Building a portfolio.

[Xadeko]

Hi,

I am building some papers for my portfolio and i hoped to get some suggestions from you guys.

For my study i need to run 100 days in a company, so I am sending the big game companies in the netherlands my portfolio and resumé. ( starting with Guerrillia and Playlogic, i do not think i have a big chance but you never know if you do not try... )





I also want to make a site where i can store my portfolio, resumé and maybe some quality tutorials that i might wright in the future.

Are there any tips or tricks you guys can give me to make a good portfolio?
And any suggestions to improve the text i wrote in those black boxes? ( the text in the wasp is missing something, it suposed to be: "And has a 512x512 .TGA diffuse map. )

Thanks,
Xadeko

( I made these at A4 paper format so i can print these at photo quality and mail these to the companies. )
oh i blurred my adres and telephone because you guy's probably do not need to know that

[eagle4]

hey mate check out this article http://www.game-artist.net/forums/showthread.php?t=415 , it goes through why a portfolio might repel jobs, quite a good article

maybe consider instead of a printed portfolio, put it on cd, make a cool looking dvd case and interface (i used html. nice and simple) this way they get a package and are like ohh wow look what we have here. and curiousity will make them shove it in and watch. but your work is looking good.


sorry i cant be much more assistance at this time


eagle4

[Xadeko]

Thanks eagle,

I will read the article.

The reason why i print it is because a company can open your mail and scan it quickly without having to use a computer and it is always visable, a file may suddenly be corrupted or w/e, this does not happen but now you can be 100% sure they see your work. Also the fact that guerrillia is a big company and may not even want to take the time to insert a CD into the computer...

thanks,
Xadeko

[Kris]

Originally Posted by Xadeko

he reason why i print it is because a company can open your mail and scan it quickly without having to use a computer and it is always visable, a file may suddenly be corrupted or w/e, this does not happen but now you can be 100% sure they see your work. Also the fact that guerrillia is a big company and may not even want to take the time to insert a CD into the computer...

Not necessarily man.. these are the big leagues and companies want to see a show reel. If they wanted to see pictures, they'd get their kids pictures off the fridge and bring em to work.

If I were you, I'd really think long and hard about getting a show reel put together. If you look at Eagle4's, its simple and shows what he can do... and he got a job...

Its not bad to have all your renders on your portfolio website for them to view, but big companies want to see professionalism.. and demo reels are the way to go. Good luck.

__________________
www.vertexcomplex.com

[jackobeast]

Originally Posted by Xadeko

Thanks eagle,

I will read the article.

The reason why i print it is because a company can open your mail and scan it quickly without having to use a computer and it is always visable, a file may suddenly be corrupted or w/e, this does not happen but now you can be 100% sure they see your work. Also the fact that guerrillia is a big company and may not even want to take the time to insert a CD into the computer...

thanks,
Xadeko

Aaaaah but this is where you really have to pay attention because the packaging of your CD with the demo reel is going to be of the utmost importance. The case should have an insert with some shots of your work. The CD should have some sort of artwork on it with all your pertinent info on it. Hell, invest in a CD burner with lightscribe and do some two-tone graphics for it. The pieces you send out to those company should scream at them to pop in this CD and sit in awe of your awsomeness. And not because your CD label says "Sit in awe of my awsomeness!!" on it. Some, at best, non coaster CD that you send out is not going to impress the brass. You have to make a big impact on them from the time that they open the package you send them. By all means, include the nice photos in with it, but they and a resume are likely not going to get you in the door alone. How many do you think they get in a day/week/month? You have to blow the competition away from the gate, man.

I may not have a job at a studio or even be a great 3d artist (yet) but the same holds true in the music world which is where I have some experience. Your demo has to really stand out most days to even make it in the CD ROM drive or CD player or whatever. Some guy handing out sloppy CDs is not going to get as much music. It will not matter if you are the second coming of Led Zepplin or Van Halen or Englebert Humperdink if they never play it.

Now, you don't have to do something as over the top as what the first paragraph seems to imply, but at least think about it. Packaging (in the current human psyche) is about 90% of what makes it.

Think on that a bit, and I wish you the best of luck in landing a gig with a firm. Keep us posted!
-j

[Xadeko]

Thanks guys for the great replies!

Jacko you make some good points there,

I need to make it as sticky as possible.

A big problem is that my portfolio is not that big or of high quality.
I modeled alot of characters to get my skills up since i realy like to build them,
but right now i just have 1 character in my portfolio because of that ( my best character that i made so far ).

what folows is some texture work i did for this character. Besides this is did some invirement things and a bit of painting/ textures in photoshop.

So my portfolio is not sparkling with awesomeness. ( yet.. because i basicly just started )

The next point is that if i print these pages, i do not have much left to put on a CD. So do i just send a copy of my printed work so they have it digitaly?

Just to post some things i will be putting into my portfolio, these will be replaced tomorrow since i will make pages like those 2 above for them.





I did those textures on the tree myself, ill upload them tomorrow,











Ok that is that for now, ( most things need a finishing touch like that house )
I am off to bed, ill speak to you guys tomorrow
Thanks,
Xadeko

[d_unique_dj]

The house looks nice, i like the thatching, why not try darkening the timber. Just a suggestion. Anyway keep up the good work and hope you get your dream job mate.

[jackobeast]

hmm.... seems like you could print a few small versions (as long as they look nice small), and make a kick ass insert for the CD and then include those on the CD as well. I would think that'd work well. Maybe on the insert include stuff in smaller print the poly count and what pieces of software you used to create them. Keep us posted.
-j

[wartoon]

hey man.. good luck getting a job.. i dont think youll have a hard time getting one.. i actually like the wasp and house they look good

[eagle4]

looks like you have some great stuff there. so what kind of job are you looking for? character artist or environmental artist? try to focus, if you go in with your character (awesome by the way) and a bunch of environmental stuff they may be a bit confused as to what job you're applying for.

i'm not saying this will work for everyone, but what i did was make a dvd cover that looked professional, but also screamed LOOK AT ME!!! (well i thought so anyway) my mate has a cd printer, so i designed a reallly awesome looking cd and got that image printed on my cds. no labels here directly onto the cd. they looked really schmik. on my cd i had a simple interface, keeping a similar theme through all my stuff (cover, cd and interface) i had my demoreel which you can also find on my website, i had my resume, i had an 'about me' section and a shot breakdown, giving a quick explination of each piece in my demoreel. dont pannic if you dont have much in yor demoreel, only panic if its not yor absolute best work. 5 awesome models is much better than 10 ordinart models.

keep it up mate you'll get there


eagle4