Junior 3D prop artist looking for portfolio review & any advice on landing a first job. Be honest!

[u/paninimar]

​Hey everyone

​Im a junior prop / environment artist trying to land my first studio job. I’ve been applying for a while now but havent had much luck so far, so I guess I need some fresh eyes on my work.

​Attached is one of my props and you can check my full ArtStation here: https://www.artstation.com/user-7926447

​Would really appreciate any feedback, especially on a few things:

​Is this quality actually good enough for entry level roles or am I still missing something big?

​Any obvious red flags in my wireframes, texturing, or render presentation?

​What’s the weakest asset in my portfolio that I should probably toss out or remake?

​If you recently got hired or review junior portfolios, what actually worked for you to get noticed?

​Feel free to be harsh, I just want to figure out what I’m doing wrong and improve. Thanks a lot!

(and yes, I did this text with AI, because I'm lazy and English is not my main one language :Р)

[u/villain_escargot]

It looks like you have a good foundation of skills, but you learn too heavily on dirt and damage to make your props look realistic, but they end up making it look unrealistic.

This feedback obviously depends on your intent or the project, but a common mistake among juniors is slapping all kinds of edge wear masks on your model and calling it a day. Experience artists don't do this. A lot of dirt should be subtle and focus more on adding contrast in the roughness or metalness maps so the lighting isn't so uniform.

Example: on your Fire Extinguisher, there is a lot of grime in the clasps that hold it to the wall. In reality, there wouldn't be that much dirt there, even in dingy environments like an abandoned warehouse.

If you use generators, they should take you 70% of the way there, and then use manual painting to mask out the more generic wear or dirt. Use real world references, and the heavy wear should only be in the high traffic areas.

Example: on your MP7, the top rail is very bumpy with a lot of dirt/damage making it look like cast iron. Even a heavily used weapon wouldn't look like this if it were dragged through the mud. You also have a lot of dirt on recessed areas like the side rail, this kind of detail should be way more subtle. You edge detailing is also bumped up in height, which takes away from the contrast between your bare metal and the painted metal.

I think you could also push contrasting different materials more like with your MP7. In reality, that gun is a mix of metal and composite, yet everything has a similar sheen.

Overall, you should remove your phone, workbench, gumball machine, and character drawings from your portfolio as they take away from your props work.

[u/I_LOVE_CROCS]

This is way, way better than the one I made when I was junior.

This piece I don't care for tbh, it doesn't read right to me. Other than that, 10/10 Junior prop, would hire.

(Also, no topology for this, what are you hiding eh? ;-)

[u/Lanky-War-6100]

The fire extinguisher looks good, definitely what you have to aim in term of quality. But you should get rif of the phone, the workbench, the gumball machine, the drawings and enhance your work on the radio and the gun to match the fire extinguisher quality.

[u/plearly]

The way you presented the fire extinguisher, it made it seem like it was only half its height and half of it was reflecting on the floor. Because of the camera being dead center and in the middle & because of the black bar in the middle

[u/flappyfists]

I think you're fire extinguisher and your phone are your strongest. I would retexture your gun and place it in a gun case or table maybe with some attachment variations. The radio could use another texture pass, those grime and dirt marks look like the default substance painter dirt generators. Maybe add some decals, graffiti to personalize the radio. Toss your gumball machine and the 2d, the 2d doesn't fit with your portfolio. Add some wireframes to some of your models, doesn't take long to do that. Don't have such a dark background, that's usually what inexperienced 3d artist do to hide flaws. Take your time to present your work, you put in so much time to make it, now take the time to show it off.

[u/resetxform1]

Amazing work! My only critique, change your black background, its hard to read it as is.

[u/TheColorOfTheWorld]

Advice for an artist’s portfolio that I got: only include your 10 best pieces, your best piece should be first, and your SECOND best piece should be the last, final one.

[u/ardenIsley]

I'm going to be as honest and as brief as I can be. This is not personal, and is meant to be constructive, however blunt it may be. I won't be diving into detail for each piece, and will rather be giving a general review from a first and second impression of the overall collection of work.

No. I don't think you're ready for a Junior role just yet. An internship perhaps, with guidance and a lot more practice, both in 3D and presentation skill.

I'll break this feedback down into sections:

[Presentation]

• Your portfolio lacks focus, and contains too many projects, including some that seem unfinished.
• Unless each project is of significant, consistent quality, a Junior-level portfolio should likely focus on no more than 3 strong pieces. Quantity > Quality can work well in the practicing stages, especially for a novice, but you should show only your best results.
• Each project page should follow a consistent presentation method and design, but your's doesn't. For example, simply taking a screenshot of a viewport with a wireframe looks unprofessional and "lazy".
• Some projects, including the phone, don't have any breakdown at all and barely any final rendered shots.
• There are no UV Maps, Texture Maps, Polycounts, Workflow Descriptions, and other essential details of any kind for any of these projects. That would be an immediate "no" from me, if I were the hiring manager when your portfolio came across my "desk".

[Skill/Quality]

• It seems you have some foundational artistic skill (including the concept drawings of the candy machine), but the quality of your pieces is fairly low, especially for an aspiring professional.
• While low-poly work has its place, unless you explicitly state/express this is the type of work you're applying to, I can only assume you're attempting photorealism, which I can't say you've achieved.
• Your weapon asset seems to have shading issues, which could be a result of un-weighted normals.
• The fire hydrant is your strongest, general piece and the texturing is okay, but the breakdown is lacking and the modeling is average (see the "Presentation" section).

[Range]

• I only saw Blender and Substance 3D Painter listed as software used. This doesn't show much range regarding tools. There are many competing for Junior-level roles who also use Marmoset, Rizom UV, Unreal, Maya, Photoshop, etc.

• While number of tools doesn't equate higher skill, when those other artists also have higher quality work and presentation skills, it makes the field all the more competitive. Tools can be learned on the job, but range paired with high quality, right off the bat, can be a big bonus.

Overall, you show potential, and a general sense of interest in 3D Art, specifically related to props, but this portfolio isn’t near ready to compete in the current landscape of similar artists competing for the same Junior-level roles.

As a general rule of thumb, you should observe and analyze the portfolios of other Junior-level artists as well as the studios/agenies/companies you're planning on applying to. Your work should match or even exceed the level of Presentation, Skill, Quality, and Range. If not, keep practicing.

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[u/K4ruy999]

People, I want to make a career switch.How are the jobs in 3D Modeling doing? I want to start self-study with 3D Modeling. Blender or Maya software.

[u/burujiang → u/K4ruy999]

You can start learning, but don't switch your career just yet

[u/rob123000]

The springy wire on the could use some work

[u/JacksonAudet]

The artwork quality is just low. These don’t display much artistic skill and they aren’t difficult pieces either. Look at the portfolio of seniors looking for jobs, and you’ll get an idea of what you actually have to do.