. I would love to work on a mobile game as its a new area for me and I have tons of idea I would bring to the table. 

• how can you build apon games you play and make them better?

well with samurai siege it plays allot like clash of clans which is a really successful game so I can see you took that game and built upon it yourself. what I want to build apon games like this are enabling the player to go in and control a minion and add a rpg element to the game. 

• what would you bring to the team?

I would bring allot of creative ideas for the mobile gaming scene as its something I studied and want to specialise in making games in. I have a range of art styles from realism to cartoonish, which I am currently working on. 

• what's your biggest weakness

probably the fact I haven't worked on a mobile game before so constraints would be different as you would have to keep things to a minimum 

• how do you feel about working through crunch time?

I am used to it from previous project I have worked on 

the next group task was to go and research 3D artist websites. find 5 good ones and find 5 bad ones so we all found one each. the first one I found what I thought was good was a website with the user called polygoo (http://polygoo.com/). what I like about it was 

• the website is really simple and easy to navigate. there's a list of the objects he created. you just click on them and it takes you to more picture of the object whic I liked
• the first page also had a few pictures of high polyed objects which has a row above it with different projects

what I took away for this site was this is what I want my website to look like as I found it really simple and easy to use and just shows of your work which is what should come across. 

another website is from dan Quinn (http://www.danquinn3d.com/) who is a environment artist. what I liked about this website was

• its very minimalistic and focuses on the artwork
• the website itself loads fast
• all the links work
• and has really nice rendered pictures

what I took away from this for my website was to test every link I have as I want you to be able to click on a picture and it links you to another page with artwork. also to make those images really high resolution and make sure they load fast.


I also researched two bad websites. the first one I found was from hailkai.net and the reasons why I thin kits bad are

• the pictures are really small and you cant see anything
• the layout of the website is poor and has bad structure
• the email link itself only works if you have outlook

another bad one I found was one from a user called peter konig. and the reasons are

• once again the layout is poor and all on one page you have to keep scrolling down
• the page loads quite slow
• threes not really a scenes of what type of area in the games industry he is aiming for. 

after these were done I started working on my website with the points I took away. the first thing I have done is find a website maker. I came across www.wix.com that had a ton of preloaded themes to create a website. the first thing I did were 

• looking at layout with the research I done I first created categorise on my home page such as environments, assets,animation and sculpting. this was the keep it simple. at first there were in a list view but it took to long to scroll through them and you would get bored so I layered out two categories next to each other so you don't have to scroll down. 
• I then made it so when you click on a image it brings you to more rendered out images of that picture.
• I then added a about part at the top, this leads you to a bit of information about myself and contact details. there a box as well you can write in that links directly to my email so I can answer them straight away 

with the website I've tried to keep it simple. improvements I want to add would be to make it more specialised and just have my environment work on there. I would then just change the title to environment artist. I just need to rework my old environments I have done then I will change it. and this is the link to my website: http://jeawoodward93.wix.com/jwoodward3d 

after this I started working on my show reel. as I had my final presentation soon I didn't have enough time to adjust  in the environment I was working in so I had to render out still of the environment. I only did the one environment as well as I didn't have the time to make the show reel. my feedback after the presentation was that I shouldn't of used still images and that I have only one environment scene were as I should of had a few more, which I knew from my research. so after this I went back in and worked on my show reel a bit more. the first thing I did was render out a video of my scene which was the one with the images I showed. I then went back into my other environment I created in my 2nd year and showed a few images of that as I was re working that. I then put at the end the project I wanted to work on next as most people did in there presentations. the other thing discussed in my presentation is what I wanted to do in the games industry which was becoming a environment artist and the research I've done on that. the next thing was what my action plan was after uni, I want to take a year out and improve my art skills as I don't think I am up to industry standard. another thing was to look around to find some work experience in the games industry to see what I would be going into if I do get into the industry and have some experience behind me as it seems most jobs would prefer that. I would also improve my website with the things stated above. I also want to look into some prop artist jobs as-well as I enjoy that side of thing but do prefer the environment art roles. the other project I want to work on is recreating a fight scene from the film pacific rim. I want to 3d model the mech in the film carrying a shit as he is in one scene and surround him by a destroyed Japanese city   

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